Romeo sits up in bed, feeling hot. The 12 year old boy reaches over and turns on his lamp, taking deep breaths to calm himself. He's been having nightmares every night for a few weeks now, but he never told his parents.
"I don't want to wake Mama and Poppy." He thought. He tries to calm down on his own, but he isn't really able to.
"Stop being such a baby." He says out loud this time. He decides to get up and walk downstairs for a cup of water. He climbs out of bed and starts walking down the hall when he hears sniffles from his baby sisters room. Without hesitation, he opens the door, seeing his baby sister Arielle sitting up in bed crying.
He walks over. "Nugget, what's wrong?" he asks. She looks up and sees him, reaching for him. He picks her up and hugs her, trying to comfort her the same way his parents do to him when he's upset.
"I had a bad dream, Bubby." Arielle mumbles, rubbing her cheek on his shirt. He gives her a kiss on the cheek and puts her down, holding her hand instead.
"Let's go downstairs. I was just gonna get water." Romeo says, leading her down into their kitchen. Romeo pours both of them a cup of water and they sit on the couch in the living room.
"What did you dream about?" Romeo asks her. He's trying his hardest to comfort her like their parents do to them, and they always ask him questions when he has bad dreams.
She looks up at him, and shakes her head. Romeo looks confused. They're very close, and don't have any secrets, so he doesn't understand why she's keeping things from him now.
"You don't wanna tell Bubby what your dream was about? I can call Mama or Poppy instead then." he says, getting up to go get one of their parents. Arielle huffs, making Romeo turn back around to see if she's alright.
"Bubby, can I sleep with you?" she asks. He nods and they go back upstairs and into Romeos bedroom. Once they're both comfortable under the blanket, Arielle looks over at her brother, who she admires so much, smiling.
After laying down for a few minutes, they both hear the door open. Their dad Calvin pops his head in.
"Romeo? Arielle? Are you two alright? I heard walking around downstairs." he says, walking in the room and sitting on Romeo's desk chair. They both nod. Romeo speaks first.
I'm okay, Poppy. I woke up hot again, so I went to get water, but I heard Ari in her room so I took her with me." he explains. Their dad nods, looking over at his youngest daughter.
"What about you, Nugget? How come you were up?" he asks. She looks at her brother, then shrugs.
"I had a bad dream, Poppy. But I'm fine." Their father raises his eyebrows. He walks to the bed and sits down.
"What was your dream about?" he asks. She looks over at her brother, then back at her father.
"Bubby's gonna leave us." she mumbles. They both look confused.
"What are you talking about? And why didn't you tell me earlier when I asked you? You tell Poppy, but not me?" He says, getting angrier by the second. Arielle gets scared and looks down at her lap.
"Sorry." she whispers.
"Bug, calm down please. It was just a dream." Their father speaks up. He shakes his head.
"No. She had some dumb dream and cried like a baby, but didn't wanna tell me? Get out of my room!" he raises his voice a bit. She flinches and crawls over to her dad, sitting next to him instead. Calvin stands up with her.
"Romeo, that was so rude to talk to your sister that way. Apologize to her right now." he demands. Romeo just shakes his head.
"Go and take your little baby out of here." he says, pulling the covers over his head. Calvin just shakes his head and starts walking him and Arielle out.
"Mama and I will talk with you tomorrow about your behavior, Romeo. And we'll decide on a punishment." he says before walking back into his and his wife's bedroom.
He gets in bed as quietly as he can to not wake up his wife, Michelle. He tucks in himself and his daughter. She starts to reach over to her mother, but Cavin stops her.
"Let Mama sleep okay, Nugget." he tells her gently, not wanting to hurt her feelings more after what happened with Romeo. She nods and lays on her dad instead.
"Okay, Poppy. I'll talk to Mama in the morning." she whispers, dozing off. He smiles and kisses her cheek.
"Goodnight, Nugget." he says, falling asleep.
