1

Karen Woods woke with a scream. Bolting upright in bed, she pressed her hand over her chest as she breathed deep and hard. Her pajamas were drenched with sweat, and her heart was pounding so fast that it felt as if it were about to race straight through her.

"Karen, Karen, what is it?" Grandma Shields flipped on the light and hurried into the guest bedroom.

The twelve year old sobbed once and held out her arms, needing comfort.

It was a dream she'd had before. Lots of times.

Her grandmother sat on the edge of the mattress, gathered Karen in her arms, and held her close. Karen knew she was too old to be cuddled this way, but just then she needed someone's arms around her.

"What is it, child?" Beverly Shields asked her softly, smoothing the damp hair away from Karen's brow. "You're trembling something terrible."

"I had a bad dream," Karen managed to say.

"The same bad dream you had the last time you stayed overnight?"

Karen nodded.

"Do you want to tell your grandma about this dream that frightens you so much?"

Karen shook her head. The nightmare was bad enough without having to tell anyone else about it. Some parts of it she didn't even remember, and one main part she did and wished she didn't. Every time she thought about the dream, she wanted to crawl under the blankets and not come out for a long time.

"Dreams can be real scary sometimes," her grandmother said gently, continuing to stroke Karen's brow.

"Don't leave, okay?" Karen asked. She felt like a wimp, needing her grandmother in bed with her, but she didn't care. She didn't want to be alone. In a few minutes she'd be okay, but not just yet.

Since her mom and dad's divorce, Karen had spent a lot of time by herself. She didn't mind that as much as she had when her parents used to fight. Before her father moved out of the house they'd done that almost all the time.

"Do you miss your mother?" Beverly asked. "Is that the trouble?"

Karen shrugged. Her mother's job as an auditor for one of the big Los Angeles banks often took her out of town. Karen didn't mind staying with her grandparents on the nights her mother was away. It was kinda fun.

"When I was a girl I sometimes had nightmares," Beverly told her.

Karen twisted around so she could see her grandmother's kind face. Even when she was only a little kid, she had liked her grandma Shields better than anyone.

"I dreamed a man with an ax was running after me, and no matter how fast I ran, he ran faster," Beverly Shields said, "and when he finally caught up with me, the ax would be rubber, and the murderer was my older brother. Then he'd laugh and laugh and laugh because it had been so easy to frighten me. That's when I'd wake up, shaking and afraid, and really mad."

"Did…did you go back to sleep?"

Copyright © 1994 by Debbie Macomber.