Hero

Chapter 9

Leigh-Anne felt herself fall off the bed. She opened her eyes as soon as she made contact with the ground. Her shoulder hurt. "Owww." She moaned. She stood and looked at the bed in the darkness. She had just had a nightmare. That was why she moved enough to fall. Leigh sniffed feeling distressed from her dream. She felt heaviness at her waist. "I weed myself." She whimpered miserably.

The room was dark and ominous to Leigh. She felt a sense of doom. But that wasn't odd. She always felt a sense of doom when she was alone. Right now she was expecting Sairah to pop out at any moment. The child began to tremble. She climbed back into the bed and sat up in it with her hands holding her shoulders. She wheezed.

Jesy was sleeping soundly until she heard the distinct sound of Leigh-Anne wheezing. She always kept an ear out for that. She sat up. "Leigh-Anne?" She said to the shadowy figure sat next to her. "Why are you up?"

Leigh-Anne sniffed as tears dribbled out of her eyes. "Jesy? Can you turn the lights on?" She asked. Leigh didn't feel as if she'd be able to stand the darkness for much longer.

Jesy did as was told and stood by the bed once the room was full of light. She felt her lips frown when she saw Leigh-Anne. Her friend looked distressed. Jesy climbed back into the bed and sat next to her. She thought for a moment. "Did you have a nightmare Leigh-Anne?"

Leigh-Anne wiped a tear away from one of her eyes. She nodded.

Jesy bit her lip. "Don't worry. She won't get you here." She wrapped an arm over Leigh's shoulder. "Y-you shouldn't be having nightmares right now . . . It's your birthday. You should be happy." Jesy smiled at the time on the clock that read one a.m.

Leigh-Anne shook her head slowly. "M-my nightmare wasn't about her."

Jesy felt surprised. She hoped that meant that it was just an ordinary childish bad dream about the boogeyman. Judging by the way Leigh was reacting, it didn't seem so. "What was it about?" She asked anxiously.

Leigh-Anne breathed in air, causing a loud wheeze to sound.

Jesy got off the bed and started searching Leigh-Anne's school bag for the child's inhalers. She found them and brought both to Leigh.

Leigh took them thankfully and took her medicine. She breathed in deeply. "Thank you Jesy."

They sat in silence for a while as Leigh stared at her lap and Jesy stared at Leigh in concern. I hope her dream wasn't too bad. Should I ask again? Jesy thought as she chewed the inside of her mouth.

"It was about my daddy." Leigh-Anne said softly.

Jesy probably wouldn't have known what she was talking about if she hadn't been thinking about the question she'd asked Leigh. Jesy gulped. She had wondered about Leigh's father since Leigh came about actually. Since one of the first days the girl came to their school, Jake had said that Leigh might have been 'abused' by her dad. Jesy had dismissed that theory for a while until Leigh had said that her father wasn't 'nice'. She hoped nothing too bad happened. But she's crying now because of a nightmare she had about him. I hope . . . I feel scared now. Jesy thought nervously. "What about him?" She asked a little anxiously. She felt tied. On one hand she wanted to know more while on the other she was afraid of what she might hear.

Leigh-Anne shook her head. "I'm not telling you." The girl said softly as she looked at Jesy's clock. It was her birthday wasn't it? She didn't feel special or anything.

Jesy felt hurt. She'd hoped that Leigh would tell her. It was either Leigh-Anne didn't trust her enough to share or what happened with her father was really bad.

"Are you mad?" Leigh-Anne asked looking at her lap now. "Mad that I don't want to tell you?" She would feel bad if she hurt Jesy. Jesy had been so nice to her and was a great friend but . . .