I'm On a Trip

Chapter 15

It had taken Charlotte around 5 hours to fall asleep. No matter what she tried, listening to her I-pod, wiping her memory from the past few days or crying herself to sleep. It didn't work. She laid on her back, sides and front, tucked up in a ball or stretched out in a star, she wasn't comfortable. Everything was on her mind. The guys. John. Sophie. Her family. Everything on her mind was troubling her. Now she had finally managed to fall asleep into not so comfortable sleep.

John's P.O.V.

I woke up in pure darkness to the frightening sound of thrashing, screaming, crying Charlotte. Well I assumed it was her, there was no-one else in the house. At first I had no idea what it was, so I reached over to my left hand side where my phone was placed on the bed side cabinet. It read 4:30. Really? It wasn't time to be considering getting up. That's when I heard a shout, that I immediately recognised as Charlotte's with her traditional English accent, which I considered fairly posh, but she insisted it was just being well spoken and not 'chavy'. Getting back to what was happening...I jumped out of bed to try and see what all the commotion was.

I creaked out onto the landing, creaking along as quietly as I could trying not to disturb what was going on in Charlotte's bedroom. When I reached her door, I slowly creaked it open and poked my head around the corner as I watched the scene unfold around me.

Charlotte was thrashing around in her bed, pulling the covers up, almost completely over her face. Tears were crashing down her now pale, fragile, shell-shocked face, as she shivered and kicked out with her legs. She was now repeatedly shouting something along the lines of "Don't!" "Please, leave me alone!" "Please!" "Help!" "Stop it!" "You don't understand!" "I'm sorry, if I could go back in time, I would be dead!"

My heart sank. There was something wrong with her. Something she probably wasn't willing to share with me. It hurt to think about the fact that she was keeping something bottled up that was severely affecting her deep down. I had no idea who to react, I didn't know what to do, if I woke her would she completely freak out, if I didn't, would she hurt herself?

I decided I needed to wake her up. I marched over to the side of her which she continued to shout, scream, kick and cry. When I got over to her side, I gently touched her arm which she didn't respond from and then I decided to grab her shoulder softly and call her name.

As soon as I touched her shoulder and called her name quietly once, she flinched away. She practically jumped onto the opposite side of the bed, her arms supporting her weight either side of her body and her eyes fluttered open boldly. She looked, completely confused, she moved her hand over her forehead to wipe a small amount of sweat that she had built up.

"Hey," I whispered, "It's alright, I'm here, don't worry. It was just a bad dream, you're ok now, you're safe," I continued wrapping my arms tightly around her. I didn't care what state she was in, I needed her to know that I was there for her, not to judge her, not to pressure her into to telling me anything but to support her when she needed me.

She cried into my shoulder and I just let her do that, before she finally spoke, "I'm sorry," she struggled to squeak out.

"Shh, don't go there, I'm here for you whenever you need me," I spoke truthfully.

I stayed with her for a while now, it was around 5:30 and she still refused to go back to sleep, even if I stayed with her. She was exhausted from her lack of good sleep but this didn't stop how stubborn she was. She still shut her eyes in fear of a repeat of the same dream, that she definitely didn't want to share.

I helped her out bed and took her to the kitchen where I made her a coffee to give some energy that she clearly didn't have at that particular moment in time. She smiled weakly back at me as I handed her the coffee and lead her into the living room. We sat down on the sofa as light began to fill into the room at the unheard of time: 6 o'clock.

We remained in a comfortable silence for ages. She clearly didn't want to talk and I didn't really know what to talk about. If I brought it up, it might upset her again if I brought up something new maybe she would think I was an arse for not considering her feelings on the previous topic. We just cuddled for ages, I made sure that I was there for her, when she needed someone. That was my role now as her new best friend and I loved it. I comforted her back to sleep after a good hour of silence.

I gradually watched her eyelids get heavier and heavier as she slowly drifted into a sleep. I knew she couldn't hold back the sleep she so desperately needed. Just before her eyelids completely closed she whispered "Thank you John," and that was it, she went out like the flick of a switch.

That was it. I was left on my own, in silence with Charlotte resting her head on my shoulder. To start with she was gently leaning on me but now she was asleep she gradually put more and more weight on me. I didn't mind though; I admired her in her sleep for a while until I decided that I was being 'pervy' so I closed my eyes and joined her asleep.

We woke up a few hours later feeling refreshed, but neither of us made the effort to do anything. Instead we laid around most of the day, watching movies together, making something to eat in the kitchen or sleeping. Until eventually it was actually time to go to bed and get some decent sleep.

I was just cleaning the rest of the dishes up, when I heard her footsteps heading towards the kitchen. She coughed slightly, causing me to advert my attention from the now clean dishes to her.

"Um...sorry...would you mind staying with me tonight, I don't want a repeat of last night," she mumbled not being able to look me in the eye.

"Anything for you Char," I replied with a smile to reassure her. It was the first time I had used her nickname but it just felt natural so I went along with it. She didn't seem to mind either. I followed her to her bedroom, and got settled in her bed beside her. I didn't feel awkward at all, I just lied next to her, wrapping a protective arm around her to make sure that she knew I was there; even though later on in the night she would definitely know I was there, cause I'd probably stretch out and take up all of the room and leave her with hardly any quilt.

"Aren't you getting up early tomorrow?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah, I've got a band meeting, so don't be surprised if I'm gone by the time you wake up," I responded. "Oh and I'll probably be back around 2ish so help yourself to whatever is in the kitchen."

She nodded before we both decided to go to sleep. My mind was at rest now that I knew she was happy enough to sleep instantly without having any problems.