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Yaz almost felt jealous that the others could sleep so easily, when to her, sleep was just becoming another thing for her to survive.
Sighing, she looked down at the tablet in her hands and gripped it tightly, refusing to let the need for sleep win. She knew exactly what would happen as soon as her eyes closed. The night terrors would return, leaving her to once again face her fears and trauma of running for her life while being chased by dinosaurs. Even the thought of these nightmares made her heart race painfully, along with her breathing to become rapid.
“Yaz? Is everything all right, dear?” Mae asked gently, turning in her chair to face the now trembling teenager.
Yaz jumped slightly and looked up to meet Mae’s concerned eyes that were assessing her carefully. She nodded, hoping it would be convincing enough for her to not ask any questions. Unfortunately it wasn’t and of course not, this was a scientist who researched feelings and behaviours in dinosaurs . There was no doubt that she would be able to read body language in humans as well.
Yaz swallowed and concentrated on the tablet in front of her, trying to ignore the look Mae was still giving her. She didn’t want to talk about it.
Mae already seemed to sense this, choosing to not pry further. Instead, she reached over and placed a gentle hand on Yaz’s shoulder. “As much as I appreciate your help here, I do think you should go take a break, maybe get some rest—like the others? I can multitask and keep watch.”
Yaz quickly shook her head. “No, I’m fine. I don’t need sleep… I just need to keep myself busy.” She cleared her throat and straightened up.
After a minute, Mae sighed and turned back to her desk. “I understand that you’ve been through a lot, Yaz, that ALL of you have. But I can sense something’s wrong. I also understand that you don’t know me very well and probably don’t feel comfortable talking about it with me, but perhaps to one of your friends instead?”
At her words, Yaz’s gaze drifted over to the group who were all sleeping by the couches, each of them snoring softly, well, apart from Kenji whose snoring could rival that of the T-Rex’s. Snorting at the sound,
Yaz then moved her gaze to rest on Sammy, who was curled up in one of the armchairs, sleeping peacefully. Her heart rate instantly slowed to a more comfortable pace, lips pulling up into a small smile. Sammy was like a ray of sunshine to the darkness, something that Yaz was grateful for. The girl from Texas had helped her in so many ways.
The distraction in thoughts had left Yaz’s mind fuzzy, the need for sleep becoming even stronger until finally, it won. Her eyes began to close, head tilting back to rest on the cave wall behind her. And then everything went dark.
Yaz sprinted through the forest, leaping over the many tree roots that lay in her path. There was a thunderous roar behind her, causing the surroundings to shudder with its intensity along with the stomping of very large feet. Completely alone, she began to panic, forcing herself to run even faster. Where she was going she didn’t know, all she could do was run further away from the sound of that roar.
A nearby scream made her slow, twisting around frantically to see where it came from. It sounded familiar. More panic set in as she stumbled on the spot, debating what to do. Another roar sounded and she started running again, covering her ears from the ear splitting noise. Then there was another familiar scream, and then one more, this time from someone different. Two more followed, the five screams coming from different directions which left Yaz spinning on the spot in confusion. And then she saw it. Each of her friends were lying on the forest floor, screaming for help as a dinosaurs’ approached each of them. The T-Rex, Indominous Rex, Scorpious Rex, a trio of Velociraptor and a Carnotaurus stalked them, their teeth bared.
“No,” Yaz screamed helplessly. She couldn’t let this happen.
“Ahhh!”
“Yaz!”
“AHHHHH!”
“Yaz, no, run, get out of here!” Sammy yelled out, holding her hands over her head as the Scorpious Tex growled above.
“Get away from me! AHHH!”
Tears were streaming down her face as Yaz stood frozen to the spot. She didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t just leave her friends behind, they surely wouldn’t leave her. A growl behind her, followed by a puff of hot air against her neck made Yaz gasp. She refused to turn around to face the culprit. The snarl and large puffs of air hitting her back were telling enough as to what towered behind her.
The tears continued and she locked eyes with Sammy, whose chocolate brown eyes were wide with fear and horror. “Nooo! Run Yaz!”
Even through the fear, an idea suddenly crossed her mind and Yaz started sprinting away. As she’d hoped, it instantly caught all the dinosaurs' attention, each of them starting to follow her, clearly more interested in this fleeing prey than the cornered, injured ones.
Now she was once again running for her life, with all six dinosaurs eager to make her their meal. The ground was shaking underneath her so much that she could barely run. Yet she never stopped, taking extra care not to trip. This was life or death. But then it happened. She was suddenly being lifted into the air, something squeezing around her body tightly. Screaming and arms flailing, Yaz lashed out at whatever was holding her, causing it to drop her onto the hard floor below.
“Yaz?!” Someone cried out. “Woah, calm down—it’s just us!”
Yaz’s eyes flung open to see six faces peering down at her from where she lay on the cave floor, each with worried expressions. Her skin was clammy, forehead damp with sweat and she was panting loudly. There was an ache in her body that was becoming more pronounced with each second that passed. Holding a hand to her head, Yaz blinked, still feeling dazed. “What happened?”
Sammy knelt down next to her and brought a hand to her shoulder. “You fell asleep sitting here. Kenji tried to carry you over to the couch so you’d be more comfortable when you started moving around a bit, but when he tried, you…kinda freaked out and then he dropped you onto the floor.”
Kenji rubbed his chin. “Yeah, you got me really good.”
Brooklynn eyed the blooming bruise. “Come on, let’s get some ice for that.” She pulled him away from the group and he went willingly, a blush forming at their conjoined hands.
Darius raised an eyebrow. “You okay, Yaz? You really did freak out there?”
Ben nodded in agreement, his own eyebrows furrowed with concern.
Yaz shook her head. She didn’t want to talk about it, not to everyone, at least not yet.
Mae bent down to assess her carefully. “You took quite a fall there. If I may suggest, my bedroom is right through that door, perhaps you should lie down there for a bit. You’re clearly still tired and having a quiet space might help—“
“It’s okay. I’m fine. That’s enough sleep for me.” Yaz tried to stand up on shaky legs. The idea of sleeping again was already making the panic return, especially if she was in a room all by herself. They’d all slept in a group for the majority of their time spent surviving on Isla Nublar, so it wouldn’t make her feel any safer sleeping by herself.
—I was going to say that maybe you could take a friend in with you, have a chat and some rest, even if you don’t sleep,” Mae finished.
Yaz nodded slowly and gave her a grateful smile. “Sammy…would you?” She knew it was Sammy that she definitely wanted to be with her.
“Of course. Come on.” Sammy wrapped an arm around her waist to support her over to the room. The others watched them go, though no one said a word. For that Yaz was thankful. She didn’t want everyone to make a big fuss about it.
Sammy supported her to the bed, helping her to sit down on the unusually soft mattress. They’d grown so used to sleeping on makeshift beds made out of sticks or leaves—even the ground—that this mattress felt rather odd. Even the bed on the boat hadn’t been as comfortable, not that they’d spent much time sleeping or lying on it, all of them too high on the excitement of finally getting home.
“Yaz…?” Sammy began, coming to sit down beside her, “is everything okay?”
Yaz sighed and hung her head low. There was no point in lying, not to Sammy. “I…need to tell you something.”
She told Sammy everything. The fears, the nightmares. Everything. At the end, tears were threatening to spill, despite her best efforts to keep them at bay. Yaz had always hated showing emotion in front of people. It was extremely hard for her to talk about her feelings to anyone, always choosing to avoid it whenever possible. Until now, her mum had been the only exception. With Sammy, it was somehow easier than with others. The connection they had was…different. Extending to something beyond platonic love and friendship.
“Oh…Yaz.” Sammy engulfed her in a tight hug, resting her cheek against her shoulder. “I’m so sorry you were going through all of that, if I knew—“
Yaz quickly shook her head. “No, it’s fine. I…just need to learn to deal with it. And I don’t think I can until we are safe, and away from all of this .”
Sammy hugged her tighter. “I know, but you still need to sleep.”
Yaz sniffled. She was right of course. “Yeah…” she replied softly.
They sat there in silence for a moment, before Sammy sat up suddenly, startling Yaz with her enthusiasm. “What about…if we sleep together?!”
Yaz’s mouth dropped open in shock, eyebrows shooting up to her hairline. Was she really…?
Upon seeing Yaz’s face, Sammy threw up her hands. “Oh no, not like that. I meant like we could sleep right next to each other here and it might help you feel a bit safer? Maybe?”
Yaz almost burst out laughing at the misinterpretation. But something about the idea was almost comforting. She nodded wordlessly and looked back at the soft bed. The tiredness was still there, so more sleep was definitely needed.
Slowly, Yaz kicked off her muddy shoes and scooted back onto the bed so that she lay on one side. Sammy did the same, moving to the other side so they faced each other. They spent a minute gazing into the others eyes, warm smiles on both of their faces. And for a moment all the fears were gone. It was just the two of them.
Sammy gave her another sleepy smile, eyes drooping slightly. “This bed…is so…comfy.” She yawned and wriggled closer to Yaz so that they were touching.
Yaz chuckled. “It is, except I’m not sure I can fall asleep.” The nightmare from earlier replayed through her head, making her wince slightly.
Sammy slung an arm over Yaz, pulling herself even closer. “I’ll tell you what. My mum used to hum this little lullaby to us kids and it always helped me go to sleep…maybe I could hum it for you?”
“Okay…sure, why not,” Yaz replied with interest. The comfort of Sammy’s embrace was already helping, though a lullaby would certainly be more appealing to fall asleep to then the echoes of dinosaur roars.
Sammy cleared her throat and began to hum softly, bringing a hand to stroke the hair out of Yaz’s face. The touch—along with the lullaby—made all the tension leave her body, allowing sleep to come more easily. But before she fully succumbed to sleep, Yaz felt the slight pressure of lips pressing against her forehead.
Maybe they weren’t completely free of the danger they were in, but in this moment, Yaz felt safe and for the first time in a while, she was free of the nightmares.