Come Back to Me

III

Cordelia's hazel eyes snapped open at the sound of her brother's whimpers. Mira and Cordelia had their own beds. Greyson however, floated between sharing a bed with either of them every night. Even though he had decided to share the bed with Mira the previous night, whatever dream he was having was bad enough for his cries to be heard by Cordelia who was all the way across the room. She tossed her body to face the noise and even in the dark and so far away, she could see the way his eyebrows stitched together in fear, the way he held his blue bunny tightly enough for his knuckles to grow pale. Her heart squeezed when he let out another gasp, she sat up quickly, stepping across the hardwood floor and to the bed her brother and sister were currently sharing.

"Grey." She whispered.

His next cry shrilled through her ears, causing her to pull back with a wince. Her hand then reached for his shoulder comfortingly yet, hesitant. Sometimes waking him from his nightmares was worse than letting him fight through them. No matter what she was always there to save him when he woke up.

"Greyson-"

"No!" He yelled, his eyes still cemented shut.

Cordelia lost her unsureness completely and shook her little brother awake worriedly, he let out one last cry as his eyes ripped open and when he saw his sister in font of him, he reached for her desperately. The girl closed her eyes tightly as she rocked the two them back and forth, her heart squeezing as his grip on her did, her gut wrenching at the feeling of his tears soaking her bare shoulder, "It's okay Grey. I'm right here, you're safe."

His whines shrinked to sniffles over the span of a couple of minutes, until he finally pulled away to wipe his eyes.

"What's going on my little dolphin?"

Cordelia's voice came out as a cracked whisper, her soft hand reached up to push her brother's chestnut locks out of his face.

"It was you," He whispered his confession, almost scared that if the words were too loud, his nightmare would be spoken into existence, "they picked you, in the reaping they picked you and-"

The words he could manage all but split his older sister's heart open. She didn't like to see him unhappy at all but, especially not in pain and especially not at her fault. In fact she was always the one he came to because he knew she'd always let him have his way.

"I'm so sorry love," She mumbled, choking down a deep fear of her own, "but it was just a dream okay? Look at me, it was just a dream."

Greyson followed her instruction and, she grasped his chin gently.

"I'm okay, we're both right here and perfectly okay."

Cordelia's words sent a sureness through her brother, that she didn't even have herself.

"What's going on?"

Mira's eyes had fluttered open at some point of their conversation and she was now sat up with a worried expression of her own.

"Greyson just had a dream," Cordelia didn't realize how shaky her voice was, "uh, about the reaping."

Mira's expression dropped and within seconds, she threw herself into the arms of her siblings.

"I love you guys," She whispered tearfully, "so much, okay?"

"I love you too."

Cordelia and Greyson took turns responding with the words before letting a comforting silence float in the small space between them. The girls' foreheads were placed together and Greyson had tucked his head onto both of their shoulders, his body balled up on Cordelia's lap. Their mother and father had been quiet enough that none of their three children sensed their presence, until one of them spoke up, giving both of them away.