"Daddy!" I called down to my dad.
"What do you need, Luke? I'm kind of busy!" Daddy called from downstairs.
I didn't know what I wanted. I just wanted to know he was still here. I crawled out of bed to see what he was doing. I wish I hadn't. I wish I'd just curled up and gone back to sleep. He was building the cell for Cliegg. Cliegg was curled in a ball on the floor beside him, and he was hurt.
"Daddy! Why'd you hurt him?" I ran to hug him and kiss it better.
Daddy turned to me, "It wasn't me, Luke. My master came by to see that I wasn't bonding with him and he tortured Cliegg. I'm sorry, both of you." He looked at the floor and I knew he really meant it.
I sat down beside Cliegg, but I still felt like I was too far over him. So I curled up next to him so I could look at his eyes. He smiled a bit and pulled me close like I hug my teddy.
"Thanks for caring, Luke. It means a lot to me. I love you," he whispered in my hair.
"I love you too. You're like my big brother!" I told him. I didn't feel like I had to keep my voice quiet and both of them got that feeling again! It makes me mad because I don't know what it means! It's the one Daddy called guilt.
"Thank you, Luke." Cliegg gave me a little squeeze before relaxing his arms and closing his eyes. I looked up at Daddy and he had gone back to working, but he was still giving me the feeling. I decided to pretend I couldn't feel it and snuggle with Cliegg some more.
He didn't seem to mind. After a few minutes, though, I got bored of just lying there. I sat up and pulled Cliegg up too. He leaned on the wall and I stood up. I tried to pull him up too, but I wasn't strong enough. When Daddy noticed what I was doing, he turned around.
"Luke, don't do that. He has to stay here." Daddy pulled me away.
"Why? I want him to come play with me!" I pulled away from Daddy and tried to help Cliegg to his feet.
"No, Luke. Daddy's not allowed to let me out of the cell if he doesn't know exactly where I am." Cliegg pulled his hand back.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because Master said so," Daddy answered and went back to his building.
"Why do you gotta do everything he says?"
"Because I owe him my life. Don't ask about that, Luke." Daddy said shortly.
"Okay, okay, it just isn't fair." I glared at Daddy's back and curled up against Cliegg again.
We watched Daddy working for a few hours before Daddy heard my tummy rumbling.
"Luke, why didn't you tell me you were hungry?" he asked.
"I didn't wanna be a problem. I'm okay," I was lying. I was really hungry.
"Luke, we've talked about lying. Come on, let's get some food in you." Daddy came over and picked me up. Then he put me back down on my feet and helped Cliegg to his feet. Cliegg moaned softly and put his arms around Daddy's neck. Daddy kept him up with one arm and took my hand in his other.
Daddy led us into the kitchen and put Cliegg on the counter, resting his back on the wall. Then he boosted me up beside him. I snuggled Cliegg to keep him warm while Daddy made breakfast. Cliegg gets cold easy so he doesn't mind me snuggling him whenever I want to. I like that about him. Daddy gets annoyed sometimes.
Daddy pulled the food out of the oven and gave me a plastic bowlful. He passed one to Cliegg too with a wink and the words, "Don't tell Palpatine, huh?"
I smiled and nodded. Daddy almost never jokes, but I love it when he does. It makes me feel all warm and good inside. I love him and I don't like how sad he is all the time.
Cliegg nodded gratefully and started to eat slowly. I watched his face and I saw him crying a bit. I felt really bad about it because he wouldn't get breakfast tomorrow. And I would. I didn't want to be treated better than him. He was like my big brother.
"You can call my daddy 'Daddy' if you want. If you're my big brother, he's your Daddy too." I had just decided. Daddy was my daddy, but he could be Cliegg's daddy too.
"But I'm not your brother, so that doesn't work." He protested.
"You're like my brother. So he's like your daddy." I repeated.
"All right. If you're sure," Cliegg gave me a funny, sad smile and he and Daddy started giving me the feeling again.
I nodded, and then yawned again. Daddy turned to me right away, "If you're tired, go ahead and sleep. You and Cliegg will both be sleep deprived for a while yet."
I nodded again and put my head on Cliegg's shoulder. The last thing I knew was that Daddy was carrying me back to my room.
When I woke up, I didn't have a clue what time it was. I crawled out of bed and walked to the door. When I opened it, everything was dark. It must be late. I should go back to bed. Daddy'd say that just 'cause I'm sleeping all day doesn't mean that I shouldn't sleep at night.
I started to go back to bed, but my room looked really dark. It was all shadowy and scary. I couldn't sleep in there. Not when I could see the shadow of a rancor on the wall. I ran down to the kitchen and saw something dark in the corner.
I screamed and it sat up. I screamed louder and it started to come towards me.
"Shh, Luke. You're going to wake Daddy." It was Cliegg. Daddy hade finished the cell and left him in it. I slipped through the bars and went to him.
"I had a nightmare, can I snuggle you?" I asked in a small voice so the monster in my bedroom couldn't hear me.
"Of course you can. Come here, Luke." He reached out to me and I lay down and curled up. He hugged me and his hand touched my cheek, "Have you been crying?"
"No!" I shook my head hard, but I sniffled too.
"Don't be scared to cry. Go ahead and let it out. It'll be easier than trying to hide it. I don't mind at all." He brushed the tears that were already on my cheeks away.
I sniffled again, and then decided he was right. I burst into tears and he held me.
"Why did you come down here? Why didn't you get Daddy to snuggle you, you'd have been more comfortable."
"Daddy doesn't like to get woken up at night. Sometimes his eyes go yellow at first. It's scary. Almost scarier than the monster in my room." I pushed the tears away and buried my face against him.
"Of course. Any time you need a hug, feel free to come down here."
"Are you telling me to go back to bed?" I asked. I didn't want to. The monster was still in my room.
"No, of course not. You can snuggle as long as you need to. Don't be scared. When the sun comes in your window tomorrow the monster will shrivel up and die."
"Really? Why?"
"Monsters can't stand light. It dries them up like puddles in the sun. If you keep a flashlight near your bed you can scare the monsters away whenever you need to. Then you'll always be safe in your room."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
"What if the monster's in the closet? Or under my bed?" Monsters would hide in places that are hard to make light if light kills them.
"If a monster hides under your bed, you can just look over the edge and shine the light under. If it's in the closet you can shine the light through the gap in the doors. Even just a little bit of light is enough."
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely."
"I can still stay with you tonight, though? A monster might get me when I'm going to get a flashlight."
"Of course, there's safety in numbers too. As long as you're with someone else, monsters aren't dangerous. That's why teddies make us feel safer."
"Really?"
"Really. Don't worry about monsters. Get some sleep."
"Okay," I cuddled closer to him and closed my eyes. I was just starting to go to sleep when I heard Daddy.
"Good morning, Luke."
I sat up and for a second I thought he was surprised. Then he was normal again. He turned on the light and killed all the monsters in the kitchen. I thought I could hear them drying up. After a few seconds, I decided it would be safe to come out.
I crawled out of Cliegg's arms and slipped through the bars of the cell. Daddy picked me up and out me on the counter. I heard Cliegg yawning again and I started to feel tired again too. I curled up on the counter and started to go back to sleep.
Almost right away, Daddy woke me back up. He leaned me on the wall and put a plate of food in my hands. Then he went to Cliegg and pushed what was left after he'd served us into a little pet food bowl inside his cell.
"I thought you weren't allowed to feed him."
"I'm not allowed to feed him properly. I can feed him leftovers if I want to," Daddy held up a little needle, "This is how he'll get the rest of his nutrients."
He walked over and opened Cliegg's cell. He walked to Cliegg and sat down on his heels. He pulled back Cliegg's sleeve and carefully pushed the needle into his arm. Cliegg moaned a bit, but I didn't feel like it'd hurt too much.
Daddy pushed the bowl of food towards Cliegg and came back to me. He picked me up off the counter and carried me to the table. Then he went back to get our food.
We ate quietly and when we were done, Daddy stood up, "I have to go grocery shopping, okay? You guys can keep each other safe."
I nodded and he left to go to the garage. I like going flying with him, but I didn't want Cliegg to be lonely. Jail must have been really lonely. I wouldn't want my home to become jail for him.
"Would you play a game with me?" I asked.
"Would you like me to show you how to protect your entire room against monsters?" Cliegg smiled at me.
"Okay! What do we need?" I jumped off my chair, not tired at all anymore.
"We can do it with a durasheet and pencils. Oh, and a count of the lights in your room."
I ran upstairs to get the supplies and count the lights in my room. When I got back, Cliegg was already tracing an invisible picture on the floor of his cell with one finger. He looked up when he saw me coming.
I slipped through the bars of the cell and dropped my armload of durasheet and drawing materials. Cliegg came over and pulled out a piece and a pencil.
"Okay, come here."
I went over.
"This is more or less the shape of your room, right?"
"Right. The window is there," I said, pointing. The window seemed like a fairly big light source.
"Good," he drew it in, "Where in the ceiling is your light?"
"There. I've got one on the wall here and lamps here, here, an' here too." I pointed to each spot on his picture.
"Okay, where is the light switch?"
"Here, by the door."
Cliegg stared at his picture for a moment, "Your bed is here, right?" he drew it in.
"Yep, my desk is there, and the closet's over there," I grabbed a pencil out of the mess to and added them.
"All right. If you tie a string between here and here, here and here, and the window, you can open them easily. That'll work if it's bright out, but that's not the worst time for monsters. If you prop a kitchen chair here, tie a string to it, and tape the end of the string to the light switch, you can pull the middle of the string to open the door and turn on the lights."
"Okay, could you get those ones on too?" I pointed to some lights that weren't hooked up yet.
"Yeah, let me see…" Cliegg tapped the plans for a few moments. "Here, add a string here, as a trip wire for monsters. When they pull it as they bump it, it turns on this light. That lights the room up enough for you to get out of bed and manually turn on the last lights."
"Okay. Wanna come build it?"
"I can't, Luke. I'm not allowed to leave the cell. You can build it with your daddy when he gets back." He rolled up the plans. "Would you like to do some drawing together?" he held up a couple of new pieces of durasheet.
"I wanna build the monster trap with you," I begged.
"We can't. I'm sorry. Trust me, I want to too. Let's do some drawing."
"But- I wanna- please? You could slip out like I do!"
"I could, but it would be wrong. I might get your daddy hurt. You saw what happens when people make Palpatine mad," he moved his arm so I could see it. Daddy had given him bacta, so it wasn't as bad, but I could still remember it. I didn't want that to happen to Daddy.
"Sorry. Can I have some paper?" I held out one hand for the paper. Cliegg smiled at me and passed me the paper.
We drew together for a few hours until Daddy got back. I jumped up and ran to him with my latest drawing.
"Daddy! Daddy! We're drawing! Do you like it?"
Daddy shifted one of the bags of groceries he was carrying so he could see me, "Just a moment, Luke. Let me put some of this down, kay?"
"Okay!" I ran around behind him and tacked like an old-fashioned sailing boat.
Daddy put the groceries on the counter and turned to smile at me. I had finished being a boat and become a fighter running in circles with my arms spread. Hearing Daddy laughing, Cliegg looked up and started laughing too. I decided that fighters were supposed to fly and jumped at Daddy. He grabbed my wrists and started to spin me.
Daddy set me back down and I held my picture up to him.
"It's beautiful, Luke."
"It's a bantha-dewback." I told him. It was a new creature I'd made up. Cliegg had tried to show me how to draw a bantha, but it had come out too smooth and he'd said that it was a bantha-dewback.
"It's a wonderful bantha-dewback. Does it have a name?"
"No. It's just a bantha-dewback. My bantha-dewback."
"Oh, is it a happy bantha-dewback?"
"Yeah."
"What makes it a happy bantha-dewback?"
"It's got its friends and it's not hungry. He's a safe bantha-dewback."
"Would you like me to build you a bantha-dewback? I could make a little robot one. It could keep Snakey company when he gets back from the vet."
"Yeah! Could you make it this big?" I asked, holding one hand at my waist to show the height I wanted.
"If I'm going to make it that big I might as well make it big enough to ride. Would you like that?"
"Yeah! But riding a droid'd hurt, wouldn't it?"
"Not if I make a variation of an HRD. It'll be like that, but you can ride it."
"Oh, okay!" I nodded eagerly and went back to drawing with Cliegg. Daddy headed down to the garage again to get pieces. He came back up a few minutes later with some parts. He put them on the table and went back for more. When almost all the table was covered in bits and pieces, Daddy got his toolkit and started working on the droid.
Cliegg and I made lots of other kinds of animal. He'd seen all kinds. He drew ones he'd seen and after I accidentally messed up a couple more, I started making new animals for fun.
Daddy had finished assembling a big part of droid before he looked at a clock in surprise, "Congratulations, you two, you've managed to stay awake almost twelve hours. Let's not push it, though. Bedtime, Luke. You might want to get some sleep too, Cliegg."
Daddy opened the cell and picked me up. "Daddy, can we give Cliegg a blanket? Please? It's not really furniture. Please? He gets cold easy!"
"I suppose that would be all right. I'll give him a blanket when you're in bed." He carried me up to bed and tucked me in. I heard him open the hall closet to get a blanket. Then I curled up and went to sleep.