3:15 Nightmares

"RAAAAARRRR!!!!"

"RAAARRR RAARR RAR RAAARRRR!!!"
Shaena often got bored on weekends. She used to do something with Luis, and there was usually a toddler or two around, but now Luis had a girlfriend, he was never home until curfew, and today all three triplets were asleep. Kaity was her favorite cousin to play with, because she could talk a lot better than the others and so they could have conversations and she could understand the rules more.

 "RAAAR RAAAR RARARARAAAA!"

"RAAA-" Shaena stopped her roaring as her aunt entered the room looking angry.
"For God's sake, Shaena! Do you know how hard it is to get all three of them asleep so we can get some peace and quiet?" Taylor didn't like telling anyone off, but she was so tired since she went back to work. Madison did most of the night-feeds, but sometimes struggled and had to get Taylor up.
"Sorry, aunt Taylor." Shaena hung her head, partly to show that she really was sorry, partly because the foam dinosaur head was quite heavy. "I'm just bored and I thought maybe Kaity would play with me." Taylor sighed and looked at the top of the dinosaur head.
"Well, if you can play alone for one more hour, I'll get her up and then you can play with her." Shaena looked up.
"And you too?"
"Ok." Taylor smiled and breathed a laugh. "And me too."

_____

_____

"MUMMIEEE!!!"
Taylor ran up the stairs, and burst into the nursary to find Kaity in hysterics in her crib, while Rose and Jake just looked shocked and sleepy.
"What is it, baby?" Taylor scooped up the crying infant and held her close. The screams she'd heard were not the screams of a child who was hungry or dirty, they were of someone who was terrified. She looked to her other two children as she held Kaity. They seemed a little shocked about the way they were woken up still, but were both now sitting happily in their cribs. Rose had got a toy from nowhere - she had a habit of doing that, while Jake was just sat there, enjoying being alone.
"Nightmare." Kaity replied through her sobs. "Shaena." Taylor took this to mean she wanted to play with Shaena, and so called down the stairs to her while she dressed her daughter.

Shaena rushed up the stairs, and Taylor watched the two girls playing, wondering what to do about Kaity and her nightmares. This wasn't the first one she'd had, and although she knew it was common for young children to have bad dreams, she'd never heard of toddlers waking up with blood-curdling screams. Maybe Kaity should see a doctor about this. For now, though, she'd see if she could find out what they were about.

She took a seat on the floor with the girls, and turned Kaity to face her.
"What was your dream about, Kaity?"
Kaity gave no response, but instead turned her head to watch Shaena and the dragon toy. Taylor put her hand on Kaity's tiny shoulder, making her turn to look at her again.
"Kait, what was your dream about?" She asked again. Kaity once again turned to look to Shaena again. Taylor decided she didn't want to talk about it so soon, and so instead let the girls play.

_____

"So, I've got a lot of potions for you today, hopefully you can sell them all! I'd like to thank you for doing this, too. You have no idea how much this has helped."
"It's no problem! Your potions sell really well, and these will sell even better tonight. It's a full moon, and people always splash out on a potion or two for the occasion." Madison laughed at the idea of people celebrating the full moon. Her whole life had been spent avoiding going outside for the night. Maybe that should change? Nothing too bad had happened out there in a while.

Meanwhile, Shaena and Luis were working on their homework together. Luis was helping Shaena, but she couldn't really help him with his. She'd be attending high school soon, and needed Luis' help to get her grades up.
"Lou..." Shaena trailed off.
"Shae." Luis stated, without even looking up from his homework. Shaena put down her pencil and took a deep breath.
"Have you ever seen Dad's grave?"
"Nope." Luis continued his homework, unphased by his little sisters questions.
"Shall we ask Mummy if we can go tonight?"
"Can do." Luis was barely paying attention anymore, otherwise he would have realised he just sort of agreed to go to a graveyard on a full moon with his little sister and his mother. He already had plans with Layla, but he'd let his sister down later.

It was just before sunset by the time Shaena had finished her homework, eaten her dinner and had a shower. She decided she still had time before bed to go to the graveyard, and found Madison changing Kaity.
"Mummy! Can we go see where Daddy's buried tonight please?" Madison was a little shocked by the sudden request.
"Uhm, yeah, I suppose we could do. Let me just finish up with the toddlers and let Taylor know." Shaena grinned and threw her arms around her mother.
"Thank you Mummy! I'll go tell aunt Taylor now!" She ran from the room and down the stairs, as she did the moon rose.

"Well, Kaity. I'm going out now but Mummy is here for you." Madison placed the toddler on the floor, and as she went to pull back Kaity grabbed a handful of her hair. "Ow, Kaity, let go please."
"Don't go." Kaity whispered. "Go tomorrow." She let go of Madison's hair, allowing her to stand up.