We're Getting There

Chapter 1

The incessant beeping of the alarm clock pulled Liam from his troubled sleep. He sat up quickly and ran a hand through his hair before rolling over to press the snooze button. Liam frowned tiredly as he tried to remember his nightmare. He knew it hadn't been good and he knew that thinking about it wouldn't be great for him either but that didn't stop him.

"Lima, get up you lazy bum, I want to play with you!" A little girl squealed from outside his bedroom door. Liam scowled, annoyed that his train of thought had been interrupted yet relieved because all this thinking was quickly getting him into an irritable mood.

Liam pushed himself out of bed and threw the door open.

"Go away, Ellie. When will you get it into your head that my name is Liam?" He growled at the little blonde girl standing in his doorway.

"Liam! Please be nice to your sister!" Liam's foster mother called from downstairs.

"Ellie's not my sister. And you're not my mum! Leave me alone!" Liam shouted back.

Ellie looked up at Liam. "Are you crying?" she asked innocently. Liam glared at her and slammed the door in her face. He fell back on his bed in defeat because he remembered the dream, it was not pleasant and yes, he was crying.

Ellie ran downstairs to her mother, Dia, who was preparing breakfast in the kitchen.

"Mummy?" Ellie asked her worriedly. "Is Lima okay?"

Dia smiled down at her daughter. "Liam's not feeling too good, sweetie. I think he didn't sleep very well. I'm sure he'll play with you later."

"But I want to hug him now!" Ellie pouted.

Dia pursed her lips and shook her head at Ellie. "That's very nice of you but Liam wants to be alone right now. He'll feel better soon. Now go on and get ready. It's your first day of school!"

Ellie smiled excitedly and ran to her bedroom to get her uniform on.

Just as Dia and Ellie were about to leave, Liam finally appeared downstairs. He was still in his pyjamas.

"Lima! Lima!" Ellie squealed. "Look at my new uniform!"

Liam smiled and lifted her up so that he could hug her. "Wow! You look super cool! Everyone will love you at school."

Ellie giggled delightedly. "Are you still sad, Lima?"

Liam kissed her nose. "Nope, I'm all happy now." he lied, because he didn't need a four-year-old to be worrying about him on her first ever day of school.

Liam put Ellie back on the floor so that Dia could hug him.

"What am I going to do with you?" she laughed, pleased that he was downstairs, at least. "You're going to be late for school!"

Liam shrugged. "It's the first day, they'll be nice."

Dia sighed. "If anything's wrong you know that you can talk to me, right? I may not be your mum but-"

"I know, Dia. I promise I'll be fine." Liam interrupted.

"Mummy, we have to go now! I can't be late!" Ellie exclaimed, looking at her watch-less wrist. "Bye-bye, Lima!" she said as she dragged her mother out of the house.

"Have a good day, and tell your mum I said happy birthday." Dia waved.

"I will, bye!" Liam replied.

Once the door shut, Liam took a deep breath and shook the remainders of his bad dream out of his head. He really didn't need to be thinking about his mother dying on his first day of school.