Nightmares are NOT cool!

I woke up really really early because Max was having a really bad dream, and talking to herself in the middle of the night. Everyone else seemed to sleep right through it, but it was so unreal. It seemed like I was right there in the dream with her...probably because I had been in REAL LIFE. She kept yelling out Angel's name, and mumbling to herself that she needed to keep going. "Don't stop. Get up," she said repeatedly. I could see in my own head the play-by-play of what was going on in her nightmare. Erasers grabbing Nudge's hands and feet and tossing her like a rag doll, laying crumpled at the base of a tree in a bed of pine needles. Iggy unconscious on the floor, his one eye swollen shut. The salty taste of blood collecting in my mouth. Everyone was going down like flies, but she kept persevering. And Angel...her tiny little Angel, crying out for Max, high-pitched and terrified. We watched helplessly as she was scooped up by three Erasers and stuffed into a bag. There was nothing she, or I, or anyone could do. This is what I saw:

Just as I was about to wake her up, she snapped out of it and sat straight up. "Everything went black," she said. "I know," I reassured her. I know. We both looked at Angel, asleep in sweet dreams of her own, and we knew everything was ok. For now...