Page 74 of I Don't Need Your Protection

Chapter Twenty-Two

Caleb

“Mom! Dad!”

I shoot up in bed, my heart pounding in my chest. My eyes narrow as I squint through the darkness. What was that?

“Mom!”

I turn on my bedside lamp and look to my left. Addilyn is thrashing in her bed as she moans, groans, and sounds like she’s in a lot of pain. It takes me less than a second to realize she’s having a nightmare.

“Dad!”

I leap off my bed and am by her side in an instant. Her body is drenched in sweat, her blanket and stuffed elephant kicked to the bottom of her bed, and her hands are in fists.

“Stop! No!”

“Addilyn.”

Shecontinues to thrash around.

“Addilyn!”

Her shouts overshadow mine and it’s impossible to wake her. Reaching forward, I grab her arms to stop her from hurting herself.

Her legs kick her blanket further down as she throws her body from one end of her bed to the other.

“Addilyn!” I shake her, making sure not to harm her. “Addilyn!”

“No! No! Leave them alone!”

I gently shake her to try to wake her from the nightmare, but her crying and shouts intensify. They cause my heart to break for her. I can’t handle seeing her like this. All I want to do is take her pain away.

She slams her fist into my chest as she shouts at me to get away from her. I realize she thinks I’m a threat to her.

I slide into her bed and wrap my arms around her, not caring when her hand whacks me in the face or her leg kicks mine.

“Addilyn,” I say softly as I tighten my arms around her, trying to lock her arms in place so she won’t hurt herself. “It’s okay. You need to wake up now.”

“Mom! Dad!”

I press my cheek to hers, feeling her tears. “Addilyn, please wake up.” I hold her close, rocking slowly. “I’m here. No one is harming you. It’s just a nightmare.”

Her thrashing gradually stops. Her body goes stiff. Her eyes flutter open and she stares up at me. “Caleb?”

I push away some hair that’s matted to her sweaty forehead. “I’m here.”

Her eyebrows furrow as she finds her body pretty much trapped in my arms. They widen, as though she has no clue how in the world she ended up like this. “What…what happened?”

I press my cheek to hers again. “It was just a nightmare. You’re safe.” I could let go. Ishouldlet go. But I don’t really want to.

“It was my parents,” she whispers. “They were…I was…” Her voice cracks.

“It’s okay, Addie,” I say softly. “You don’t have to talk about it.”

Her body trembles. She buries her face in my chest. Her skin feels warm against mine, and it causes my heart to pick up speed. But I push that aside. Now isn’t the appropriate time to be thinking about her skin pressed to my naked chest.

“They were chasing them,” she says. “I don’t know who they were, but they were chasing my mom and dad. They wanted to hurt them.”