Mom, I Had a Bad Dream

Awakened by my own gasp

in the middle of the night,

I sat upright in my twin bed

and took a moment to remember

Where I was.

*

My sister soundly snoozing in the bed beside

my shivering, groaning, sweating, and squirming

against the images in my mind

contrasting her sweet dreams

and tossing my distress to oblivion.

*

I looked around for safety in the pitch of 3am.

The house creaked where burglars tiptoed,

the window shadows danced like ghosts,

and the monster whispered from the open closet.

I moved quickly so the bed ghouls couldn't grab my feet.

*

I flitted out the door,

past my brothers' room

to the end of the hall where my parents' slept.

Sidling past my snoring dad

to the other side of the bed where mom lay.

Then, quietly, so only she would wake,

"Mom..."

Small touch on her arm,

"Mom..."

"Yes, hun."

"I had a bad dream."

*

Wordlessly, she moved aside

so I could climb into the safety of the queen bed.

Settling softly between my protectors,

I drifted away into easy sleep.