joe's foster home // fillie

s e v e n

chapter seven

december 22nd, 1:34am

that night millie took two melatonin.

she thought it would make her sleep, or at least drowsy enough for a nap, or something, but she didn't feel tired. she tried squeezing her eyes shut and drifting off into sleep. she even tried plugging in earbuds and listening to the supposed "calming" waves of nature, but all that provided was a chance to imagine drowning and sharks---and that didn't exactly calm her.

so somewhere in the middle of the night, millie switched on her dim lamp and pulled out a book, which she borrowed from sadie's dresser. she sat, her back to the blank wall, her hair bunched up in a messy bun, reading.

it was some thrilling romance novel about heroes and knights and princesses and shining armor and millie nearly giggled at every cheesy romantic line in the book.

she hated thinking it, but she kind of wanted romance. the cheesy kind, where someone would come and save her, maybe even take her to a place where her family could still be. it was stupid, she knew, but a girl could dream, right?

millie hadn't had very many romantic encounters in the past, though conner price had asked her out in seventh grade. he was a nice kid, but millie never understood why anyone would like her. maybe it was the typical, self-conscious middle school phase everyone went through, but it just.....felt weird to be in a relationship. where you depended on people and you had to give them all your attention and love, and millie just wasn't feeling it then.

she said no to him, by the way.

but millie shook her head. this wasn't a time to be thinking about that. really, one a.m. really wasn't much of a time to be thinking about anything. nonetheless, millie tucked her knees into her chest, adjusting the blanket so that it was keeping her legs sufficiently warm as she read.

suddenly, millie heard a bed creak.

she looked up and saw that sadie had rolled onto her other side of her mattress. millie saw that her fingertips seemed to be clutching onto the blanket tightly. millie couldn't see her face, but she hoped that the dim lamp didn't awaken her. she had thought about heading downstairs so that sadie wouldn't be bothered, but she was kind of afraid of the dark.

so millie just shrugged, and turned back to her book, leaning into the wall.

then sadie turned again, this time with an elongated groan, her clearly agitated face exposed to millie. sadie had her face drawn together in a scrunch, and she drew in a quick gasp. millie drew her eyebrows together, placing a bookmark in her place.

sadie turned for a third time, this time more violently than before, and her breaths were heavier and faster.

millie got off of the bed and approached her, recognizing the clearly distraught look on her face. something was being muttered under her breath, and millie leaned in to try to hear what it was.

all she heard was, "no, no, no, no, no,"

millie pulled her head away and just stood above sadie's bed staring down at her. it felt strange to be in this weird position of potential power where she just watched. she felt weird. millie just bit her lip and walked back towards the bed. even if she was having a nightmare of something, it wasn't any of millie's business.