Stained ~ Book Three Of The "Meant To Be" Series

Chapter 1

      Take a deep breath. You're fine! Calm down!
    My breaths get heavier my the second, unsteadier. I blankly stare into the darkness of midnight. I usually fall asleep at nine-thirty. I never stay up late. Not anymore, at least. But apparently it has started again.
No! You're fine. You have to be!
     The past of my breaths fasten as tears buckle up in my eyes. My chest rises with every breath. Tobias sleeps calmly beside me. His head against my neck and his hand across my tummy. His breathing is extremely slow and relaxed compared to mine. I sound like a dog in the middle of August.
      A quiet sob leaves my lips, and I cover my mouth in terror, hoping Tobias doesn't wake up. Tears prickle down either side of my face, slightly tickling their way to my ears. I remove the hand from my mouth, and with the other one I attempt to remove Tobias' hand off me without him waking up. I try to be as slow and light as possible, but he immediately opens his eyes, confusedly leaning on his elbow, facing me. I close my eyes, pretending to sleep, lying completely still.
There's silence for a few seconds. He swipes my hair out of my face. I wish for him to no notice my tears, but his fingertips get wet, and he definitely now knows I've been crying. He stares at me for quite a while, then whispers: "Tris?" He shakes me shoulders lightly. "Tris," he calls my name softly. I act like I'm just waking up. I take a deep breath, rubbing my eyes and a little unnoticeably wiping my tears.
      "What's wrong?" I ask sleepily. He furrows his eyebrows.
      "Are you okay?" He asks.
      "Yes, why?" I whisper, not wanting to wake Cassie or Mason up.
      "I–I thought you were having a nightmare or something . . . I'm sorry," he says quietly, leaning in and pressing his lips on my forehead, spreading warmness through my body.
       "It's all right," he lies down next to me again, wrapping his arms around me in a protective way. "I'm okay," I feel his fast heartbeat against my back, proving me he was worried. I haven't woken up crying or by nightmares in a while now. If it all happens again, I don't know if I'll be able to take it this time.
       "I love you," he whispers in my ear, his warm breath sending goose bumps all over my body. I let let out an unsteady breath.
"I love you, too," I whisper back, silence following my words. He presses his lips on my cheek for a few seconds, and then he rests his head on the pillow again, tightening his grip on me.
The corners of my mouth fall as bite my lower lip, helplessly staring at the ceiling. Tobias' grip loosens every once in a while, informing me that he is slowly losing consciousness and going to sleep. But I know I'm stuck here, in this bed, caged by his arms until morning comes. Tobias' sleep is very light. The slightest noise makes him jump from his sleep, in full alarm, ready to bear with anything.
I watch minutes and hours go by, by staring at the alarm clock on our nightstand. I start noticing that after a while, I go limp as well. My eyes close and I start to feel less. I finally fall asleep.
But it feels like after a minute Cassie and Mason come jumping on our beds, waking us up by their giggles, but it's actually been three hours and a half.
"Mom, wake up!" Cassie squeals, pulling the sheets from me. I press my face on my pillow, facing my back at them.
"Just— I'll be up in a minute," I sleepily wave my hand, gesturing her to go away.
"Mom!" She groans, shaking my shoulders, "Wake up!" She says loudly.
"Cassie, please," I say a bit frustrated. No one speaks for the next seconds. Only silence appears, but I know everyone's staring at me, which makes me horribly uncomfortable and regret not acting like I had a good night sleep.
I sigh quietly, so no one'll listen and then sit up, roaring like a monster, like I usually do and pull Cassie my way, tickling her with my fingertips and showering her with kisses. She squeals and laughs, making so many body movements and obviously not able to handle all the tickling. I drag Mason closer as well and do the same to him. I smile, but I myself can't know if it's faked or not. My hands tremble and my heart beats faster than usual, but I don't know why. I don't know.
I look up at Tobias. At first he has a straight confused face and furrowed eyebrows, but then his face lightens as fast as possible. "Good morning," I say, closing my eyes and leaning forward, pecking his.
"Good morning," he repeats, smiling back ("Awwwwww," whisper yells Cassie squishing her face with her hands as she stares at us). I slightly laugh at her and kiss the top of her head.
       I pick Mason up and touch my nose with his, since he likes when people do that and starts giggling. His eyes are like Tobias'. Cassie's are too. It's a feature I wished would turn out like his, and I'm glad it did. "Let's get you two ready for school," I say standing up and walking towards Mason's room.
      "Mason goes to daycare, not school," she points out in an annoyed tone, which reminds me of Hermione from Harry Potter. I roll my eyes playfully.
      "Have you done your homework?" I ask, putting Mason down and sitting him on a little chair next to his bed and turn towards his closet to pick out his clothes.
      "Yes, you helped me with it yesterday, remember?"
      "Oh, yeah. I totally forgot," I say shaking my head, but I actually don't remember helping her with it. Maybe I was just tired. I unfold Mason's clothes and putting them over his head.
       "Aren't you supposed to take his pajamas off first?" She asks, furrowing her eyebrows and pointing at him. I take a deep breath and sigh, pulling his blouse from his head softly not to hurt him and undress him from his pajamas.
      "Ask your dad to pick out your clothes, please. And don't tell him to choose the red tee shirt anymore, would you? You've worn that more than a trillion times," I say and she stomps angrily.
      "Fine," she says and leaves the room. I finish dressing Mason up and I smile at him. He opens his arms and I get pulled into his tiny embrace.
      "Aww," I say grinning, "Can you give me a kiss, too?" I speak out clearly. He's still young and barely talks, so we have to speak carefully. He presses his lips on my cheek and pulls back after a second. "I love you," I say and pick him up and walk downstairs, sitting him on the ground, in front of the TV. Go Diego, Go is on right now and it's one of his favorite shows, so he watches it silently.

A/N
So here it is! The first chapter! I'm so excited for this story but only a few people will read it, which is a bummer. But anyways, I hope the ones that actually do read, enjoy it.
    Please vote and comment because it means so much to me (and informs me that someone is actually reading. I wouldn't want to write something no one would find interesting to read).