Disclaimer: Not my character's, Annie's. I make no money off this.
When I Awoke the Next Mornin'
When that alarm woke me up ta go into the office as usual, I first thought it had all been a dream. Had ta be a dream. Bad one, though. Jack wasn't in bed. It's unusual for him ta get up first, but sometimes it happens, so I just thought he'd been in one of his brooding moods today, maybe. His pillow looked untouched, though.
It wasn't until the shower water hit me that the memories did too, and I thought I must be livin' in a nightmare just then, but I didn't have any clue what a nightmare it was. Not until I left my bedroom. I found Bobby curled in on himself and in tears in the hallway right outside my door.
I didn't have any choice but ta go to work that day. We had a big sale comin' in an I simply had ta be there to receive it, but I knew Bobby was in no kinda shape. I called the school to explain he needed a couple days off at least, an I called my momma to come and sit with him. That was when the school gave me the number for a shrink. I called him that night; I don't know what ta do about a cryin' boy.
Later I found out from Bobby that he'd spent the whole night like that outside my door. I wonder why he didn't knock, but I don't really wonder. I wouldn't have been able to give him what he needed just then, and the person that could didn't live in that room no more.
I feel a little guilty. Not because I went ta work, or didn't hold Bobby that day, or called my momma, or sent him to a shrink. The thing I feel most guilty about is that fact that I woke up that mornin'. How is it I could sleep, seein' what I had seen, knowin' Bobby couldn't? What kinda woman gets a good night's sleep after her husband's killed? I guess maybe the kinda woman that has a son ta support and a big sale goin' on at work the next day.