"N-No! Please don't- no don't Hurt m- gasp!" He woke up in a cold sweat and felt a warm liquid fill his eyes. He felt his whole body quake with every breath and he pulled his knees up to his chest. He felt the tears start to roll down his face. "Nikiole!" He sobbed, "Nikiole, please! Hic-"
An octoling girl came running in. her tentacles were long and beautiful, her eyes were a dark pink like her tentacles. her hair was let down as she was getting ready for bed. she had a worried look on her face, as she stared at her younger brother, "What is it? What happened?" she was almost out of breath, her hand placed on the door frame.
"I-I- Hic- I had a-a-a-another nightmare!" her younger brother said, forcing back more tears.
Nikiole elected her hand from the door frame and she walked over and sat next to Kaile on his bed, "Oh, Kaile.... don't worry.... your sister is here...." Nikiole pulled him into an embrace and fiddled with the end of his tentacle, "What was it about?"
"It was about mama and papa..." Kaile wiped the tears that were forming in his eyes.
"Oh?" Nikiole turned her head towards him still fiddling with his tentacle.
"Papa l-left and Mama was being mean! Mama was about to hurt me!" Kaile started to shake, and Nikiole hugged him tighter.
"I'm so sorry!" Nikiole Squeezed him tighter.
"Sis... where is Papa? Why is he never here? Does he still love us?" Nikiole didn't respond, she just turned away, her Grip on Kaile slowly loosened.
"Sis... does Mama care about us? She never spends time with us..." More tears started to roll down his face. "Wh-what if she throws us away?! I don't want to go, I don't want to be trash!"
"Oh, Kaile... don't worry...I promise I won't ever let that happen, I promise I won't let anything bad happen to you ok?" Nikiole turned to face him, taking her hand and whipping the tears from his eyes.
"Oh-okay..." Kaile looked down at his bed, looking at his feet.
"What is it?" Nikiole asked him.
Kaile looked into Nikiole's eyes, a pleading look in his own, "C-Can you tell me a story?"
Nikiole smiled, "Ok, I can do that, what do you want It to be about?"
"I want it to be a fairytale!" An innocent smile crept onto his face.
"Oh okay, I can do that." She smiled, "Alright so once upon a time there was a boy and his sister. The boy was around five years old and his sister just turned six."
"Oh like me and you!"
"Yes exactly! Well anyway, they would always spend time with each other, they were inseparable!"
"Yawn like us!!" Kaile rubbed his eyes, they were still red from when he was crying but a smile replaced the tears.
"One day the boy wanted to find out more about himself, but his older sister was too scared! She didn't want him to be alone. One day the boy found a way to sneak out! He could be very mischievous when people aren't looking haha."
"I like the little boy! He reminds me of... me!" There was a mischievous look in his eyes.
"The boy when out and explored! But when he was exploring he found an enchanting forest!"
"Oh wow! Cool!"
"He went to explore it and he saw very cool things! Like cool looking trees, and pretty looking lakes! But when he was exploring he tripped and fell into a big hole!"
"Oh no, oh no!"
"He knew he had to find a way out! He tried climbing up the hole, he tried to jump out, and he even tried to make stairs but nothing worked. So he sat down and started to cry. And he made a wish. He wished that his sister was right there beside him so that they would be together."
"I would miss my sister too!"
"Aww thank you! Well anyway, after about an hour of crying he heard a familiar voice! It was his sister!"
"Yay!" Kaile's eyes lit up.
"Then his sister came to help him! They both went home and rested and they agreed that they would never go anywhere alone! The end!" Niki smiled and bopped Kaile on the nose once she ended the story.
Kaile giggled, his smile grew larger, "Wow! Yawn that was really cool!"
"Thank you!" Niki blushed, not expecting the compliment.
"But can we promise no never go anywhere without each other?" Kaile asked.
A warm smile crept across Nikiole's face, "Of course!"
Kaile rubbed his eyes, and he let his legs unfold and lie flat on his bed, "Sis, I'm tired."
Nikiole scooched off his bed coming around over to stand next to Kaile"Then you should get some rest okay, just call me if you need anything alright?"
Nikiole pulled his blanket over the top of him as Kaile laid down. Kaile's eyes were still red from crying, and his eyes were half shut. there was a small smile on his face that made Nikiole feel at peace that her little brother felt better. Kaile grabbed another smaller blanket and clung to it, holding it tightly.
Nikiole started to walk off, when the small voice of her brother stopped her, "Goodnight sis." His voice trailed off, as he fell asleep almost instantly.
"Goodnight Kaile." Nikiole walked out of his room getting ready to go back to bed. She walked to her room, tired but happy that she helped her little brother.
As Nikiole slowly made her way back to her room, Nikiole herds a loud voice that hurt her ears. The voice was loud and slightly raspy. It was high pitched with a slight sourness to it. "NIKIOLE NOVA HOPEFUL!"
Nikiole froze in fear. She turned her head toward the voice. "Wh-what is it mom?" Nikiole's voice was soft and delicate like new china, her body started to slowly shake.
"WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT CALLING ME THAT!" There was a look of hatred in her eyes, her lip was curled up and an angry snarl greeted Nikiole.
"S-sorry Mrs. Hopeful...." Nikiole grabbed her arm and she blew on a tentacle at was tickling the bridge of her nose.
"You better be you...you ungrateful child! I thought I trained you better!"
"S-sorry Mrs. Hopeful....."
"That's what you always say! And what did I tell you about disturbing Kaile while he is resting!?"
"But he called me..." Nikiole said softly.
"DO YOU REALLY THINK I CARE!?"
Nikiole swallowed hard. She tried to hold back her tears. Mrs. Hopeful started to walk closer towards her.
"You need to start being like your brother! He is obedient and perfect! And you won't even follow one direction!"
Nikiole, bit her lip, but there was an anger inside of her that crept out until she exploded, "MAYBE I WOULD START FOLLOWING THEM IF YOU STOP TREATING ME AND KAILE LIKE WE'RE YOUR PERSONAL PETS!" The room was filled with silence, not even a single squeak of the floorboards.
then suddenly the sound of small feet going across a cold floor broke the silence. "Yawn Sis is everything ok?" Kaile was standing there with his blanket in his hand, but before Nikiole could respond a loud crack left Nikiole on the floor. Tears flooded her face.
"SIS!" Kaile ran to his sister. "NIKIOLE! Are you okay!?" Kaile's eyes were filled with fear as he saw his sister laying down on the floor.
"That's what you get you ungrateful brat, teaches you to talk back to your mother." Mrs. Hopeful walked away slamming the door to her room.
"Sis why are you crying? Why did mama do that to you?" Kaile pointed to a red mark on her cheek.
"Don't worry Kaile," she gave him a smile. "Everything is perfectly fine."