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Jeth's nightmare


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Kara woke from a deep sleep  to her husband thrashing around and becoming tangled in the sheets. She sighed. So it was to be one of those nights. She reached over to touch her husbands shoulder.
 

“Jeth,” she said gently, “wake up, you're having a nightmare.” But the dream held him tightly in its grip. He jerked away from her. He whimpered. She hated to see him in such torment.”Jeth, please wake up,”she said again. Then she felt it. Warmth and wetness spreading. He was wetting himself. “Oh, Jeth,” she said, trying once again to lay her hand on his shoulder. This time, he woke with a gasp.

 

“Gavin…” he whispered. “Gavin…” and Kara knew what the dream had been about. It had been about those terrible moments in the war, when he had thought he had lost Gavin forever.  When Gavin had leapt in front of a sword for him and taken a near fatal blow. Jeth had thought his best friend, no,his brother,would die in his arms that day. Kara hadn't witnessed it, but she had treated them both in the hospital afterward. Gavin had been in very bad shape, and Jeth had been pretty beat up as well. Even though Jeth had sustained a broken collarbone, a bad concussion, and various other cuts, scrapes,and bruises,his first thought had been his friends and comrades, especially Gavin. As soon as he could walk, he had been at Gavins bedside. And now, 7 years later, on a cold winter night, he lay lost in the terror of his memories.

 

Kara held him close and whispered soothing words, not caring that she was getting wet from lying in the soaked bed. She could feel him shaking. His heart was beating too fast. “Shh…” she told him. “It's okay. You're okay. The war is over. You're safe. Gavin lived. Gavin’s at home. “

 

Gradually, he calmed. His heart slowed. The shaking stopped. His breathing evened out. But as he calmed down, he noticed what he’d done. He leapt up fast, tearing himself from her grip. “Oh, no!” he said. “I'm sorry, I’m sorry, I didn't mean to!”

 

Kara got up and lit the lamp, saying “it's okay, I know it was an accident.”

 

He just looked even more heartbroken as he saw that her clothes were wet too. “It got on you. I'm so sorry,” he apologized again.

 

She came over and put her arms around him again. “Sh…” she said.”It's okay. Accidents happen.”

 

“Not to 23 year olds!” he said, frustrated. “Even Joe doesn't wet the bed, and he's five!”

 

Kara thought of their son, asleep upstairs in the room that used to be Jeth's. “But Joe hasn't seen the horrible things you have.”

 

“Hopefully, he never has to,” said Jeth.

 

“He won't.” assured Kara. “You and the rest of the Knights made sure of that.” He was beginning to shiver again, she noticed, though not from fear this time. It was a cold night, after all, and his clothes were wet. She turned to their wardrobe and opened the door. She pulled out some clean clothes for him. “Here, Jeth,” she said. “Change and then go in the living room, where it's warmer. I'll join you in a few minutes.”

 

“But I should help clean the bed,” he told her.

 

“it's fine.” She said. “I'll do it.”

 

“If you're sure,” he said.

 

After he had gone into the other room, Kara changed her own clothes and began to strip the bed. “He hasn't had a nightmare that bad in a long time,” she thought. She wondered what had triggered it. Probably Gavin’s illness,  she decided. For Gavin had been very ill, and was still very ill. He had had an infection of the lungs, and Kara and her mentor, the chief healer, Elizabeth, had been very busy taking care of him, as well as keeping up with their other duties.

 

Laura, Gavins wife, was almost out of her mind with worry and lack of sleep. She was worried about Gavin, and she had to take care of her 4 year old son, Luke. She also helped take care of Joe. Luke and Joe were understandably frightened.

 

Jeth had been over there for as many hours as he could spare. In truth, he had neglected his work slightly, but it was nothing too terrible. No one could blame him, really. But he hadn't gotten much sleep lately. So when Gavins fever had broken that evening, Kara had insisted that Jeth go home and rest. He had gone to bed early. He had been so exhausted. Perhaps that was why he’d been so difficult to wake up. Poor thing, the stress of the situation must have gotten to him. He had feared for Gavins life, and he was still worried. Even though the fever had broken, Gavin was still very weak.

 

Kara finished up, and went into the living room. Jeth was sitting on the rug. Arlo lay beside him, head on his lap. Their other dog, a young reddish hound named Judd, lay curled up at his other side. He was petting them and speaking softly to them. Kara had to smile at the sight. Arlo always knew when Jeth was upset and made sure to stick especially close to him at those times. And Judd, well Judd probably just wanted petting.

 

Jeth looked up as Kara came in. She could see tear tracks on his cheeks. “I really am sorry,” he said again.  “You should have let me help. “

 

“It's really okay” said Kara again. “Please stop worrying about it.”She was relieved to see that he seemed considerably calmer. She nudged Judd out of the way and sat down beside Jeth. Judd settled down again beside her. She scratched him behind the ears and his tail thumped the floor. She reached her other arm up to put it around Jeth's shoulders. “Gavins going to be okay you know,” she said. “Elizabeth said he was on the mend. And I can see that he is.”

 

“I know,” said Jeth. “it's just, I can't bear the thought of losing him. I've been so scared.”

 

“He'll be fine,” she said again, feeling him relax. They sat in comfortable silence for a while, just watching the fire. The dogs fell asleep.  Jeth put an arm around Kara and she curled into his side. They lay back on the soft rug, and in a few minutes, they were sound asleep.

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  • 7 months later...
1 minute ago, KarenGranger said:

Not criticizing or anything, but I was just curious... Isn't being 23 and having a child that's five kinda young to have a kid. They would of been 18.

Yes, I'm aware, but it does happen, and this would be sort of an old fashioned society, in which life expectancies arent particularly high and it is normal to get married young. Birth control is often not widely used. 

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