In Our Room

(This takes place late Monday night - Tues morning)

The corridor was long and dark, it seemed never ending. The more she ran the longer it got but she had to get help. She could hear his footsteps behind her getting closer and closer. She heard a smash behind her; which made her stop and turn around. She then heard...her name?

"Dawn, Dawn wake up. Dawn."

The sound of her roommate's voice brought her out of her dream state. Dawn looked over to see April sitting up in her bed with a look of concern on her face.

"You had a nightmare," April explained. "Are you alright?"

Dawn took a moment to catch her breath. "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, I woke you "

"You don't have to apologize," April shook her head. "I believed you, last night when you said that you were fine but I don't now. Do you want to talk about it?"

Dawn pushed her covers off of her. She got up and went to the fridge. "You want a drink?"

"No, I want to know what's bothering you." April responded. April, who was usually shy, wasn't that way around Dawn. The two had just connected pretty easily.

Dawn got an apple juice and sat down on a chair. Opening the juice; she drank some which did its best to settle her some but neither girl spoke for a few moments. Finally, Dawn spoke up. "Remember I told you that Doug was my other brother but we didn't get along. Well, there is more; some of which I didn't know until more recently. Are you sure you want to know?" Up until now Dawn had protected April from how bad she believed Doug had gotten.

"Yes." April nodded. "Especially if it helps you out."

Dawn went about telling April how Doug cornered her, how he's gotten worse with Zander and about what Dawn suspected Doug was doing to Mel but had no proof of. Of course both Dawn and April had seen Melissa walking around on crutches.

April listened to Dawn talk for as long as the other girl needed; when it seemed like Dawn had finished. April just couldn't help but ask. "I don't get it. I mean you and Zander aren't anything like that. Why is Doug?"

Dawn shrugged. "I don't know; for sure. I'm starting to think it's related to whatever happened before he was adopted by our moms." She then explained. "All three of us are adopted. Our parents adopted Doug when he was four. He had been abandoned. I think it caused some...psychological issues. Our moms have sent him to a bunch of different therapists but there were never any real results but he was never this bad. If he had been I don't think they would have sent him away or maybe to a different kind of boarding school. Zander and I suspected a change last summer which was why Zander decided to come here and keep an eye on Doug but we just thought he might be using girls or into something he shouldn't be; nothing like this."

April nodded. She had no siblings, so she didn't know what it was like but she could tell this was wearing on her friend. "You and Zander are also adopted?"

"Yes," Dawn took another sip of her juice. "But we are biological siblings. You already know we're twins. We were adopted after Doug. I think he's always been a little jealous of us. Not that our parents treat us better than him but he had all of their attention and then had to share it. Also, Zander and I have that twin connection thing going on. We didn't purposely exclude Doug though until he made it impossible to include him because he would pick on Zander, so much."

April wished she could do more than just listen. "Are you afraid he'll attack you again?"

"Yes but it's more than that. I'm afraid he'll do something worse to Melissa or he'll attack Zander in some way that'll seriously hurt him. I'm worried that he might attack someone else...maybe someone not ready for it." Dawn looked down and then said. "I'm worried he'll find out that…I ...well...that I like you and he'll go after you." Dawn took a deep breath. "Maybe, it's better we're not dating. Sorry, I don't think that came out right."

"No, I understand what you meant." April did understand. That wasn't a comment about her indecisiveness. It was a comment about Dawn's fear of Doug and what he might be capable of doing.

April got out of her bed and walked over to where Dawn was. She reached out her hand to the other girl who looked up at her, clearly surprised by the gesture. April gently said, "I have an idea. Will you just take my hand?"

Dawn took the other April's hand. April led them to Dawn's bed then let Dawn get back into bed before she said, "I could lay with you, if you want."

Dawn smiled slightly, pulled back her covers and patted the bed next to her; taking April up on the offer without saying a word.

April crawled into bed next to Dawn, turned to face her, and kissed the other girl on the forehead. Before turning back around and the last thing she felt before, they both drifted to sleep was Dawn snuggled up to her.

Dawn awoke to April next to her in her bed and she had to admit; it felt nice. She, kind of, wished that it could happen more often. She just lay there for a moment before April rolled over and opened her eyes. "Good morning," Dawn smiled.

April returned the smile. "So, I guess it helped."

Dawn nodded, bit her lip a moment and then kissed April on her forehead. "I owed you one." Explaining the kiss.

April chuckled. "Well, we should get up and get ready."

"Unfortunately," Dawn said lightly.

"Well, there's coffee." April started to get out of bed. "Come on"

"Alright, I'm getting up." Dawn got up.

Both girls got ready and then headed towards the coffee cart.