It was a cool winter's night in The Hundred Acre Wood, all was quiet and the residents of the woods were sleeping peacefully all accept for little Roo. The boy was laying in his bed wide awake. It was late, and he was tired but he could not fall asleep.
Roo tossed and turned for a little bit, and side softly as he turned to lay on his back. He sighed a little and turned again to his side and was staring at his bedside table and he saw the gold heart shaped locket sitting there. Slowly he lifted a small hand and picked the locket up and opened it.
He smiled softly, staring at the picture that was recently added to the locket. He loved this picture of him and his family. They looked happy as could be.
It hadn't been very long since the incident with the avalanche. He shuddered softly at the memory, it was scary and he had some nightmares about it. He hadn't told anyone about them though, not even his mother.
They were mostly about Tigger and how he got swept up in the snow after getting everyone up to safety. In his nightmare he dreamed that he was too late to save Tigger and he could not bare the memory as he closed his eyes and begged the images to go away. He closed his locket and clutched it tightly to his chest.
He kept telling himself that everything was okay and Tigger was alive and they were all home safely. Tigger was his best friend and he was like a big brother to him. The nightmare still kept going round and round in the boy's head and he just wished that it would stop.
"What is wrong with me?" He said to himself as he kept the locket held against his chest.
Tears started forming in his eyes and he sighed softly. He still felt bad after what happened when he and the rest of their friends tried to pose as Tigger's family. He'd never seen Tigger so upset, but he didn't blame him.
Though Tigger forgave Roo and the rest of their friends for what they did, but the boy still felt guilty.
The little joey sat up and got out of bed and hopped quietly over to his window and opened it up to look outside. It was cold but the moon was full and bright making the snow on the ground shimmer and glow and it was quite a beautiful sight. He was not a big fan of cold weather but he still loved the snow. He started thinking of all the good fun times that he and Tigger had. Snowball fights, snow angels, building a snowman. He remembered the time Tigger tried ice skating and giggled softy when he could not keep himself up and lost his balance and ended up skating into Rabbit.
As he tried to keep the good memories in his head the nightmare still hovered in his head like a dark rain cloud. He sighed again and tried to relax and breathe in and out.
The boy got up from his spot by the window and he quietly hopped out of his room before grabbing his scarf and tying it around his neck and walked out being careful to not wake his mother up and he walked outside and shut the door gently and he stood there for a moment letting his eyes wander and watching the snow glowing in the moonlight.
He started bouncing quietly and he figured maybe a little fresh air would help ease his mind. He just kept bouncing along and he soon found himself near Tigger's house.
He looked up and he saw lights on in the house. Tigger was still awake? It was not really super late, but Roo wondered if he should go up and talk to him. He stood there a moment and sighed, he shook his head and he started to turn around before hearing a familiar voice behind him.
"Roo boy?"
Roo froze and then he turned and looked up, Tigger bounced up to him looking concerned.
"Oh hiya Tigger," Roo said in a friendly voice.
"What are ya doing out here at this time of night," Tigger asked him.
Roo fidled with the bottom of his shirt nervously, and looked down. "I uh..couldn't sleep."
Tigger leaned down to meet his eyes. "You okay Roo?"
"Fine," Roo said quickly. "I'm fine really. Just getting some fresh air." He looked up and smiled softly.
But Tigger was not fooled and he could tell something was bothering him. He figured that they should get out of the cold first, the last thing he wanted was for Roo to get sick. He swept the boy up onto his shoulders. "Let's go inside and talk huh?" He said.
Roo smiled and nodded his head. "Yeah sure," he replied.
Tigger grinned back. "Hold on tight, going up!" He said. "Hoo hoo hoo hoo!" And up they went.
Roo giggled, holding on tightly as Tigger bounced all the way up to his front door. He laughed and grinned up at the boy on his shoulders. "Some fun, huh buddy?"
"Yeah!" He responded giggling as Tigger opened the door and walked in.
Roo hopped off Tigger's shoulders and Tigger smiled softly, ruffling the boy's hair.
Both were quiet for a minute before Tigger broke the silence. "So what's goin on huh Roo boy?"
Roo looked down and sighed softly shaking his head, he tried to fight back the tears that were forming in his eyes. Tigger knelt down in front of him, looking concerned. "Come on Roo boy, you know you can tell me anything." He told him gently.
"I-I'm sorry Tigger." Roo finally said. "Couldn't sleep because I was having nightmares about you and that avalanche.."
"Awe it's okay, I get it. But it was only a bad dream kiddo," Tigger said.
"I know, it's not just the nightmares. I just..I mean..I still feel really guilty. That would never have happened if it weren't for me. It was all my fault, you almost died."
"Awe Roo boy, none of that was your fault. I was the one who walked out." Tigger told him.
"I didn't blame you, I am so sorry for tricking you like that Tigger. I wanted to tell you that the letter was really from all of us and not other Tigger's but you were just so happy, I didn't wanna make you sad again." Roo said, his voice breaking as he spoke and a couple tears fell.
Tigger instantly hugged the boy tightly to his chest. "Roo boy, you don't have to say you're sorry. I never should have walked out on you like that, I'm the one who's sorry. I should not have been so hard and I should have listened to you. And..I'm sorry it took me so long to see that my family was right in front of me the whole time."
Roo hugged Tigger tightly, burying his face in his chest and more tears started to fall. "I'm sorry Tigger."
"Don't be," Tigger said. "You know you've always been like a little brother to me and you always will be no matter what."
"You've always been like a brother to me too Tigger," Roo said softly. "I was just so scared that I lost you for good after all that."
"Roo boy, you'll never lose me. I promise, we are stuck together. Bouncing buddies for life," Tigger told him.
Roo smiled softly after that and hugged Tigger again. "Thanks Tigger," he said.
Tigger returned the embrace, and he held the boy close to his chest and smiled down at him. "Anytime little brother."
Roo's heart melted at those words and he hugged his big brother Tigger even tighter and smiled as he said "I love you Tigger."
"I love ya too kiddo," Tigger said and ruffled the boy's hair.
Roo giggled batting Tigger's paw away and he suddenly yawned softly.
"Finally getting tired huh? How bout I get you home?" Tigger asked, and Roo nodded his head in response and Tigger scooped him up onto his shoulders and headed outside. And he bounced all the way to Roo's house.
"Hold on little brother," Tigger told him and he bounced all the way up to Roo's bedroom window and the boy giggled as he did that.
"It's so cool how you can jumped so high like that Tigger, you gotta teach me that," Roo said grinning up at Tigger as he put the boy down on the floor.
"You bet! Stick with me kid and you'll be bouncing like a pro in no time," Tigger said grinning back at him.
"Yeah I can't wait!" Roo said excitedly jumping up onto his bed.
"Okie dokie Roo boy, time you got some rest okay? And when you wake up we can go bouncing together." Tigger said as Roo settled down back in his bed and Tigger pulled the blanket over him and gave his hair a very gentle ruffle.
Roo yawned again and smiled up at Tigger gently. "Nighty night big brother," he said softly.
"Nighty night little brother," Tigger replied.
Roo yawned and he slowly closed his eyes and whispered softly, "I love you Tigger."
"Love ya too, Roo boy," Tigger said back and he stood up and quietly headed over to the window and stopping to look back at the little joey. He smiled Roo had already curled up and looked comfortable under his covers. Then he turned and jumped down to the ground and then he bounced along singing his theme song all the way home.
"The wonderful thing about Tiggers is I'm the only one, IIIII'm the only one!"
End