“STAY AWAY FROM HER” A woman’s voice rang out from outside the closet.

A small child, a brunette with a light green sweater two sizes too big. The child silently weeps as their parents argue, hugging their knees close to their chest.

The father, though barely visible, could be seen holding a knife in broad daylight.

“That- that THING is not mine! I WANT IT OUT OF MY HOUSE!” The father screams, sobs increasing as the small child’s body shakes with each word.

Then, it all went quiet.

“Honey! Honey, hey let’s- let’s not get ahead of ourselves-!” The woman stammers out, hurriedly running in front of her husband as he strides over to where the child was hidden.

Suddenly, the closet doors in which the child was hidden were thrown open. A man with dark brown hair and even darker eyes glared at the child cowering in fear.

Soon the mother joined with light brown hair and kinder green eyes ran up, persuading him to stop. Though he never listened as he lifted the knife above his-

Gasp

The dream stops.

I struggle for breath as I try to calm my racing heart.

This has happened every night. Nightmares terrorize my sleep every night.

“If insomnia wasn’t bad enough-” I think to myself, pushing myself up from the bed, and peering outside.

Still night, still and silent like the morning and afternoon… and evening… and any time.

Except for when I’m with her, the other one.. that I realized I never got the name of.

Wandering around, I eventually found the hideout she lived in. Crawling through the little entrance tunnel. Once inside, I noticed she was sleeping on an old mattress. How she got it in was beyond me.

From what I remember from last time I was here, she was a small Hispanic girl, 4’11 at most. She had black hair and dark brown eyes. She constantly wore this navy blue jacket and grey sweatpants. Her cat, Bonita, was a Burmese Cat, while her dog, Taco, was a Golden Retriever. Both animals were lying in their respective beds on the other side of the hideout.

I sit on the floor next to her head, pulling my legs up to my chest. Laying my head into my knees, I sat there in silence for them to wake.

After what felt like forever(about 30 minutes), she started to wake. Stretching, her eyes fluttered as she caught sight of me. Her eyes widened before screaming.

“AHHH, WHAT THE HECK!!??” She screamed, throwing a pillow at my face.

“Ah sorry, I couldn’t sleep, so I came here.”

“Why?” She asked, scooting up to sit by my head.

“Nightmare,” I said slowly, hugging my knees tighter.

“Oh…”

There was a moment of silence, both of us not knowing what to say. The silence was broken when there was shuffling on the bed. Suddenly there was a battered bright pink blanket draped over my shoulders, the other dropping down next to me and curling up underneath the blanket as well.

“You don’t have to talk about it; we can just sit in silence….” They said, leaning their head on my shoulder as they intertwined their hand with mine.

Nodding my head, I say a silent “thank you.”

“By the way, my name is Jesika.”

“Mines Lee.”