My Only Sunshine (A Pacman Fanfic)

Bad Dreams

Her scream made him sit upright in bed. Blinky raced down the hallway and opened the adjoining door. "Yum-Yum?!" he called.

His daughter looked scared, but unharmed. She was crying and shivering. Blinky floated over and wrapped his arms around Yum-Yum. "It's ok, sweetie. Daddy's here."

"I h-had a bad dream," she whimpered, nuzzling her head into his chest. "It was so horrible...it almost felt real."

Blinky sighed softly before kissing his daughter on the cheek. "I'm sorry, Yums. Do you want to talk about it?"

Yum-Yum shook her head, then said, "Please don't leave, daddy..." Blinky resisted the urge to roll his eyes and lay down by her. His daughter snuggled next to him, still trembling as she fell back asleep.

What could have been so bad that she couldn't talk about it? Blinky didn't have the answer right now. He was tired. The ghost went to sleep, still cradling his daughter close to him.

              **************

The following morning, Blinky made Yum-Yum eggs and waffles as his friends watched t.v. on the sofa. He smiled a little as she poured on a bit too much syrup and sat between Inky and Pinky.

"You look tired, dude..." Inky said, passing him a glass of soda. "She still having nightmares?"

Blinky sighed. "Yeah. And she won't exactly tell me what they're about."

Pinky rested her head on her hands and looked down at Yum-Yum. "Aw, why not kiddo?" she asked.

"I don't know...it's too scary," Yum-Yum shyly replied.

"Well, we're ghosts. What could be scarier than us, huh?" Pinky and Yum-Yum laughed.

Blinky half smiled. Pinky was very maternal toward Yum-Yum, and honestly, it was kind of cute. But he wasn't entirely sure if he was ready for her to assume the role of "mother" just yet.

Clyde was aimlessly flipping through the channels. "Gimme that," Blinky grumbled. He grabbed the remote and changed it to the news. Not much was going on: the weather was very warm, and there were a few new businesses opening up in Pacopolis. Or rather, Pac-Land. The old days felt a million miles behind Blinky. He wasn't too sure he missed them very much.

There was some silence that passed before Inky spoke up. "So...what do you think we should do for Yum-Yum's birthday?" Blinky replied, "I was thinking about taking her out to the park for some ice cream."

Yum-Yum beamed. "Ice cweam!" she giggled.

"And what are you guys gonna get her for presents?" Blinky asked, turning to his friends. Inky stammered, "Oh, w-well...uh, we h-hadn't actually thought that f-far ahead-"