- Karlie -
"It's okay, angel." I coo softly as I rock backwards and forwards on the rocking chair in Emilie's room. It's 2am and she woke up with a nightmare. I had awoken for a glass of water and heard crying from her bedroom, so I came to check on her to find Emilie curled up in the corner of the bed. "I want my mommy." She sobs into my shoulder as she clings to my shirt and I rub her back, trying to calm her down. "I know, baby, I know."
It has been a long few weeks without Taylor, and the longer she is gone, the harder it gets for Emilie. The little girl often ends up in bed with me or Siobhan, depending on who she isn't mad at that day. The girls write letters and draw pictures for their mommy everyday and we try and talk to her every night before bedtime, but it's usually more often than that. "Why don't we try and call her, hmm?" I look down to Emilie who is staring at me with big eyes. She has never had a nightmare that I couldn't calm her from, so I know that whatever this was about, it was bad.
I hoist the little girl up onto my hip and carry her back through the upstairs of the house to Taylor and I's room. We have a baby monitor in Lilia's room to monitor her through the night since she's downstairs, and when I check the tablet as I set Em down on the bed, I realise that the little girl is awake too. I sigh and grab my phone from the side of the bed, deciding that Lia would probably benefit from this phone call too, I pick Emmy back up and start walking downstairs.
"No!" She starts kicking and screaming in my arms as we descend the stairs and I try to stop her but she just sobs and screams. I carry her back to the top and put her down, kneeling in front of the little girl to try and figure out what is going on. Emilie isn't having any of it though, and she runs down the hall to Selena's room.
The woman is startled by Emilie jumping into bed beside her, clinging onto the brunette for all that she's worth. "What's going on?" She looks up to me, dazed and confused as I follow in Emilie's footsteps. "She had a nightmare, but when I tried to take her down to Lilia's room so that we could phone Taylor, she started screaming and crying in my arms. When I put her down, she ran in here." I shake my head, crossing my arms as utter exhaustion makes me want to jut give up.
"Mi cielito, tell me what's going on." Selena coos as she pulls Emilie into her arms, the little blonde resting on her lap. "I want mommy." She whimpers into the woman's shoulder and I perch on the empty side of the bed beside them. "We were going to call mommy, remember?" I rub her back as she clings to Selena. "Not downstairs, momma!" She sobs and I'm still confused, "why, baby?" She look at me with terror filled blue eyes and whispers, "daddy hurt mommy after six flags."
I frown, meeting Selena's eyes in the dark room before looking back to Emilie. "Honey, was your dream about your daddy hurting mommy?" I sigh and she nods, clinging onto Sel for all that she's worth. "Em, you know that your daddy is in jail where he can't get to you or mommy ever again." She nods and Selena just looks at me like I'm crazy, apparently she didn't know about any of this. "Okay, why don't I go and get Lilia and we can cuddle up in momma's bed and phone mommy. Then you can see that she's okay and we can go back to sleep."
Emilie nods but keeps clinging to Selena. "I'll be right back, okay?" The little blonde nods and I give her a sad smile as I get up from the bed. I run my fingers through my hair as I walk back down the stairs, yawning as I reach the bottom. "Lil, baby are you still awake?" I push her door open, talking quietly just in case she has fallen asleep. "Yes, momma." She sighs as she peeks up from the covers and I give her a warm smile. "Emmy had a bad dream, so we were going to call Mommy. Do you wanna come and cuddle in Momma's bed?"
She nods, reaching her arms out to me as I lift her out of bed. "Why are you awake, honey?" I rub her back as I lift her onto my hip, carrying the eight year old through the house as she rests her head on my shoulder. "My tummy hurts, momma." I give her a sad smile, the little brunette is always in pain and it's awful to see.
