𝐻𝒾𝒹𝒹𝑒𝓃 𝒦𝒾𝓈𝓈 |•| 𝐀 𝐏𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲

Goodnight My Children

The children protested and protested as they watched their father take Nana out into the backyard.

“I have been humiliated! No! I must become a man that children fear, and adults respectt! Or we shall all end up, in the streets!” Mr. Darling yelled in outrage as he tied Nana on a leash in the yard.

“George not so loud” Mrs. Darling sighed in her usual soft voice.

“George the neighbors will hear” Aunt Millicent gritted through her perfect teeth.

“Let them hear! Let the whole world now! This, is not a nurse! This, is a dog” Mr. Darling barked as he ripped the bonnet off Nana’s head. He then turned back to his family with a calmer expression, but still holding much authority “Tomorrow, Margret you will start your lessons with Aunt Millicent. It’s time for you to grow up!”

Maggie didn’t even want to argue, she was too upset. As she laid in her bed, she wished she could just stay in her dreams. Live in the worlds she’d created in her sleep. Not have to grow up, or worry about marriage or all that. Just stay a child, forever.

The children lay in their beds as their mother lit the night lamps. She would be leaving to go to a party with Mr. Darling soon.

“Mother” Michael sat up.

“Yes?"

“Can anything harm us after the night lights are lit?” he asked.

Maggie smiled softly at the innocence of her smallest brother.

“No precious. They are the eyes a mother leaves behind to guard her children” Mrs. Darling smiled softly.

“Mother. Do you have to go to the party?” Maggie questioned.

“Yes mother! You don’t have to go, father can go by himself!” John exclaimed as all four Darling children all ran to sit on Maggie's bed with their mother.

“By himself?” Mrs. Darling questioned, lifting Michael into her lap “Your father is a brave man. But he’s going to need the special kiss to face his colleagues tonight” she sighed.

“Father, brave?” Maggie nearly scoffed, still quite annoyed at her father.

“There are many different kinds of bravery” Mrs. Darling explained “There’s the bravery of thinking of others before oneself. Now your father has never, brandished a sword or, nor fired a pistol thank heavens. But he has made many sacrifices for his family. And put away many dreams” she sighed.

“Where did he put them?” Michael asked innocently, making Maggie chuckle once again.

“He put them in a drawer, and sometimes late at night. He’ll take them out and admire them. But it gets harder, and harder to close the drawer. He does, and that is why he is brave” she smiled “Now, to bed with you all” she ordered sweetly.

“Goodnight mother” Maggie smiled, before burying herself in her blankets.

“Goodnight my children” Mrs. Darling whispered as she closed the door to the nursery.

Not that any of the children heard her. Maggie loves night time. She loved to sleep and be engulfed by the dreams in her head. It was always exciting, each one just as lovely as the last. In dreams she was free, like she wished to be.
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