“We did it Cap’n,” Alliea says.
I close my eyes, exhausted.
“Wake me up in time for the next battle,” I murmur.
And I fall asleep, in my Captain’s chair.
And I dream. Awful, terrible, stomach-churning dreams. I always do. Each of my dreams ends with my own rape and torture. I yearn to wake myself up, to escape the horror. But I know that my body needs the rest. I need to recharge, keep my strength up.
So I remain asleep, dreaming horrors, knowing that when I finally awake, things will be, by and large, much worse than ever I dreamed.