Page 41 of A Very Fake Play

I’m paralyzed, unsure of what to do.

“I’m not like them. I’m not like them. I’m not like them.”

Who is she talking about?

I approach the bed.

Her arms and legs are fighting with the sheets.

“Don’t hurt me. Please, don’t hurt me. No!”

Harley lets out a piercing scream that takes ten years off my life.

She snaps awake with a sharp gasp, sits upright in bed, her eyes wide.

I sit next to her.

She stares at me as if she doesn’t see me.

That was intense.

I grab her face into the palms of my hands and angle her head so her eyes lock onto mine. “It’s okay.”

She still has that glassy look in her eyes.

I brush her damp hair off her face. “Do you see me?”

Nothing.

“Harley?”

She blinks twice.

“It’s only the two of us in the house,” I say. “No boogie man.”

She intakes a sharp breath.

“Ka— Kaz—” She dissolves into tears.

“You’re safe, Harley.”

Her breathing is labored.

My pulse races, thumping against my temples. “You had a nightmare.”

“I’m sorry I woke you up. I haven’t even been here twenty-four hours, and already, I’m a terrible roommate.”

“Shh, you didn’t. I wasn’t asleep yet. And for the record, you’re not a terrible roommate.”

She shuffles closer to me on the bed, and I wrap my arms around her.

She’s shaking like a leaf.

Her sobs intensify, and her body jerks with her cries.

“You can share whatever’s so heavy on your mind.”

She shakes her head against my chest.