He
was in a dark room. He looked around himself and saw nothing. It was
dark and kind of scary. He stood upright, ready for whatever was
coming his way. As he stood staring into the darkness, he saw the
outlines of two people in front of him. As he squinted through the
shadows, he recognised the shapes as his mother and father. But it
wasn't the kind of happy family portrait you'd see hanging above
someone's fireplace. His mother was on the floor, shielding her
face; his father was standing over her, his fist raised. Joey ran
forward to protect his mother, but it was as if he was running
through treacle. He didn't get there in time. Blood spattered the
floor as the scene faded away. Joey turned around sharply and saw his
sister being carried away from him by some doctors. They were
murmuring things about how it was 'too late' and 'how useless
that brother of hers is'.
"Serenity! Don't go!!" Joey
called out, trying to run to her.
"Joey!! Don't let them
take me!!" Serenity called, stretching her hand out to her brother.
Joey nearly reached her, just one more step further...he closed his
fingers around air as Serenity and the doctors faded
away.
"Serenity!!!" Joey called in despair.
"Joey?
Joey, are you okay? Wake up!"
Joey woke up sharply, his
fists clenched, his face covered in a cold sweat.
He felt
Serenity's head rest upon his chest and he sat up.
"What's
wrong, big brother? You were calling me." She said sweetly. She was
clutching her teddy bear tightly, her eyes filled with worry for her
brother.
Joey rubbed his eyes and saw how dark it was. It was
still the middle of the night. He lay back down and buried his head
in his pillow.
"It was just a bad dream, Serenity." Joey
said sleepily. "It's the middle of the night, go back to
bed."
"Okay." Serenity said, making her way back towards
the door. "Joey?"
"Yeah?"
Serenity stopped,
thought for a moment, then grinned and held out her teddy bear. "You
can borrow my teddy if you want, Joey. You won't have bad dreams
then."
Joey smiled at his sister's concern for him. "No,
Serenity, you keep him. Good night."
"Night, Joey."
Serenity waved her free hand, and then disappeared behind the door.
