WAKE (Wattpad edition)

10. Break.

{Cary}

Nightmares got their claws in good that night. In his dream the courtroom was lined with shadowy columns of trees disappearing in the darkness. Cary was blind, speechless, and pinned up between two of the trees in the dark. He could hear his father's voice: Come, my dears. And Liam chirruping a question like he didn't know if he was safe. 

And Cary couldn't. Do. Anything.

Cary jerked awake and scrambled into a crouched position, breathing deep, cold breaths of night air. The fire had died to embers, heat chasing red and gold over the underside of the last log.

Jon rolled over in his sleeping bag and sat up on one elbow. "You all right?"

Cary startled at his voice, ducking his head between his arms. He was gasping a little, and his heart was still thundering in his ears.

There was a rustle of Jon sitting up. "Sorry to scare you." The night was silent except for the ripple of water nearby and the distant sigh of traffic. Jon poked the remains of the fire with a stick, stirring up the sparks. "I haven't been sleeping too good either. Haven't heard you have a nightmare in a while."

Cary made an effort to draw in a slow breath, gripping the back of his neck and shutting his eyes. He missed this Jon, his friend's voice steadying him in the dark when he wasn't sure where he was. 

Only one way to know how far this uneasy peace would stretch. "Found out I have to testify," he said, soft and hoarse.

"Yeah?" Jon said. "So—you did that, with the police."

"In person," Cary said. "At the trial. With him there." He opened his eyes to watch how Jon would take that.

Jon stared at him with his mouth open. He snapped it shut. "Shit. Shit, Cary. How in hell do they expect you to do that? It wrecked you just being in the same room with him. You fucking...couldn't see where you were going it wrecked you so bad."

Cary pushed to his feet, walking a little ways away to stretch his arms over his head and then hug them around himself. The memory of being pinned and silenced in his dream still left him shivery and sick. "Doesn't matter. I have to figure it out," he said finally. "Or Liam goes back with him." Saying it made a shiver roll from the top of his head down his back hard enough to make his jaw clench.

Jon rubbed his hands over his face. "Wow, that sucks," he muttered. "Like he hasn't done enough damage."

Cary went to his knees, rearranging the branches Jon had been messing up. He blew gently on the embers until a yellow flame licked around the wood.

Jon glared into the fire, jiggling his legs. "Guess that's why you flipped out at the lawyer's, huh."

Cary sighed, flexing his bruised hands. "Yeah. I fucked up again."

"You're doing better," Jon said grudgingly. He was rubbing his arms like his skin was itchy. "Or you wouldn't have kept that job all summer, right?"

Cary lifted his shoulders. Working long, hard hours and keeping his shit to himself all summer seemed easy compared to having to get up at this trial and open his mouth.

Jon got up abruptly and shook his legs out. "Are bugs crawling on you? I feel like bugs are crawling on me." He brushed hard at his arms and legs. "Fuck, get off, get off!"

Cary looked sharply at him. "There's no bugs."

"There seriously are!" Jon was on his feet, twitching and jumping.

"Get away from the fire." Cary shoved to his feet, catching Jon across his chest and hauling him a safe distance from the flames. He tried to get Jon to look at him. "There's no bugs, Jon. You're clean."