You awoke violently like you did every night, the memory still vivid. You looked over at your watch that sat on your bedside table, reading the time; 3:22am. That was always the time you would read when you had woken up from the same dreadful dream.
A seventeen year old girl like yourself didn't deserve this. You didn't deserve the constant demons that would come to play with the past. You hated it. Your past haunted you. The mistakes you had made, nothing in particular but just the vivid image of the past coming back to haunt you. Night after night, after night.
You sat in bed a little longer, delaying falling back to sleep to the last dream of the night. It was like a war you were constantly fighting, except instead of sleeping to get away from the battle, sleeping brought you to the battlefield. You were in two states of minds; one, that you were being completely childish and that you should grow up, and two, that all you wanted to do was go see you older brother Tommy and hope that he would help you. Before you could think it over in your head, you were creeping down the corridor of the small house on Watery Lane, careful to not stand on a creaky floorboard you knew all too well.
You quietly tapped on Tommy's bedroom door and listened out for the sound of his voice beckoning you in. Your ears were ringing from the flight or fight experience you had just gone through and all you really wanted to do was sleep somewhere we you felt safe. Somewhere you always felt safe since you were a little girl; with Tommy.
Tommy approached his door cautiously and opened it slowly, slightly cringing at the creaking sound it made, his baby blue eyes softening at the sight of his little sister; you looked disoriented and distressed. With a swift step to the side, Tommy let you in and closed the door behind you, watching as you sat down on his bed.
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"You okay, Y/N?" Tommy asked worryingly, coming to sit next to you. You hadn't paid him a night time visit in two weeks and Tommy had thought you had gotten better, but as you laid your head on his shoulder, your hair falling over his back, he knew you weren't in the best of places. "Have you been having those horrible dreams again, eh?" Tommy asked softly, pulling away to search the familiar blue eyes you both shared with each other. You looked into his orbs, telling him everything through eye contact and with a brief nod. "How long for?" He proceeded and watched you bow your head. The last time you had had a nightmare as bad as the time Tommy had to physically wake you from it, he had made you promise to come in and see him if they were to happen again. They had gotten worse over the past two weeks and you knew that your older brother had been having night terrors of his own so you didn't want to worry him. "Two weeks." You muttered and looked back to the side at you brother who was looking at you with sorrowful eyes. "Why didn't you tell me, eh? I'm supposed to help you with things like this. We're supposed to be helping each other out." He confirmed and took your hand in his, stroking his thumb over your knuckles gently. "I know and I'm sorry, it's just you've had so much on and you've been having bad nights of your own. I just didn't want to worry you more." You spoke, feeling his hand squeeze yours lightly, his eyes softening at your chosen words. "But I need you, Y/N. We need each other to get through these nights." Your older brother stated and you almost felt even more ashamed of yourself, all you could do was smile through the tears and place your free hand on his. "Can I stay with you tonight please?" You pleaded with your big blue eyes, already knowing that he would say yes. "Of course you can." Tommy smiled and gestured for you to move over so he could lay down, lifting his arm to the side so you could lay your head on his chest. You did so and got comfortable, instantly feeling safe and ready to sleep.
"Tell me something about when we were younger." You stated out of the blue, drifting in and out of a sleepy state as Tommy's fingers worked their way through your curly brunette locks, feeling you slowly begin to relax under his caressing touch. "What about it?" He asked as he peered down at you, smiling as he watched your eyes flicker closed. "Anything." You whispered and felt him nod slightly. "Okay, when we were younger, I used to take you down the park. Just you and I, away from the stress of Da leaving and Ma dying. We would jump in the canal and see who could swim over to the other side the fastest. Once, I obviously won again and again, we would sit on the banks while our clothes were drying in the sun, throwing pebbles into the water. Those moments were always my favourite ones. Of course, including the times you would throw me in and end up falling in yourself." Tommy chuckled to himself and looked down at you to see that you had a soft smile played on your lips, but your mind was fast asleep. Tommy smiled to himself and started to drift off into a cloudy sleep.
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You woke up once again, shooting yourself up into a sitting position as you craddled your forehead into your palms. You felt Tommy sit up quickly, sitting beside you as you tried to sort yourself out. "Was it another one?" Tommy asked, one of his hands playing patterns on your back to calm you down. Just like he used to do when you were just a wee thing.
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You were crying, beyond tired of all these endless torments. "I just want this all to end, Tommy. I want them to stop." You sobbed and let your older brother pull you into his chest once again, pulling you down with him so that you were both laying down. His hands were in your hair again, his fingertips desperately trying to calm your sobs. "Hey, everything's okay. I'm going to help you. It's all going to get better." He soothed and felt your breathing calm down, his voice speaking words of comfort and ease as you began to fall asleep once again.
This time, you both fell asleep peacefully, not waking up in a fright again.
Aunt Polly walked past her nephew's bedroom in the morning and peered in, smiling at the sight before her.
