It was not just another normal night in the Amari-Ziegler household. No, tonight was one of Hana's favorite holidays, Halloween. She was 19 now, too old for trick or treating and too young to go out partying (according to her mothers). So she had a special night planned:
All night horror movie marathon.
Hana had everything set up for the night. She had popcorn, soda, several different movies, her favorite bunny pajamas, and of course her mothers. Both of which sat on the couch waiting patiently for Hana to pick the first movie.
"At this rate we may get through one, two movies at the most?" Fareeha, the strong, tall and slender Egyptian woman quipped from her spot on the couch. She then shoved a mouthful of popcorn in her mouth.
"That may not be a bad thing; horror is not really my speed." Responded Fareeha's wife, Angela, in her German accent. The lithe blonde woman had her legs lying on Fareeha's lap with a book in her hand.
"I got it!" Hana shouted excitedly, holding the DVD case above her head as if it was the Holy Grail. "We'll start off with some real old school horror." She bounded to the couch and showed her movie pick off to her parents.
"Night of the Living Dead" Angela read off the title and closed her book. "I think I've heard of this one." She commented.
"Yeah, well it's really old so maybe you have." Quipped Hana as she put the disk in the player. Fareeha had to stop herself from laughing as she saw Angela's eye visibly twitch.
"That's it. I'm returning you to the adoption agency." She snapped back. Hana just laughed at the joke as she took her spot on the couch on the other side of Fareeha.
"No way! You're stuck with me!" The young woman of Korean heritage laughed and grabbed a handful of popcorn as the movie started. During the movie it began to rain which provided a certain ambiance to the experience of it all.
The three plowed through several movies including Psycho (Hana didn't understand why movies were ever made in black and white), Saw (Angela had her eyes closed and her face buried into Fareeha's shoulder for most of the movie), The Shining (Fareeha had pulled a blanket over the three clutched tight throughout the movie) and Silence of the Lambs. Before they knew it, it was already 1:30 in the morning.
Fareeha yawned and stood up, stretching her arms over her head as the ending credits rolled. "Well, that's enough for me. I gotta get to bed." She stated before holding out a hand to help her wife up off the couch. "Shall we, habibata?" Angela linked arms with her lover.
"Hana, promise you'll go to bed soon?" Angela looked over her shoulder as her daughter picked out another movie.
"Yup!" Hana replied, not really listening and shuffling through disks.
"Yeah, don't get any nightmares." Fareeha laughed as she teased.
"I'm not scared." Hana scoffed and shot her a glare before sitting back on the couch with the now empty popcorn bowl. The movie she had picked was Train to Busan. While she didn't have too many memories of her life before Angela and Fareeha adopted her, the ones she had weren't good ones. She picked this movie because Busan was where she was born, and the movie was in Korean so she didn't have to use English subtitles. Now that her mothers had gone to bed Hana turned the lights off in the living room and pulled the blanket around her so it hugged her snug.
Once the movie ended Hana sat frozen to her seat. She didn't think it would scare her so much but she had to stop herself from shaking as she pulled the blanket tighter around her. "Damnit." She swore, now she was alone in the dark living room and she heard the roll of thunder in the distance. She hated storms. "Okay Hana…" She spoke aloud to herself for comfort. "Your room is right down the hall, you got this!" She tried to encourage herself but a flash of lightning had her pull the covers to her face as her whole body shook.
"Okay, on three, just gotta get up and sprint." She coached herself. "One…two…" before she could get to three the thunder roared again. She sprung to her feet, raced down the hall, passed her mothers' bedroom and to her room. She flipped on the light and shut the door. "Okay, that wasn't so bad!" She tried to tell herself but her heart was still racing.
Before she slid into her bed she stopped and flipped on the small nightlight plugged into the wall. With a deep breath she turned off the lights and slid under the covers, pulling them to her face. She did not want to admit she let a movie of all things freak her out. After all, she was ! The almost professional gamer who could never lose!
The storm grew louder as rain pelted her window. Lightning flashed, causing horrendous and obscure shadows to form on her walls. Right now she didn't feel like the semi-pro gamer. Right now she felt more like the scared little kid who would run to her mommies whenever she was afraid.
The thunder boomed loud enough to rattle the windows of the modest bungalow. That was it. In one fluid motion Hana ripped the covers off and once again sprinted out the door and to the hall. This time she didn't have far to go as she flung open the door to her mothers' room and slammed it behind her. Without any time to think she leapt into bed between the two women who had been asleep minutes before.
If Hana wasn't so frightened she would have heard Fareeha whisper "I told you so," as Hana squirmed under the covers. Angela sat up, the thunder had awoken them too and she would be lying if she said she hadn't expected this result.
"Liebling, what did I tell you about the scary movies?" She propped herself up on her arm and tried to make out the form of her daughter trembling under the covers.
"I shouldn't have stayed up so late watching them and now there's a storm and I didn't know what to do so I ran in here." The quick muffled reply came from the mass of blanket between the two women. Fareeha stifled a chuckle and pulled the covers back so she could at least see her daughter's face.
"Exactly tayir saghir." Fareeha couldn't help but smile as another flash of lightning accompanied by the roar of thunder echoed throughout the room. Hana pulled the covers back over her head.
"Mommy can I please sleep with you tonight?" She asked the two women collectively, her voice was trembling. Angela looked to Fareeha and bit her lip; it had always been hard for her to say no to the girl. Fareeha rolled her eyes but a large smile adorned her features.
"Yes dear, you can sleep with us." Fareeha answered and settled back into bed. "Just don't take all the covers." She rolled over to her side. Even in a king sized bed it was a tight fit for all three of them. Not that any of them minded.
Fareeha's answer was a soft snore as Hana quickly fell asleep between her mothers.