A Little Bit of Everything and Everyone

Nightmare (Nate Maloley)

"No leave her alone! Let her go! Sophie! Let her go! That's my sister!" I scream at the man holding my little sister. I try to reach for her but his buddy is holding me back so I can't move. All I can do is watch as she's shoved into a car. The man gets into the driver's seat.

"Let her go!!!" I'm tossed to the ground and the car peels out, taking my sister with it. I scream and the people around me just stare, no one tries to help or call the police. They just watch as I let the car get smaller and smaller....

"Maria! Maria! Wake up ma! C'mon baby, wake up, please!" a voice calls faintly. I jolt out of bed, sweating and out of breath.

"Where's Sophie?!" I cry. My boyfriend tries to pull me to his chest to calm me.

"She's fine ma, she's at your parents house. It was just a dream," he says, trying to soothe me.

"I need to talk to her, I need to hear her voice, please Nate," I say, tears streaming down my face.

"Ma it's three in the morning," he says softly.

"I don't care I have to make sure it really was just a dream," I cry. Nate nods and hands me my phone. I try to dial Sophie's number but my hands are shaking too bad. Nate takes the phone out of my hand and dials for me.

"Hullo?" I hear the unmistakable sleepy voice of my sister answer.

"Sophie?" I ask, my voice still thick with tears.

"Maria? Are you okay? Why does it sound like you're crying?" she asks. I take a deep breath.

"I had a nightmare about you being taken and Soph it felt so real. I just had to make sure you were okay," I tell her.

"Aw Mari, I'm fine. I promise. I'll come and see you tomorrow and prove it okay?" she asks with a yawn.

"Okay. I love you," I say.

"I love you too sissy," she says before hanging up. I take a deep breath to calm myself down.

"Here ma, drink up," Nate says as he gets back into bed and passes me some water. I chug it down and set the glass on my nightstand.

"C'mere," he says, pulling me to him. I let him this time and he wraps his arms around me protectively.

"I was calling you for like five minutes and you wouldn't wake up, I was terrified," he says after a second. My heart is still racing.

"It was horrible Nate, and it felt so real, I wanted to wake up so bad and I just couldn't and-" Nate shushes me, cutting off my rambling.

"Hey it's okay. Sophie's fine and you're fine. Try and get some sleep yeah?" he asks, rubbing my back.

"I'm scared Nate, what if I have another nightmare?" I say softly. When I was younger I used to have nightmares almost every night. I barely ever slept. It got better once I met Nate but I didn't want them to start back up now.

"Ma, I'm not gonna let anything happen to you, I promise. I'll wake you up again if I think something's wrong. But you gotta try and get some sleep baby," he says to me. I move to lay my head on his bare chest and he hugs me, instantly making me feel better.

"I love you Mari," he says to me, wiping at my tears and kissing my forehead.

"I love you too Nate." I say. As he rubs my back my eyes start to droop and soon I fall into sleep once again, this time with no dreams.