"I can't sleep."
Stacey crawls under Sam's duvet and pokes him lightly.
"You know, the fact that you can't sleep doesn't mean you have to wake me up, too" he grumbles, but holds her tight. It always surprises him how well his siblings handle the whole situation; maybe they are too young to fully understand the tragedy of living in the motel room, or maybe kids just have this ability to adjust to everything quickly.
"You weren't sleeping" the girl says. "You move a lot when you sleep, kicking the air and putting your arms up and things like that, that's why no one wants to sleep with you, even if you cuddle. And now you aren't moving at all." She yawns and asks: "Do you have nightmares, Sammy?"
"I think so, if I act like you described" the boy leans his cheek on Stacey's head and inhales the scent of her hair, this terrible cheap shampoo.
A few months ago Stacey's head smelled like strawberries.
"But I don't remember them at all." he added. "I'm probably too tried or something."
For a minute they lie in silence and Sam thinks that Stacey is finally falling asleep, but the girl speaks up again.
"Tell me a bedtime story."
"Which one?" Sam sighs. "Sleeping beauty, Cinderella? Spider-man? Avatar?"
"None of these, they are boring." Sam looks down at her, like he was asking what he's supposed to do, then. "Tell me some original story." Stacey learned word "original" when Sam was telling her about Nationals; since then she always says it with proud voice, thinking that using it makes her seem sophisticated.
"I'm not telling you an original story. I'm too tried to think."
"You're lazy" she says in accusing voice and Sam laughs silently, worrying if he's waking anyone up.
"What's so weird about being lazy in the middle of the night?" he asks, but doesn't wait for an answer. "Fine, I'll tell you a story…but only because you're incredibly irritating about it. You shouldn't really get any treat for it, you know?"
"But it worked." she notices.
"Only because you have a really cool brother." Sam starts to play with her hair as he thinks. For a long moment he doesn't say a word, until Stacey finally kicks him in hurrying manner.
"There was a really beautiful princess…" he starts. His voice goes soft, his eyes get a little dreamy. Stacy knows that's what happens when he makes up stories; that's one of the reasons she likes Sam's original fairytales more than the usual ones, even if he tries to make every single story interesting and special. "She had pale skin, a wonderful smile and the voice of an angel. You would have thought everyone loved her, but she didn't like most of the stuff other people liked. People found her a little weird, because she wasn't into power or money or balls or these crinoline dresses which were very fashionable back then. She made her own clothes, actually. Anyway, the princess felt lonely due to all these differences between her and the other people. One afternoon, when she was on the walk - in her DIY outfit, of course - she met a boy."
"A prince" Stacey guessed. "It's always a prince."
"It wasn't a prince" Sam grinned. "This boy had very weird… Hair. In color which wasn't something usual in this land. Everyone had dark hair and his was really light, in color of lemon juice. So princess guessed he must have came from some other place. She knew how people in the kingdom treated everyone who were even slightly different, so she decided to warn that boy. She didn't do it right away, though. She was curious - she never has met anyone foreign or left Lima Kingdom, so she wanted to get to know him a little better. She offered to show him the forest."
"And they fell in love." Stacey smiled.
Sam shook his head. "Not at all."
'Sammy, there's something wrong with this fairytale." she noticed. "There's no magic, dragons or romance so far."
"Just wait." Sam fixed the blanket covering them and continued.
"They understood each other very well, even if they seemed like people who had nothing in common. They spent the whole day together. Princess offered him work in the castle, in astronomy tower. The boy agreed, even though he liked his tramp lifestyle. He decided that some time spent in this kingdom wouldn't hurt. Besides, the princess was pretty… Anyway, they met next day. Princess let him know that the King didn't approve hiring blond wanderers. In fact, he didn't even approve their meetings… So this quick visit in forest was supposed to be the last time they saw each other. Princess came back to her princess stuff, and the boy found a home somewhere in the kingdom. People were still giving them weird looks - her, because she still was considered outsider, him, because, well… He was still foreign-looking.
One day king decided that it's time for princess to find a husband and start acting a little more like a lady. So he organized huge ball and invited all princes that existed."
"Oh, I know. The boy sneaked in?" Stacey asked, excited.
"No." Sam bit his bottom lip with smile. "They had really great guards, he didn't even try. Besides, he didn't even have right clothes."
"Oh, come on."
"During the ball princess… well…. Met a prince who had the same favorite book. For king it was good enough and he got them engaged."
"Were they in love?" Stacey furrowed her eyebrows. "Or, did they fall in love?"
"Well, they really liked each other." Sam looked for the right words for a while. "But when they kissed, princess knew it wasn't true love's kiss. You know, the one that ends everything, that brings happy ever after."
"The whole kingdom started preparing for the wedding" Sam continued. "And that's when princess and the boy met again."
"And? And?" Stacey asked. "What happened?"
Sam licked his lips.
"Wait a second" he stood up. "I have to pee."

"Where were we?" asked Sam, hugging his sister again.
"They met again" Stacey reminded him with her cheeks reddened. Seemed like she really got into the story.
"She noticed him when he was travelling through a really terrible land. That's how she found out the boy was poor and started to help him."
"So now they can't be together because he's poor? He was supposed to be foreign-looking" Stacey interrupted.
"It's both" Sam nodded.
"It can't be both" she shook her head. "Both is too much."
Her bother seemed deeply offended by that implication. "No, it's not."
"Yes, it is." she waved her hand in the direction where their last few books (mostly too old and damaged to sell, but too close to their hearts to throw out) were lying. "Characters never have as many problems."
"It's my story, there may be as many obstacles as I want." Sam cut. "Do you want to hear the rest of it or not?"
"Fine."
"So, the princess started to help him with his financial situation… And he started to fall in love with her."
"Finally" Stacey sighed.
"Sometimes his mind crossed the thought that she may like him, too… But she was very busy with her wedding." Sam stopped for a while. For few minutes they just lied down in silence. Stacey looked up at her brother.
"And what happened then?" she asked.
He found another girl, Sam thought.
"I have no idea" he answered.
"How?" Stacey didn't hide her disappointment. "That's your story."
"Yeah, I'll finish it tomorrow." He fixed bedclothes once again. "Nighty-night, Stacey."