When Talon woke up the next morning, his body felt more tense than usual. Was it the stress he had been under? Possibly he was feeding off of the same energy that seemed to have both his girlfriend and his mother in such a frenzy? Talon felt like he was getting just as much rest as he normally would, but this last month has been wearing on his body more than he expected.

Once the sleep was successfully rubbed out of his eyes, he turned to see Vanessa shaking on the couch, her body trembling under the blanket as dried tears lined her face.

"Oh my god, Vanessa, are you okay?" Talon jumped from the spot he'd slept last night after not wanting to leave Vanessa's side, especially after the events of yesterday.

Talon was still shocked by Vanessa's reaction, and a small part of his brain was convinced that maybe she was right. Maybe there was a little girl drowning and he should have let Vanessa help her sooner. But the more he thought about it the more he was confused.

Vanessa looked up at him, shaking her head.

"It's so cold in here." She mumbled as she wrapped the blanket around her even tighter. Talon could feel his own beads of sweat forming on the back of his neck. It was definitely not cold in here, and felt like his mother had messed with the thermostat again, twisting the knob trying to turn the screen off. Talon jumped up and rushed to the panel on the wall to read the temperature was nearly eighty degrees.

"Vanessa, you said you were cold?" Talon asked. He walked back towards Vanessa and placed his hand on her forehead. She was burning up.

"Yes, it's freezing in here."

"Vanessa, I think you are really sick, and we need to go to the hospital." Talon mumbled while rubbing her forehead.

"I'm not sick." She groaned, leaving Talon feeling helpless. He needed to get her to a doctor so she could get checked out, and he wasn't sure how he was going to convince her of that if she wasn't willing to go on her own.

"Yes you are, you have a really terrible fever, and let's be honest, you haven't slept like that in months. I'm willing to bet even before you started sleeping here, you didn't actually sleep. I'm nervous about you. I wake up at three in the morning to see you sitting there staring at a wall, to then wake up again at seven and you are in the same spot." Talon wandered around the house, gathering his things so he was ready to go once he could convince her to get off the couch.

"I've never slept. I don't need sleep." Vanessa nearly shouted back. Talon stopped in his tracks, dropping his running shoes to the ground with a loud thud.

"What do you mean you don't need sleep?"

"I can't remember a week where I got good sleep every single night. Most of the time, it's either a bad dream or a nightmare, or worse." Vanessa shook her head, and Talon could sense it was like she was trying not to remember or see something. How bad had things really gotten with her?

"That's not good, Vanessa, let's get you an appointment and get you checked out. We can go see my mother's doctor. I've grown quite close with him and I think he'd be willing to see me on such short notice. I can give him a call." Talon urged. His phone was already in his hand, ready to make the call, regardless of how Vanessa responded.

"Yeah. If anything, maybe I can get some sleeping pills to help."

Talon cocked his head. He was shocked she had responded this way. It felt as if Vanessa had fought him around every corner when it came to her sleep habits. This hadn't been the first time Talon had urged her to get seen by someone, but definitely the furthest they've ever gotten in the conversation.

"Great, I'll go make the call then." Talon disappeared around the corner after hitting the call button and putting the phone to his ear.

The doctor's office was calmer than normal, and Talon appreciated how quiet it was. He'd been in this seat too many times before with his mother, so bringing his girlfriend felt like another jab to the heart.

Would every single person Talon had feelings for end up sick? Was he a virus that infected these people, basically killing them?

"Hey Talon, this is a little bit of a different circumstance, but hopefully your mother is doing well." Doctor Ladson smiled, reaching across the room to shake Talon's hand.

"She's doing mostly well. There's been a few emergency freak outs over the last couple of weeks, but her next appointment should be pretty boring."

"That's good to hear!" The doctor smiled.

Talon looked him over, noticing the wrinkles in his face and the smile he held when he looked at Vanessa. Dr. Ladson took a seat in the chair next to his computer and ran his fingers through his salt and pepper hair. Talon understood the grays so much more now that he'd been dealing with his mother and Vanessa.

"Alright Vanessa, I just have a few questions for you first before we get into the issue you've been having." Dr. Ladson typed away on his computer before turning to look at Vanessa. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-five."

"Any known medical conditions in the family?"

"I have no clue."

The doctor clicked his tongue and added her answers to his files. Talon watched as Vanessa fidgeted with her fingers, tugging at the bottom of her shirt in nerves. He moved the chair over an inch and placed his hand on her knee, and hoped it would bring her some sense of comfort. He knew it did the second she placed her hand on his and squeezed.

"Okay, let's get talking about the problem, then. What seems to be bugging you?" Dr. Ladson asked as he turned away from his computer to put his full attention on Vanessa. This was the thing Talon liked most about him.

"My sleep." Vanessa muttered.

"You are just having a hard time sleeping?" Dr. Ladson asked.

Talon searched Vanessa's face as he waited for her to say anything else. When it felt like she was going to be silent for forever, he spoke up instead.

"She's been spending a few nights at my house every week and it seems like she only gets an hour, maybe two, of sleep a night, but she's usually staring in the corner of the room like she saw something." Talon felt so stupid mentioning this to the doctor. It felt like such a silly reason to be here, but he knew there had to be something wrong with Vanessa.

"Is that true, Vanessa?" The doctor asked, putting some glasses on while he took notes on his clipboard. His large finger pressing the frames closer to his face.

"Yes." Vanessa mumbled, "I've been having issues for a long time now, but it seems to get worse the older I get."

"So is it just sleeplessness or anything else going on at the same time?"

"Well, there's more." Vanessa froze, and it almost seemed as if something was whispering in her ear. Talon watched carefully, taking in every detail of how she turned her head towards her shoulder, shifting her neck so she could what? Hear better?

"Tell me about it. I can only help if I know what's going on." The doctor tapped his pen on the clipboard, waiting for her to respond.

"I think she has nightmares as well." Talon was shocked when the words flew out of his mouth. He'd been thinking it, noticing the similarities between Vanessa and his mother's delusions, but Vanessa was sharp, she was brilliant, there was no way she had Alzheimers like his mother.

"Is that true?" The doctor pressed for more information.

"Yes, I have nightmares when I close my eyes, so I just don't close them anymore." Vanessa tried to hide her face behind her hair. Talon felt slightly relieved that she was finally opening up. They'd been together for a month, but spending time together almost weekly for a few months prior to that. Talon didn't feel like a stranger anymore, he couldn't be. He understood it was still early, but that didn't change how much he cared about Vanessa and just wanted her to get better.

"Do you remember these nightmares?"

Vanessa shook her head in response.

"Then how do you know you have them?"

"They are so detailed, I'll remember the smallest portions of them. The voice I hear, the things I do. I wake up in different spots of my apartment. Things like the bathtub will be full or a mirror will be knocked over. I never feel rested, and if anything, I always have this feeling that the people around me are familiar and trying to hurt me."

"Sounds like you have some paranoia around the world."

"I guess... you could say that." Vanessa shifted nervously under the questions.

"Have you tried sleeping pills to help you get to sleep and stay asleep?"

"No, well yes, I've always just tried the over-the-counter ones, but never any prescribed. I've never been to a doctor about this issue."

Talon pulled his attention from Vanessa. He suddenly felt like he was intruding. His hand was still gently placed on her thigh as he looked at the posters around the room, even though he'd seen them all a hundred times.

The similarities between Vanessa and his mother were growing exponentially. The room suddenly felt smaller, and the air felt like it was getting harder to breathe. He knew he needed to stay here as moral support for Vanessa, but it was getting harder to stay seated.

"Do you have any issues during the day with these problems?" Talon's interest peaked again, and he knew if there wasn't an answer to this question, he would have to step in. This was the biggest reason they were here‌.

"Well..." She froze, looking around the room as if she was trying to find the words to say.

"Well?" The doctor nudged in the most polite way possible.

"I'm not really sure. We are here because yesterday while we were on a date, I saw a girl drowning in the pond. Everyone keeps telling me it was all in my head, but what I saw was so vivid. I have no clue what to believe." Vanessa took a deep breath as she placed her hands on her face. "The little girl had brown hair and little green bows that wrapped around her pigtails. I know the details, I can recall them, but when the ambulance showed up, and the way the crowd was looking at me like I was completely insane. What am I supposed to do? I feel deep down in my bones that I should have saved her, but no one else knew what I was talking about."

Talon could see the tears threatening to fall down Vanessa's face.

"How did you sleep the night before? Did you get some rest before your date?"

Vanessa pulled out her phone and showed the doctor her calendar. "Storm clouds are days where I get less than three hours of sleep. Sunshine is a full night's rest with no nightmares, and the gray cloud is more than three hours, but I was up with nightmares."

A mental image of the calendar flashed through Talon's mind. He could remember seeing mostly storm clouds, with a few gray ones scattered in. How could he have not noticed how little sleep she was getting at his house?

"Vanessa, I'm thinking you have Parasomnia, but we would need to do a sleep study to be sure. This is a super rare condition, but if we can lock down what triggers it, then we should be able to help you out."

"Parasomnia?"