Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me.
"Hush now my sweet babe
Close your eyes and dream away into the land I know not where
And I will keep you safe from harm until the end of forever
Goodnight my sleeping angel and don't awake 'til morning light shines through your window"
A woman with light, brown hair stood over the child's bed, giving him a light kiss on the cheek. "Will you be able to sleep now?"
"What if the monsters come out to eat me?" the child asked, with fright gleaming in his green eyes.
The woman frowned ever so slightly at her child, with exhaustion in her eyes. "Honey, no monsters are coming to eat you." The boy only looked away from his mother, a small tear trickling down his cheek. She only smiled. She kneeled and started to search under his bed, while the boy pleaded for her stop before the monsters got her. "I was saving this for your birthday tomorrow, but I guess now is a better time, huh?"
It was a stuffed lion with an orange ribbon tied around its neck. The boy gasped happily, greedily taking it out her hands. "Thank you, Mommy!"
"Will you be able to sleep now?" She asked.
"With Sir…erm…Fluffles." He replied, smiling.
"Well, goodnight, okay. Goodnight, sweetheart. Goodnight, Sir Fluffles."
Five-year old Jason Hogart clutched his stuffed as he remembered the lullaby his mother had sang to him two weeks ago, just before she died in a tragic taxi-cab accident. The driver had been very drunk and was spinning off the road once Mrs. Hogart got into the cab. When his father took him to the hospital all of a sudden when he came home from work, Jason thought nothing of it until he heard his father say, "Jason, you're mother is gone."
He nodded and smiled happily, replying, "Okay, Daddy, when is she coming back?"
His father pulled him into a tight hug, while he began sobbing. Jason felt out of place all of a sudden. He had never seen his father so unhappy or even cry, for that matter. Responding to his father's feelings and actions, Jason, too, started crying. That's when Jason understood why he was in the hospital, and why his mother was gone. She had no intention of coming back, apparently, there was nothing Jason could do to make his dad feel better or bring her back.
But Jason sort of felt better knowing that Sir Fluffles was with him through all of this. The toy meant a lot to him. For moments, Jason started forgetting everything about his mother. Her smile, her laugh, and ever her lullaby, bit with Sir Fluffles, he remembered her.
In the present, Jay sat on top of Manny's bed, wiping sweat off his forehead. He was tired of helping her clean out her closet. Her room was clean and shiny, but her closet was not. It was filthy from top to bottom. Even his closet was cleaner than this, which said a lot of about how much housework Manny would do in the near future. On the other hand, Jay found it endearing that they shared a lack cleanliness when it came to home-style cleaning rituals rather than what they did in the outside world. It was a healthy balance of thing, he thought, at least for him, but maybe not for other people.
"Oh, my gosh!" Manny squealed happily. "I don't believe this!"
Snapping out of his daze, Jay glanced over at Manny's excited expression, looking at the thing she held in her hands. And, for some reason, he had been shocked to see such a sight as well. He quickly rushed to her side, kneeling by the closet. His astonished filled eyes were almost filled with tears as he looked at the bundle of softness in Manny's hands.
"Sir Fluffles!" Manny exclaimed, hugging the toy tightly, as if it were a real person. "I haven't seen this thing since I was thirteen. He was my first stuffed animal."
Trying to play it cool, Jay shrugged, and nodded. "Cool. Where did you get it? Looks pretty old."
"A boy gave it to me." Manny replied, sending Jay to complete shock, but still, Manny managed not to notice, still staring at her childhood toy.
Jason sat under the shade of a large tree. It was summer, and Jason thought it was much too hot to play anything with anybody in this heat. Truthfully, it wasn't that hot at all, but his house was so cold, that he senses were confused. So the only breeze could find was when the leaves shook above him. He watched other kids play, but he didn't feel lonesome. Not with Sir Fluffles.
A small, dangly, perky girl looking to about a year younger than he was sat next to him under the tree, smiling happily. "Hi!"
Jay returned his excitement happily. "Hi! I'm Jason."
"I'm Manny." She said.
Jason had to restrain himself from falling over laughing. It was an odd name for a girl, and was usually a name for sports people. Not girls. So, he just grinned through his teeth, "Is that your real name?"
The girl pouted, "No, my real name is Manuela." She perked up at him, noticing the toy in his arms. "I like your lion."
"Thanks. His name is Sir Fluffles." Jason replied, proudly hugging his friend. "My mommy gave it to me before she died. I miss her sometimes, but then Sir Fluffles makes me feel better. His my bestest fwiend in the whole wide world."
"That's cool. I wish I had one of him. I get scared of the dark a lot. I'm afraid that there's a monster somewhere in my closet coming to get me in the middle of the night." Manny explained.
Jason looked at Sir Fluffles for a moment and then back at the girl, seeming to be troubled. "Do you want him? I think he's allowed to have you for a bestest fwiend now."
"You don't have to." The girl blushed as Jason extended the lion away from himself.
"I know that! I want to. I'm not afraid of the dark anymore. I have Daddy." Jason grinned. He shoved the toy in her arms and ran off quickly.
"Odd guy." Manny murmured, making Jay chuckle.
"Was he hitting on you when he gave you this?" He asked with a sly grin.
"I hope not. I thought he was cute at the time, though." Manny giggled. "I just can't believe it's been so many years since I've seen it last. It was my favorite toy growing up, because I always thought about that boy."
"Do you mind if I see that for a moment, Manny?" Jay asked nervously.
"Sure. I'm going to go get a soda." She stood up and looked down at Jay, who seemed as if he were about to cry. "Are you okay?"
Jay looked up at her, forcing a reassuring smile. "Yeah, it just looks familiar is all."
Manny frowned at his answer, but left the room anyway to ponder what Jay could be so upset about. In her heart, she probably knew that answer, but in her head, it was thinking that it wasn't logical for Jay Hogart to be the original owner of that stuffed lion. She sighed as she closed the door, trusting her heart's knowledge.
Meanwhile, Jay snuggled the toy close to his heart. A small tear made its way down Jay's cheek and on the fur of the lion. It had been quite awhile since he even thought about his mother, but now the memory was here again. In all honesty, he had been trying to forget about her for so long that he pushed almost everyone away by acting like a jackass, and those people were always the ones that meant to most to him, or at least admired in a way: Sean, Spinner, Darcy, Alex, Emma, his father, and more than once, Manny. But, God, how it hurt him so to even think about his mother. She didn't deserve to lose her life the way she did, and the last thing he ever wanted was to lose anybody like that again, yes, especially Manny.
Jason slowly opened his eyes from yet another terrible nightmare about his mother dying, only this time Sir Fluffles wasn't there to comfort him, and his father was at work, while he was stuck at home with his
babysitter. He took the bed sheets in his hands and hid away from the sharp light of the sun. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he thought about he dead mother. Most of all, he missed her lullaby. Jason was miserable without her and he truly thought that this feeling was never-ending.
He was wrong. Soon, he thought of the girl that he gave Sir Fluffles, and that was enough to make him smile again.