Run Jesse- Part 5

               Jesse awoke with a start the next morning, already sitting up in her bed, the sheet soaked and clinging to her as she sat there, trembling uncontrollably all over as she fought to recover her breath.

               Glancing down at herself, she felt her forehead crease as she realized she was laying nude in her bed, and struggling to remember if she'd forgotten to put her nightclothes on the night before, she was suddenly forced out of bed at the sensation of a deep clenching feeling deep in her gut, sending her running into the bathroom and forcing her onto her knees before the toilet just as her stomach released, sending its contents spilling into the bowl provided.

               "Where the hell did that come from...?" she whispered softly as she fell back hard onto the tile floor, trembling all over in the wake of her sudden need to throw up as she sat there.

               "Are you alright?"

               Tensing instinctively in the wake of her nightmare, feeling fear grip her entire body, she felt the vice loosen around her heart as she saw a familiar form join her in the small bathroom, realizing he was pulling his t-shirt on as he stood there.

               "Jason," she managed softly, forcing herself to relax a bit as he regarded her from the doorway, realizing his hair was still wet from the shower.

               "Were you expecting someone else?" he laughed softly as he regarded her.

               "No, of course not," she forced a laugh, bending to retrieve a towel from underneath the sink, setting it on top of the sink itself as she straightened. "Did I forget to put my pajamas on last night, or...?" she managed a softly awkward kind of laugh.

               "You don't remember?" Jason laughed, catching her attention as she turned and reached out to turn the shower water on.

               "Remember what?" she regarded him curiously, reaching out and pulling the shower door closed to keep the water from spilling onto the floor.

               "You practically tore my clothes off about an hour ago," Jason laughed softly.

               "I did?" she regarded him curiously, her forehead creasing as she tried to remember doing so as she stood there, her hand held under the running water as she waited for it to warm up.

               "You don't remember?" he asked her, watching her bewildered eyes.

               "Must've still been half-asleep," she forced a smile, shaking her head to dismiss the idea.

               "Woke me up," Jason laughed, turning and ducking out of the doorway, vanishing into the bedroom.

               Turning on her heel, Jesse moved to the sink, reaching for her toothbrush and the toothpaste, to get the sour taste out of her mouth.

               "You okay?" Jason asked her, suddenly reappearing in the doorway to her left.

               "Yeah," she nodded, squeezing toothpaste onto her toothbrush and sticking it under the water, to wet it, "Just had a bad dream."

               "What about?" he asked her, watching her profile from where he leaned against the doorframe, "Was it bears again?"

               "I wish," Jesse thought to herself as she watched the water spill into the sink, her gaze distant, troubled.

               "I don't remember," she answered instead, shaking her head as he turned and disappeared, leaving her alone in her bathroom, and if ever in her life she had ever wished for anything more as she stood there, feeling her stomach threatening to send her rushing for the toilet again at the memory of her nightmare and the dark, soulless eyes that were still so vivid in her mind, she couldn't remember it.

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