Waking Nightmares (Day 3- Insomnia)
“Momo, Jim’s home!”
I turned towards my excited, pink-haired sister as she slammed the door open, quickly throwing down my plastic truck and running with her through the house. As I ran, I could feel the color draining from the house around me, becoming dark and bitter.
Just as it felt that night.
I stopped in my tracks, watching the shorter, pigtailed girl continuing on with her sister, rounding a corner with a huge grin. I closed my eyes, letting out a shaky sigh. There was only one way out of this, same as every other time I was brought to this hellscape. I continued on, following the two girls, walking behind them as they froze at a doorway. I felt bile rise in my stomach at the scene playing out in front of me- Jim had returned home late, smelling heavily of booze, and was even more belligerent than usual.
“Jim,” Bigby started, standing up from the other side of the room, holding a ginger girl to his chest as she snoozed peacefully, “You need to either calm down or leave. We’re not doing this tonight. Not right before Christmas.”
“You need ta fuck off.” Jim’s words slurred as he approached Bigby, narrowing his eyes. “Yer not ma dad, and lord knows yer balls aren’t big enough to be mom.”
Bigby placed Kim on the couch carefully, not taking his eyes off Jim as the twin girls in front of me hid behind the door, barely peeking out.
“Are they gonna fight?” Izzy asked, looking at the smaller redhead.
“No,” She reassured, smiling at the shorter girl.
“Yes.” I knew neither of the girls would hear me as I sighed, but it didn’t stop me.
“J-Jim.” Another small girl with black hair walked up to the men, cowering slightly. She flinched as Jim turned towards her, her hair covering her face as to hide her.
“An’ what the fuck do you want, ya little brat?” His gray eyes glared down at her brown ones as she backed away, taking a step forwards and clenching his fists.
“Jim, that’s enough.” Bigby’s voice became hard as I screwed my eyes shut- or at least attempted to. I couldn’t stop looking as Jim’s hand reached out and grabbed a fistfull of dark hair, yanking the girl into the air before-
I sat up in my bed, panting heavily as the nightmare quickly faded. I brought up my knees as I tried to steady my breathing, grasping randomly to my right until I grabbed the bottle of water by my bed. I tore the cap off, tossing it to the side as I looked at the clock. Almost five in the morning- meaning I had only slept about two hours, max. I sighed, opening the small drawer on my nightstand, pulling out a small, rectangular object. I’d catch up on sleep in class, or maybe tomorrow night. I clicked the device on, feeling nostalgia wash over me at the startup jingle, the screen lighting up with a logo before transitioning to a familiar game screen.
I remember getting frustrated with the difficulty as a child, but as time went on, it became a quick way to take my mind from that night to somewhere with more child-friendly monsters. Ones that didn’t leave me with more nightmares, and ones that I could stand a chance against, even if they were stronger and bigger than me.
Ones that weren’t my brother.
