Mafia Family

14. Nightmare (Edited)

3rd person's POV

Eliza slept while watching the movie. Her head was on her dad's lap, as she slowly laid down unconsciously. All were engrossed in the movie since it's been a while since the whole family was watching the movie and sitting together spending time.

Dad looked at Eliza with eyes full of adore who was sleeping on his lap. He never expected he would be able to meet his daughter again because they thought she also died. He caressed her head resumed watching the movie.

Suddenly Dad heard a whimper and Eliza shifted a little. Since her legs were on Ethan, he also felt how she shifted.

They ignored it at first but suddenly she started mumbling and sweating.

Dad signalled Ethan to stop the movie and as soon as the movie stopped, everyone immediately looked at the source who dared to stop the movie. All the siblings especially twins were throwing daggers at Ethan but soon stopped when they heard another whimper and all the focus shifted on Eliza.

Eliza again shifted and started mumbling loudly.

'No please'
'Ahh... No it hurt'
'I'm sorry'
'Please forgive me'
'No...no pl..please don't'
'Ahh'

"What is happening?" Ethan asked concern lacing his voice.

"She's having a nightmare" Ryan spoke looking at her with strange expression. She was literally bowling her eyes out.

"Can't we do anything?" Taylor asked with panicked eyes as she started thrashing more.

"We can't just wake her" Noah spoke.

Noah told dad to whisper sweet words in her ears to wake her up.

Dad did as Noah told and it was somehow working but still it was not enough. Eliza tried to scratch herself as to get something off of her.

By now dad and Ethan were also standing along with others around Eliza. She was now almost shouting to leave her and how sorry she was.

"You have to wake up Liz. It's just a dream, nothing more." Dad said trying to stable her.

All her siblings were full on worried mode.

After few minutes of this Eliza finally opened her eyes after shouting. She tried to regain her balance of mind and looked around her and seeing all of them surrounding her got her eyes widen with fear and she immediately crawled back with fear evident in her eyes.

"Liz, Sweety, are you okay?" Dad asked and tried to come to her but she  shook her head and crawled more in the couch.

"Pl..ple..please don't hur...hurt m..me. I'm so...so sor..sorry." She stammered still not able to focus her mind. She was in her own daze.

Pained expression washed over dad's face.

"Sweety, no one's going to hurt you" Ethan said assuringly but she got scared and shook her head.

"Please ple..please don't." By now she was on the verge of having a panic attack.

All present in the room were more them concerned because she was coming out of her daze.

"Give her space" Noah suggested.

Everyone then moved little away from her.

"See Liz, no one here is going to hurt you. Focus and look." Ryan said almost commanding.

Eliza looked around her and their expression and how they moved back.

She stabled her breathing and looked around her.

"Dad" She spoke slowly and her voice came out a little hoarse.

Dad instantly smiled hearing dad from her mouth and that she was no longer afraid from me.

"Yes sweety." He said cautiously coming towards her and tried to hug her. She immediately returned the hug which shocked all and she also knew that she needed a hug.

"Don't worry you're safe." He said sweety in her ears and kissed her head lovingly.

"You seriously scared me" He continued.

She looked at him guiltily and mumbled a sorry and then turned her head after breaking the hug. She looked at everyone and mumbled sorry for causing the trouble.

"WHAT THE F**K WAS THAT? " Dustin shouted and she flinched.

"Stop it Dustin" Ethan said.

"Would you like to tell what was that about?" Ryan asked her with serious eyes.

She shook my head and refused to look him in the eyes.

"It w..was j..just a nightmare nothing mo..more maybe because of today's events." She said.

"JUST A NIGHTMARE?" Dustin yelled again.

"It was like you were having a seizure Liz" Ryan said with deep voice which sent shivers down my spine.

Only I know that it was not a nightmare but a memory which I guess got triggered because of today's incident.

You know the situation where you know you're totally fucked up but still you make a weak attempt to get out of that situation and suspiciously it works. That's what happened.

"Da..dad, I'm ve..very tir..tired. Can i g..go? " I asked dad dodging Ryan's suspicious eyes.

Before Ryan or any other could object dad approved and she walked back to her room which is she practically limped. Because of not getting rest, the condition of her ankle was getting worst. She just hoped it was not a fracture.

She immediately went to her room, took a pain killer and tried to sleep.

Whereas in the living room there was a chaos.

"Dad, didn't you see her. How can you not ask any question? " Tyler asked annoyed.

Before dad could answer Noah spoke.
"I think it was for the best. We all saw how she almost had a panic attack. We can't just bombard her with questions."

"But it was not just a nightmare. It was... It was something more." Ryan said thinking to himself.

When they all were discussing this Eliza was in her own thoughts, sleep long forgotten.

'I almost got caught. Because of today's incident I'm already shaken up and this lead to this nightmare and panic attack making me remember the night where I almost lost my virginity.' She thought to herself.

'This was the first time I had a panic attack in front of them.'

'I now have to be more careful. I can't let myself slip off like this'

You're strong Eliza, you can do it.