"You're okay. It was just a bad dream."
Rose had gone to bed that night feeling uneasy. She wasn’t sure what she was going to tell her parents. It all happened so quickly and now she was left with the consequences. The results of the test were weighing heavily on her mind and she struggled to even find the peace to sleep. Her father’s temper would flare when he knew and she knew in her heart that her mother would be very disappointed in her.
When she could sleep at last the dream that came gave no relief to her. The dream began with Rose in bed, holding the newly born infant, and had ended in blood coating the entire hospital room, the baby crying as its father, grandfather, and grandmother lay strewn about the floor, the mother barely able to comprehend what had happened in the mere seconds that her father had been in the room with them.
Rose was shaking as her mother sat on her bed, looking at her with concern and love. A bad dream... She tried to swallow but her throat felt tight and her breath was coming out in trembling bursts. “I-I’m fine... thanks, mom, but you can... you can go back to bed. I’m fine, really... It was just a bad dream...” The words echoed in her head and she could barely bring herself to meet her mother’s gaze.
