Threadbare | Arrow

Chapter Five

"Oh, you're back inside my dreams

Broken bones and empty screams

Sleepless night in burning sheets

Lightning strikes inside my eyes

Tell me is this love alive?"

JAYMES YOUNG - 'Come Back For Me'

.                                        .                                      .

Tommy didn't remember the short period of time in his life before Cali.

How could he? He was barely able to stand up and walk around, never mind remember the monumental shift of accommodating a sibling in his little life. All he knew is that the first memory he had of them was at Christmas, when they were both really too little to understand the grey reality behind the magic.

Cali had gotten a stuffed frog toy - some second-thought gift from a distant relative who probably had a secretary write the card - and the only thing he knew for sure about it is that it was so fluffy that he would simply die if he didn't also have one.

Alas, he was given a toy truck, complete with little firemen.

And for a long time - or whatever stretch of time was comparatively 'long' to a very young child - he pined for that soft frog toy, whom Cali had very aptly dubbed 'Mister Froggy' because children had imagination for everything but toy names. Tommy whined and whined and whined to his mother, who patiently endured, until one night in mid July when Tommy was the last one awake.

And Cali was in the next room. And Mister Froggy would be easy pickings.

So Tommy, young and greedy and selfish, clambered out of his overly large bed and crept across to Cali's room, where she slept peacefully, the frog toy clasped loosely in her arms. Her flyaway hair was in complete disarray, and she had red marks on her face from being smushed into the pillows. All in all, she appeared to be the picture of complete and utter contentment.

Tommy's thieving hands had only just brushed Mister Froggy's soft fluff when Cali shifted in her sleep suddenly with a sharp noise of upset. Tommy yanked his hand back as though burned. He waited for the damning moment that she opened her eyes and caught him in her room, but it never came.

Instead, unfathomably, tears slipped down her cheeks.

Vaguely, Tommy remembered his dad talking to some lady in silly, fancy clothes about Cali having nightmares. Of course, he didn't know what those were, really, but his dad had sounded worried, and despite everything, Tommy adored his little sister and didn't want bad things to happen to her.

Unsure and still worried she would wake up, he very gently reached forward and put his hand on her forehead, trying to see if he needed to get his dad or someone.

Under his touch, Cali stilled, expression settling back into one of comfort.

Mystified, Tommy didn't dare to lift his hand, and instead stood beside the bed all night, keeping watch over Cali and Mister Froggy.

Many years later, to his great regret, he'd destroyed that frog in a fit of rage about something inevitably inconsequential and Cali hadn't spoken to him for a month. He'd been grounded for weeks. When asked about it, he didn't know how to tell his dad that Tommy had tired to wash it for Cali and he'd ruined the stuffing so he'd tried to replace it with tissues except they didn't work either, and by that point, Cali had already assumed that he was destroying her stuff for fun.