Thunder's Storm (Raggedy Ann & Andy Fanfiction)

Chapter 9

Ann awoke in the middle of the night, for some reason she was having a bit of trouble sleeping. Letting out a bit of a yawn and a little stretch she slowly began to open her eyes. The playroom was blacker than the ace of spades, the only light coming in was from the moon light seeping through the window. Next to her was Andy, sprawled out and snoring away, but she couldn't see Thunder. For a while now instead of sleeping next to the window he had been sleeping at the foot of the little cushion Ann and Andy used for a bed. Removing the blanket over her she got up and looked around the room, squinting, it was too dark to make out all of the shadows and shapes in the distance. She remembered how scared she used to be of the dark but she always had Andy there to protect her and keep her safe. It was so silly thinking back to it now, being around for so long she came to realize that monsters in the closet and boogeyman under the bed only existed in your imagination. Stumbling around in the dark, trying to be as quiet as she could as to not wake the other toys, she searched for her little yellow friend, "Where could he have gone to?" She thought to herself. There wasn't any way he could have left the room, Marcella always closes the door behind her when she leaves, and there's no way Thunder could have opened it on his own. Then on the ground she noticed a little black shadow, cast from the light glowing through the window, and sure enough sitting there on the windowsill was Thunder. "Thunder?" She whispered walking closer. His long floppy ears perked up and he turned around with a bit of a surprised look on his face, "Ann? What are you doing up this late?" Ann pulled herself up onto the windowsill to sit next to her friend. "I just couldn't sleep, that's all." she answered, "But what about you, why are you sitting at the window?" Thunder looked down at his paws, "Oh, I just like to sit here at night sometimes, when I can't sleep either." He looked back out the window. "What's been keeping you awake? You didn't have a nightmare did you?" She asked worryingly. "Not exactly a nightmare I guess..." Thunder paused a moment, his eyes gazing off into the distance. "I had a dream about being back with Natalie and my family again." He finally let out. Ann felt her heart sink, she opened her mouth to say something but no words came out. Fixing his eyes on the moon Thunder went on, "When I have dreams like that I like to come here and look at the moon. Sometimes I wonder if she ever thinks about me and does the same." "Oh Thunder." Ann tried to comfort, putting her arms around him and nuzzling close to him. Thunder didn't seem to notice, "But she's a big girl now, she's probably forgotten all about me and moved on to a new favorite toy by now." Ann tried to think of a way to lighten the mood, "Well you know, Marcella has been starting to grow awfully fond of you," She spoke softly, "She always seems like she wants to play with you, and you've been her first pick when choosing who to take on play dates, I'd say that's a pretty big deal." Thunder turned his head to look at Ann, her red yarn hair brushing up against his cheek, "You really think so?" He asked. "I know so." She responded, petting his head and smoothing out his little tuft of hair. The two of them sat there in silence for a while, enjoying each others company. No words needed to be said for Ann to understand how grateful Thunder felt for her being there for him, the look in his eyes said it all. They both looked out into the black starry sky, "The moon sure is beautiful tonight." Thunder commented. "It sure is Thunder," Ann replied, "It sure is."