PTSD | Sequel to Little Clifford

4

Michael's POV

I sighed as I packed my last suitcase. I sat on my bed and just laid back. We were leaving in 2 days and this whole move was stressing me out. We could only really pack clothes and toiletries but I had packed 3 suitcases full since we would be gone for 3 months.

We would only be taking one each on the plane and we were shipping the rest to our LA house later today.

I sat back up and made my way to Arden's room to help her pack. I walked in as she started shutting my laptop, "Did you finish your 4 lessons?" I ask her.

She nodded in response, "Good job!"

I was trying to get Arden ahead on her school work so that she could have a little break for the move.

"Ready to pack?" I ask her, moving to her closet to pull out her suitcases.

"Yeah," she says softly and starts to get up off her bed. I grab one of her suitcases and pull it down but a black notebook came down with it and nearly hit me in the face. I slowly set the suitcase down and bent down to grab the notebook.

Just as my fingers touched it, Arden yelled, "Don't!" and ran to snatch it up.

I looked at her in shock and confusion. She held it to her chest with both arms and looked at me with big eyes. I held eye contact with her as I squatted down to her height, "What is it?"

"It's nothing," She said in a small voice.

"Arden."

"Michael."

I held eye contact with her until she broke, "I-it's my dream notebook."

She sounded worried but I just gave her a small smile. I was slowly building our trust everyday and I didn't plan on ruining it, "Your dream notebook?"

She nods and looks down at it, "It's where I write about the dreams I have at night. The good ones and bad ones. Olivia gave it to me when I was at the orphanage after the accident. I don't want to forget them. It helps for some reason," she confesses and I nod in understanding.

I place my hands around her small frame and bring her into a hug. She slowly wraps her arms around my neck and relaxes into my hold. She rests her head on my shoulder and we stay like that for a few moments.

"Please don't read it. Not yet," She whispers.

"Of course, sweetie. I would never unless you wanted me to, ok?" I tell her and give her a kiss on the forehead.

"Thank you," she smiles as we pull away.

"Now let's get packing," I smile.

I moved her suitcase onto her bed and unzipped it. I turn towards her dresser and I see her gently place the notebook into the suitcase. I smile to myself as I go through her drawers and start grabbing her clothes. Her suitcase was slowly filled with clothes for all weather conditions; Hot, cold, raining, snowing. I filled two of her suitcases with clothes and shoes.

Arden didn't have a lot of toiletries so I just put all of her hair acessories and other things into my toiletries bag. We did, however, have a bag for her toys and other things she wanted to bring.

I made her pick out her favorite toys which happened to be her legos, nerf guns, and a few stuffed animals. We had also set aside her backpack to pack with things for the plane. We put her coloring books in there and one of her small blankets. I also threw some headphones in because I would download some movies for her on my laptop.

I kept her special bunny, that she had gotten from Calum, out of her backpack because she still needed it to sleep with. Once I had finished packing for her, I zipped up the suitcases.