Work Text:
The broken golf club comes down with a sickening squelch. Ellie is screaming, the arms holding her down constricting tighter. She can’t breathe, yet ear splitting screams still tear from her throat somehow.
Nononono
She fights savagely, bucking her hips twisting and turning, riling against what she has just seen.
Then she is falling a short distance, slamming against the ground hard, cutting her off mid scream. The arms are somehow still around her as she tries to draw in breath and make sense of what just happened, still struggling to get free.
Then she can hear Joel calling her name. She freezes, before the lights turn on blinding her, a small whimper escaping her lips.
What the fuck is going on? Where was Joel?
Then she hears her name again rounding the foot of the bed, her eyes snapping to Joel’s voice. He immediately drops to his knees, one hand going to the side of her face.
“Ellie, are you okay? What happened?”. He glances around, on alert for danger.
“Joel?” she manages to get out through trembling lips. Then she is struggling again trying to get free of her restraints. Joel realizes what she is trying to do and starts tugging at the blankets helping unwind them from around her. As soon as her arms are free she throws them around his neck pulling her self up and against his chest. A sob tears from her throat as she buried her face in the crook of his neck.
He automatically wraps his arms around her, pulling her closer.
“Shh baby. You’re alright shh shh” he soothes, rubbing a hand up and down her back.
She clings to him desperately slowing realizing that it was just a nightmare.
Joel was safe. Joel was okay. Joel was alive.
It was just a nightmare.