He looked at his clock. 3:48 am. in the morning. Had it only been 4 hours? Huh? He frantically searched his bed for her. She was gone again. This was the 2nd time she had scared him in 4 hours. He got up quickly and turned on the light. He ran out into the hallway only to get as far as the living room when he heard a soft voice. Then he saw her walking around the coffee table muttering something. Her eyes were wide open. As he moved closer to he heard what she was saying.
"6...7...all good girls go to heaven........
8....9......God will make everything fine.
This is what happens when you get to 10
You go back and start again
123.....God's in love with me..."
"Mommy? Sing me another song please?"
"No. I want you to listen to this song."
"But why Mommy?"
"Becuase........" She was sleepwalking. Remarkable. He'd never seen such a thing. He walked
closer to her and sat on the couch. He listened......
"I don't want to hear this song anymore. It scares me. It reminds me of
death." "Well then fine! I try to do something nice for you tonight by singing you
a lullabye and you just blow me off. Thanks."
Mommy. Why are you so mad at me?"
"Just go to bed!" "Mommy. I didn't mean to make you mad. Please don't go Mommy please don't
go. I'll be good. I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"SHUT UP! JUST GO TO BED!"
MOMMY COME BACK! COME BACK! YOU DID IT ON PURPOSE! YOU SCARED ME ON
PURPOSE! THIS IS YOUR FAULT NOT MINE! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT! WHY ARE YOU
ALWAYS SO MAD AT ME?! MOMMY? MOMMY?!
COME BACK!!!!!!! PLEEEEEASE!!!!! PLLEEEAAASSSEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!
She was sobbing.
"It's not fair......" she said in a whisper.
She was reliving a moment of her past.
'OK. Time to wake her up. This is getting out of hand.' he thought. She was walking with her eyes wide open again. A tear stained face. She was quiet again. She was walking towards the bedroom. He stepped in front of her and grabbed her by her shoulders and shook ever so slightly to wake her
up. She blinked a few times and everything came into focus.
'Where?' She screamed so loud he had to cover his ears. He grabbed her and held her
tight.
"Shhhhhhhhh. Shhhhhhhhh.' filled the room.
Suddenly, she pulled away.
"No, don't. I mean, when I do this.....sleepwalk....Don't wake me up.
"Never wake up sleepwalkers.
Well in all of his life and knowledge, that was new to him. He'd never heard that one before. So there she stood and there he crouched. They just stayed that way for a while. Staring at each other. Each looking into each others eyes. In time, Caroline's eyes began to feel heavy which didn't go unnoticed by Anthony. Once again he picked her up and carried her to the
bedroom. The light was turned off yet again and then all was dark. Was quiet. Then, out of all the darkness, her voice, "I keep waking you up." He only pulled her closer in response. For some reason, he didn't feel so
alone anymore, but......something was missing. What was it.
Sleep claimed him.