Nightmares do funny things to the brain. They make every sound turn into a monster, every shadow hold your greatest fear, and, when you wake up, drenched in cold sweat, you really want nothing more than a hot shower and somebody to hold you.

I can't tell you the exact contents of my dream, only that it was really scary and contained Evan talking to Lord Voldemort and Cecelia dating Adam. And then there were the aliens from Signs and the whisper people from Knowing. (I hate those stupid aliens from Signs. They are so freaking scary. After I watched it, I had to have someone wait outside my room before I fell asleep every night for a week, and I touched every wall of every room to make sure there wasn't an alien on it.)

So I woke up, my heart beating fast like I had been running, my face drenched in cold sweat. I wiped tears from my eyes. This dream was even scarier than Signs.

"Shhhhh." Neil pressed a washcloth to my forehead. "Go back to sleep."

In my half awake state, I considered marrying that man. Only Neil would be so sweet. I was really glad that he was my roommate. I lifted a hand to take the washcloth from him, but, with clumsy just-awake muscles, I ended up with my hand on top of his. Then I forgot what I was trying to do and fell back asleep. This time, only pleasant dreams ambled through my mind.

I woke up a second time in the morning. I sat up and realized that Neil wasn't in his bed. I looked around. Did he fall off? And there he was, sleeping with his head on my spare pillow, sitting on the floor and leaning against my bed. For a moment, I wondered why, but then I saw that my hand, which had so carelessly fallen on his during the night, held his fingers tightly.

I removed my hand quickly and left the room with my violin. Things would be pretty awkward when he awoke.