Stacey woke with a scream during the night. Immediately, the light turned on and Ning came rushing into the room with three other bodyguards, while Stacey sat up, gasping for air and coughing. Her throat was dry and her heart was racing so fast, she thought she was going to faint. Her broken ribs stabbed at her, making it hard to catch her breath.
She clawed at her chest, her throat, struggling to breathe through the stabbing pain. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't breathe.
She must have had a nightmare but she couldn't remember it now. She only remembered the awful dread and fear. Her mouth was dry and she felt off balance.
A nurse bustled in to check on her, while Stacey clung to whichever bodyguard it was sitting by her side and patting her back. She leaned into them, feeling dizzy. A tablet was pushed into her mouth and it dissolved rapidly upon contact with her saliva with a fizz.
The pain magically eased enough for Stacey to breathe again. What was that thing they'd given her?
The nurse checked her vital signs and encouraged Stacey to slow her breathing down. A thick hot drink that tasted like chocolate and marshmallow was given to her to sip at. Stacey used a spoon to eat it as well as a warm, gooey pudding before she was able to completely calm down. They tasted so good. It was amazing how sugar could be so helpful.
Stacey licked the spoon with satisfaction, feeling fatigue creep up on her again. Her bodyguard and the nurse eased her back into the bedsheets. Her eyes drooped and she fell asleep, only to wake up some time later with her heart racing and stomach heaving again.
It was no good. She felt sick.
Stacey fell out of the bed in her scramble to the toilet. She tried to get up to get to the toilet but slipped and fell on the slippery floor. Too late. Everything she had eaten earlier came back up. She continued vomiting even when her stomach had emptied itself.
Again, she had no idea what she had dreamed of for her body to have this reaction. Maybe she was remembering the battle in her sleep or something. Whatever it was, she was kind of glad that she couldn't remember. Even so, having such a strong reaction was distressing. She felt so uncomfortable. Her head and neck prickled with heat and discomfort. They felt tight, as if pressure was building up inside.
A nurse helped her into the shower while another one cleaned up the mess she had made. Stacey felt embarrassed to admit that she was now afraid to go back to sleep. Just thinking about it made her heart beat harder and faster.
When the nurses turned to go, Stacey reached out to grab the edge of one of their aprons.
"Don't leave me alone," she pleaded. "Please, don't leave me alone."
The nurse sat by her side, holding her hand for a while. Stacey slowly dropped off, listening to her sing a slow song in Tadpole.
When she woke up with a start later, she found Ning sitting by her side.
"Had another nightmare, my lady?" he gave her a gentle smile in the dim light. "We're here. Your bodyguards are here to keep you safe. There's nothing to fear. Look," he placed a large pink soft toy in the shape of an elephant into her arms. "Lord Huo instructed me to give you this. It's Tadpole name translates as muddy elephant in English. In some parts of the world, this creature is said to eat bad dreams and keep the people living near it safe from night terrors. Why don't you hug it to sleep? My little sister had one of these when she was younger too, but her toy was blue."
The elephant had a strangely thin, tapered trunk. There were floppy maple leaf shaped ears and no tusks. It had a pointed face, despite its broad forehead. Stacey hugged it just like Ning suggested.
"You won't leave me alone, will you?" she asked Ning.
"I'll be here, my lady," Ning reassured her. "If not me then one of the others in the team. You won't be alone. Even if the world ended and you couldn't pay us, we'd still stay by your side. We're your guards for life. We won't leave you alone."
"I don't need you for life," Stacey yawned and then snuggled into her blankets. "I just need you here for tonight."
Maybe it was Ning's promise. Maybe it was the muddy elephant toy that wasn't actually muddy but soft and cuddly. Whatever it was, Stacey managed to sleep dreamlessly for the rest of the night.