Carolyn wasn't aware of how long she slept. A long time. The sleep was broken up by nightmares, brief moments of consciousness that quickly slipped away as her body forced her into rest. Maybe she was just that tired, maybe she just needed it. Or maybe the nightmares kept her from really resting as she should have been, so she slept longer to compensate.

Once or twice, she woke up to find Riddick at her bedside, one firm hand on her shoulder as though to keep her from levitating off the mattress. She was barely awake long enough to acknowledge him. The nightmares were awful and persistant - pitch black and full of viscous blood. She couldn't see anything, but she could hear everything, smell it, feel it, the tearing flesh, the cooling rock under her hands, the screeching and hissing. Now and then, a hand would come out of the dark and haul her to her feet, pulling her out of the dream.

When she finally came back to herself, rested but disoriented, it was dark outside and she had no sense of time, didn't know if it had been hours or days. The light at the ceiling still filled the apartment with a sickly glow and she turned slowly onto her back, finding herself achy and stiff, as though she'd been rigid and tense the whole time. She cleared her throat and blinked slowly, not even sure if Riddick had kept his word, if he had stayed by his side the whole time.

She had been here for weeks now and had barely spoken to anyone. Carolyn had taken to long, long walks, wandering the city and the country outside, but always watching the sun. There had been one close call, one time she'd gotten lost and had experienced one long panic attack as she rushed home, certain she wouldn't make it back before the sun went down. She hadn't realized, until then, just how much of a mess she was. Sleeping with the lights on hadn't seemed like an issue - she just fell asleep with them on, it wasn't purposeful.

Except it was, and the thought of being caught outside at night had filled her with a terror so deep she'd spent the rest of the evening locked in her bathroom, where there were no windows. Sleep wasn't coming easily, but the food here was better than anywhere she'd stayed in a while, so it wasn't hard to make herself eat.

Carolyn spent most of her time working out. It was how she'd gotten through the academy. Fighting got her in trouble back then, so she burned off aggression in running, or boxing. She couldn't break the noses of the bastards who gave her shit, so she bruised her knuckles on a bag.

The park was nice. The air was clear and people generally left her alone. The sun came encouragingly down through the trees as she ran, keeping to the paths, enjoying the way sweat ran down her back, between her shoulderblades. Maybe she was dead. Maybe she was in a hospital somewhere. But this place wasn't too bad - so long as she kept herself out of the dark, and out of trouble.