Nightmares, Regrets, and Comfort
Louise Belcher had finally staggered out of the cave, as waves continued to pound on the sides of the rocks. Louise ignored the drops of seawater that hit her face and looked down at the cannonball that she had been desperately wanting. Louise looked at her treasure with stars in her eyes before she nearly jumped at the cannonball growing eyes and opening a mouth.
"So, it looks like you were the one to find me!" the cannonball exclaimed happily, sticking its tongue out while laughing, causing Louise to laugh in tandem.
"Glad you're excited, cannonball that weirdly sounds like Gilbert Gottfried because we are gonna kill Show and Tell!" Louise exclaimed, lifting the cannonball over her head, and spinning around before her arms began to shake from holding up the weight. Louise quickly put her arms back down, continuing to admire the old cannonball that was in her hands. As she was running her thumbs over the cannonball, Louise looked around, her eyebrows raised as she realized that her older sister, Tina, wasn't behind her.
"Something wrong, Louise? We were in the middle of celebrating you finding me!" the cannonball asked, its smile still there as Louise looked down at the cannonball with a confused look on her face.
"Oh, it's nothing, I'm…just wondering where Tina is," Louise responded, turning her head in all directions, her breathing hitched as she realized that she wasn't seeing Tina anywhere nearby.
"Oh, you don't need to worry about her anymore."
"W…what do you mean by that?"
"Oh, she's back in the cave. You chose me, remember?" Louise immediately dropped the cannonball and ran as fast as she could without slipping on the rocks. Louise looked in the cave while hyperventilating, desperately looking everywhere for Tina.
"TINA!"
"Kid, don't worry about her, we have to work on our Show and Tell routine," the cannonball said, his nonchalant tone of voice giving off how little interest he had in Tina's predicament. Louise was about to snap back at the cannonball, but she heard moaning from the cave. Not just any moaning, the deep and familiar moaning of her sister. Louise saw Tina crawling out of the cave, her arms and legs covered in bruises from slipping and falling all around the cave. Louise cringed when she saw how cracked Tina's glasses had become.
"Tina! Are you…are you OK!?" Louise asked, rushing over to Tina's side, attempting to pick her back up, but Tina pushed her hand away.
"You…you left me in there."
"Tina I'm sorry! I thought you were following me and I didn't notice you got lost!"
"You…left me to die in there. All for some cannonball," Tina said, her voice giving off a quiet anger that Louise had never heard from her before and it scared Louise. Louise once again attempted to grab Tina's hand, who once again responded by swatting her away.
"Come on, Tina! You need help!" Louise desperately exclaimed to her. Before Tina could respond, the tide rose, causing both Louise and Tina to be hit with a high-pressure wave. Louise could barely see in the water and tried to grab Tina, but she couldn't feel her hand anywhere no matter how much she felt around for it. When the wave finally subsided, Louise's heart nearly stopped when she noticed that Tina was no longer next to her and nowhere on the platform in front of the cave.
"Tina!? TINA!?" Louise frantically asked while looking all over. However, when she looked down at the water below her, the sight almost made Louise throw up. Tina was floating in the water, her shattered glasses floating beside her. Tina wasn't moving, her head bleeding profusely while her right leg and both her arms looked broken. Before Louise could say anything, the tide rose again, causing a wave to crash into Tina. Once the wave once again subsided, Louise's heart stopped when she realized that she couldn't see Tina any more. Louise looked around the ocean below her, but all she saw was blue water and the occasional buoy, causing Louise's knees to buckle, sending her falling to both knees.
"Tina…?" was all Louise could utter as the shock and horror of the situation was slowly dawning on her. Meanwhile, the cannonball had long been forgotten, patiently waiting for Louise to pay attention to him.
"Uh…Louise, we have to work on my entrance for Show-and-Tell. Now I'm thinking fireworks, and a banner with my name—" The cannonball went on and on while the gravity of the situation was sinking in for Louise; her big sister was gone, possibly dead, and she had no way to find her.
"TINA!" Louise let out a pained wail as she curled into a ball and began crying. However, while she was crying, Louise didn't notice that another big wave was coming up and heading right toward her.
"AH!" Louise yelled out as she sprung up. Louise looked around while taking deep breaths in and out, slightly relieved that she wasn't at the cave by the bay and that she was in her own room. Louise looked down at her blanket while trying to compose herself, her breathing slowing down as she grabbed her Kuchi Kopi nightlight from her nightstand, put on her slippers, and got out of bed.
"Yeah, I know it was just a nightmare, but…I need to make sure Tina's OK, Kuchi Kopi," Louise told her favorite nightlight, getting out of bed, and heading to the door. Louise wasn't much of a fan of the dark. Louise wasn't as scared as she once was when she was a little kid, but Louise still tried to avoid being stuck in the dark as much as possible. Louise opened the door to her room, took a deep breath, made sure that Kuchi Kopi was firmly grasped in her hand, and went out of her room. Tina's room was only down the hall, but the floorboards creaking with every footstep Louise made made her feel even more on edge. Louise got to Tina's room, opened the door, and ignored all the horse figurines staring at her before heading to Tina's bedside.
"Tina?" Louise asked in a whisper so soft that Tina wouldn't have been able to hear it even if she was awake. Louise got a little closer and saw Tina's chest go up and down as she breathed in her sleep. Louise breathed a sigh of relief and was about to head back to bed, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tina rising up suddenly from her slumber. Tina turned her head a couple of times before her glasses-free eyes landed on Louise. Due to the combination of a dark room and not having her glasses on, it took her a couple of seconds to realize who was in her room.
"...Louise?"
"Oh! Hey…Tina."
"What're you doing in my room?" Tina asked while getting her glasses from the nightstand so that she could continue this conversation with clear vision. Louise drummed her fingers on Kuchi Kopi's sides as she tried to come up with a reason that didn't expose the fact she had a nightmare to her big sister.
"Well…I…I was just…coming in to…check on you," Louise stammered out, keeping her eyes glued to Kuchi Kopi the whole time.
"You've never really done that before though."
"Well, there's a first time for everything, Tina," Louise countered.
"Why would you need to come to check on me? Did…something happen?" Tina asked, taking note of how Louise almost jumped out of her slippers before she took a couple of deep breaths and responded.
"No…no, why…why would you think that?" Louise stammered out once again. Tina usually wasn't one to look too deep into things, and there's a good chance if it was anyone else but a member of her family, Tina would've believed it and gone back to sleep. However, Tina knew her family better than they realized, and that included knowing when her baby sister was lying to her. Most people would've been put off by Louise's stammering as well, considering that's something she seldom did, but Tina knew she stammered when she was thinking of a lie on the spot. Tina looked at Louise for several more seconds before responding, taking her blanket off of her feet.
"Louise, did you have a nightmare?" Tina asked. Louise was about to say 'no', but judging by the look on Tina's face, she already knew the answer, and there really wasn't a point in hiding it.
"Yeah…"
"What was it about?"
"When we went into that cave a couple of days ago."
"Oh. Louise, you don't need to worry about that," Tina said, but Louise responded by running up to Tina, jumping on her bed, sitting next to her, and hugging her side.
"No, it WAS something to worry about. I left you for that stupid cannonball in my dream. You were all bruised and bloodied, and said that I left you alone in the cave, and I couldn't help you because you got swept away from this giant wave, and you were dead, and it was all my fault," Louise confessed, her voice cracking as Tina noticed that she was on the brink of tears. Louise wiped her eyes a few times to try and make the tears go away, but to no avail as they kept coming like a leaky faucet.
"But that didn't happen, Louise. I'm fine and so are you," Tina said, trying to comfort Louise while scratching the top of her head lightly like their mother did for her when she was stressed out.
"It COULD'VE happened though, that's the problem. I…basically forced you into going into this cave when I should've known it was dangerous. We shouldn't have gone in there in the first place, and I'm sorry for making you come with me," Louise responded, still trying her hardest to fight back the tears that were threatening to come out of her eyes. Tina grabbed Louise and pulled her into a hug, which Louise returned while Tina ran her hand up and down her back.
"Louise, it's OK. Yeah, I was angry at first, but when things got rough, you left with me and left the cannonball too. You made the right choice in the end, so you don't need to feel guilty," Tina explained, her chin resting on top of Louise's head. Tina resisted the urge to rub her chin on the soft fabric of Louise's rabbit ears and focused more on trying to comfort her teary-eyed little sister.
"Even if my selfishness almost got us killed?"
"You're not selfish, Louise. You're…very goal-oriented and passionate about things you like, and that's not a bad thing. If you were any level of selfish, we really would've died that day. You've helped me, Gene, Rudy, Mom, Dad, and a lot of other people, even if you can't see it. You're the furthest thing from selfish, especially with how guilty you're feeling about this whole thing," Tina explained to Louise, who looked up at Tina while still engulfed in her hug.
"You…really mean that?"
"Of course, I do, Louise," Tina replied, with Louise looking down at the blanket as if she didn't fully believe what Tina told her. Tina patted Louise on the shoulder in support, and despite her reservations, Louise looked back up at her sister's face, which was showing off a comforting smile.
"But…"
"No buts, Louise. You remember the Belcher kids' motto?" Tina asked, sticking her pinky finger out. Louise couldn't help but chuckle as she nodded and put her pinky finger up the same way Tina did.
"No matter where…"
"No matter when…" Tina and Louise then wrapped their pinkies together before continuing the motto together.
"The Belcher siblings are there for each other until the end," Tina and Louise said, before shaking their hands. Louise smiled at her big sister and gave her another hug, nuzzling her cheek on Tina's shoulder. Louise sometimes needed to remember how lucky she was to have a sister that was forgiving and understanding. After a little bit, the two let go of each other, but Louise was hesitant to get out of Tina's bed, stroking the top of Kuchi Kopi. Not only was Louise not exactly interested in going back out in the dark hallway, but she was also afraid of having another nightmare.
"What's wrong, Louise?"
"Well…I…you see…"
"Do…do you want to sleep with me tonight?" Tina asked. Louise looked outside at the dark hallways, back at her Kuchi Kopi nightlight, and back at her smiling big sister, and nodded. Tina moved to the side, allowing Louise to lay down next to her underneath the blanket, and gave her a goodnight kiss on the center of her forehead. Louise chuckled at the surprise kiss and gave Tina a goodnight kiss on the side of her head.
"Goodnight, Louise."
"Goodnight, Tina, and thank you." Louise and Tina then drifted off to sleep, with Louise being able to sleep in the comforting bliss of darkness instead of going through another painful nightmare.