The silence in the room hung heavy, thick with the lingering echo of a sudden, violent awakening. It took Jayden a long, agonizing sequence of moments to soothe the erratic rise and fall of Sarah's breathing, to coax the panic out of her shivering frame after the nightmare had torn her ruthlessly from sleep.
Even now, long after the initial gasp of terror had dissolved into quiet, hiccuping sobs, he remained seated on the bed, shielding her against his chest. His arms formed a quiet sanctuary around her, his chin resting gently atop her hair as he listened to the frantic flutter of her heartbeat gradually slowing down against his ribs. Beneath the steady rhythm of his own breathing, Jayden's mind was racing.
He held her tight, feeling the agonizingly frail tremble in her shoulders, wondering how best to navigate the fractured pieces of her grief without shattering her entirely.
