A scream pierced the night, waking him up as nothing else would, he was about to jump out of bed when Allie ran into his room and under his bed sheets, so quickly he wasn't sure who it was at first.
"Allie?! what wrong?!" he asked the 3-year-old, who was clinging to his chest.
"a werewolf was in my room!" Allie sobbed.
Werewolf?! oh I knew letting Allie watch that movie was a bad idea!
He wrapped his arms around alan.
"Shh, baby. no werewolf is going to hurt to hurt you" he said kissing alan's head. "you want to know why?"
"why?" Alan asked, tears running down his face.
"because werewolves don't exist, and even if they did they wouldn't have the nerve to come near my baby brother," he said, wiping alan's tears away.
"why?"
"because I'll scare them all away, nobody scares my baby brother," he kissed alan's forehead.
"really?"
"Yeah," he nodded grinning. "they'll be running away like scary cats when I finish with them."
alan yawned, causing him to yawn. "now come on, you're tired, its time to go back to sleep baby."
"can I stay here?" Alan asked, his eyes begging him to say 'yes.'
there was no way he was saying no to those eyes.
"Sure, come here," he said, hugging alan close. "comfy?"
"yeah…lullaby Scotty?" Alan asked, head laying on his chest.
"only if you promise to go to sleep," he whispered.
"I promise" alan yawns.
"okay…..You are my sunshine, my only sunshine" he sang softly, his voice slowly putting alan to sleep. "you make me happy when skies are grey."
He yawned, it been a long rescue. He opened his door and sighed.
There was a little lump under his sheets, he wishes he was more surprised by this, but he wasn't.
This been happening for the last month nearly, ever since dad went missing. He picked up his pyjamas and went to the bathroom to change.
His ten-year-old baby brother was still there when he got back. He crawled under the covers, pulling his brother into a hug.
"did you have another nightmare?"
Alan shook his head "i… I couldn't sleep, whenever I closed my eyes I saw one of you..d-dying." Alan said, his voice trembling.
"Shh, that not going to happen," he said, his arms tightening around alan.
"you can't promise that. Not after d-" alan broke, burying his head in his chest, sobbing.
He knows nothing he can say will fix this hurt, this hurt that had no cure but time, Even then he doesn't think it will ever fully heal.
He did the only thing he could think of; he started to sing softly that age-old lullaby, that always calmed alan down when he was just a baby.
"You'll never know dear, how much I love you."
Dark, damp rock walls surrounded him.
The only light he had was flickering, on the verge of leaving him in the unforgiving dark: no comms, no way of talking with his brothers, no way to know how long until help get here or if it's coming.
They need help, dammit! They needed it ages ago; Alan needs it ages ago!
His baby brother's head was in his lap, bearly conscious. He could bearly see the blue of alan's uniform any more; it was all red.
He tries doing all he knew of first aid, but it just wasn't working!
"hold on, baby please" he begged, brushing hair out of Alan's eyes, Alan's eyes were unfocused. He was shaking from more than cold, trying to control his emotions.
Losing control now was not going to help alan!
He started to sing softly, the light in the cave getting dimmer until it was nearly gone.
"Please don't take my sunshine away" he choked on the last line as his light when out.