Taylor watched as Carter strolled past his bed, her hands in the pockets of her pajamas.
"Where are you going?" Taylor sat up in and watched her walk to the door.
Carter opened the door to the balcony and walked out. Taylor shrugged his shoulders pulled himself from his bed to follow her.
Her hair was in her face, not tucked behind her ears like usual. A sign that she had been sleeping. There were light pink creases on her left cheek from her pillow. Her cheeks were pale and her eyes were glassy and distant. He stood next to her, watching as she stared at the moon's reflection in the pool.
"Why are you awake?"
She didn't answer. She only blinked hard and shivered lightly.
"Are you ok?"
Carter turned around and stared wide eyed at the door to her house.
"Carter...What are you doing?"
When Carter didn't respond, he stood silently and watched her. All she did was stand and stare at the door. Occassionally she would blink, and occasionally she would shiver.
"Are you cold?" He asked, not knowing what else to do. He didn't get worried until she started to breathe heavily. And when she started to shake, he tried to move her, but he couldn't. He did the only thing he could think of, he ran to get Zac.
Zac ran outside in his boxers and t-shirt and put his hands on Carter's shoulders. He stared into her eyes. "Carter, hey. Wake up."
Taylor blinked hard. "She sleepwalks?"
"All the time. And it gets scary sometimes. She fell into the pool last week."
Taylor stood beside Carter and waited.
Zac went into his normal routine. He stared into her eyes and smoothed her hair back, his hands brushing against her cheeks. "Hey, wake up Carter. Come on. Please? It's ok. Nothing's wrong. You're asleep. Wake up."
Carter blinked hard, but the cold stare never left her eyes until she let out the blood curdling scream. She jumped back and put her hands on her head, her whole body trembling. Zac put his arms around her and held her tight, but Carter pushed away and continued to scream.
"What the hell is going on?!" Melissa ran out to the porch and stared at her sister.
Zac waved his arm to get Melissa to go away. She stood and stared, horrified.
Carter screamed one last time before she fell to her knees and took a deep breath.
"Carter?" Zac sat down next to her.
She looked up at him, wide eyed and whispered. "I...She..."
"You were sleepwalking again."
Taylor kneeled down next to her. "Are you ok?"
Carter nodded. "I'm fine." She brushed her hair out of her eyes and looked up at Melissa. Another blood draining scream escaped her lips and her eyes grew wide again. "GO AWAY! GET OUT OF HERE!" She screamed at her and backed up against the banister.
Zac jumped back and yelled at Melissa. "Go away! Just leave! She's sleepwalking again!"
Melissa gave her a confused look and went inside. "God, she's nuts."
Taylor sat next to Carter and stared at her. "What happened?"
Carter didn't answer. She leaned her head back against the banister and took short deep breaths.
"She's been sleepwalking ever since her mom died. But I've never seen her scream like that."
Carter looked up. "I wasn't sleeping! It was real! I swear it was! Look! I'm bleeding!" She held up her shirt and looked down. "Look at the blood! Zac it hurts so bad."
Zac shook his head and put his hand on her stomach. "Carter, it was a dream. You're ok. You're not bleeding."
Carter put her hands on the sides of her head. " The blood! It won't stop! Make it stop! I hate blood!"
Zac shook his head again. "You're ok! What did you dream about?"
"Leave me alone! Just go away!" She screamed at him and started to run her hands over her shirt.
"I won't go away! This has happened before Carter and you're really scaring me this time. Now tell me what the dream was about."
Carter shook her head. "I can't! It's not over yet!"
"It IS over Carter!" Taylor stared into her eyes. He had never seen her so afraid before.
"I came out here because Melissa called me and wanted to talk to me."
Zac nodded. "Then what?"
"I came out. And I waited and she came out. But she had her hands behind her back and she wasn't smiling. She walked over and told me not to steal Taylor away from her and then she pulled out a knife from behind her back."
Zac put his arm around her and put his head on her shoulder.
"And she said she can't stay in the attic her whole life. And she hates me, and you, and Tay... and mom...and I didn't even say anything. She walked up to me and traced a line on each of my cheeks with the knife. And she called me a fool and that's when she stabbed me. And I screamed. And I screamed louder. And she wouldn't stop. I couldn't push her off. Then she let go and I fell down."
"Are you ok?" Taylor asked, sincerely worried about her.
"No. It was so real. I thought... And... when I woke up, the blood was still there. And I was crying." Carter looked up at Zac. "Am I still crying?"
"No. You never were."
"I'm sorry I freaked you guys out. I really thought it was real. Oh my lord I'm a nutcase. I'm really crazy."
Zac shook his head. "It's ok. Seriously."
Carter looked up and touched the grey bags under his eyes. "How are you feeling?"
"I can't feel my arms."
"Go back inside and go to sleep."
"Not without you."
Carter sighed. "I can't sleep tonight. I'm gonna stay out here for a little while."
"Ok. Nite." Zac stood up and went back inside.
Carter pulled her knees up to her chest and stared straight ahead.
"Are you gonna be ok?" Taylor lightly put her hand on her shoulder, causing her to flinch.
"What?"
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah." She shrugged. "I'm fine."
"You really scared me."
Carter looked up at his eyes.
"When you screamed, I thought I was gonna cry. Cause I didn't know what to do. And when you stood here shaking, I didn't know what was wrong. I just went to get Zac. I didn't know you sleepwalk."
Carter sighed. "I have for a while. Usually I just go places. But... never like this."
"I was really scared."
"You were?"
"Yeah. How do you usually wake up?"
"I dunno. I usually end up in Zac's room. Or it's when he sleeps over."
"Oh. Are you sure you're ok." Taylor noticed that she was still shaking.
"I think so." She yawned.
"Wanna go back inside?"
"Yeah."
Taylor stood up and took Carter's hands, pulling her up with him. He put an arm around her waist and led her inside. She stopped inside his room.
"I wanna sleep in here with you."
"Huh?" He asked, surprised.
"Zac's sick. I don't wanna wake him up again if I go off somewhere. You can wake me up. You saw how he does it. I don't want to bug him."
Taylor nodded. "You sure?"
"Yeah."
"I'll sleep on the floor. You can have my bed."
"No. Just share the bed. It's fine. Really. I don't want you to have to sleep on the floor. You're floor sucks."
Taylor's eyes widened. "Uhm... ok."
Carter climbed into his bed, and scooted over against the wall. She pulled the covers over her and closed her eyes. Taylor laid down next to her on top of the covers and lightly touched her cheek.
"Hmm?" She mumbled. She had already fallen asleep.
"Nothing." Taylor pulled his hand away from her and sighed. "Night."
"Mmmhmm." Carter opened her eyes suddenly to find him staring at her. "Thanks for getting Zac tonight. And for not thinking I'm a whacko."
Taylor smiled. "No problem. You're not a whacko. You're just a little crazy."
"Night." She smiled back and closed her eyes.
Taylor watched her until the sun came up. There was no way he would fall asleep again knowing that she was scared.