After Amelia had some decent meal, she was feeling much better.
" Here take your medicine and go to sleep don't think too much, okay?" Ella handed Amelia, her medicines, she was worried that her daughter won't be able to sleep properly because tonight she had gone through a dreadful experience that she might not forget so easily.
Ella helped Amelia lay back on the bed, she caressed Amelia's head while humming a lullaby.
Amelia started to feel drowsy and yawned, her eyelids slowly closed and Ella thought that her daughter was finally asleep but just as she stood up and was about to leave her room, Amelia suddenly woke up when she sensed that Ella was leaving her room, she immediately held Ella's hand and shook her head while shivering too scared to be left alone, "Mum! please stay here with me in my room at least for tonight."
"Amelia I can't stay here, I need to go to my job, you know that mommy has a night shift tonight," Ella tried to reason out with her daughter, though she has never taken leave before and might be allowed to take one tonight she didn't have the liberty to do so, one day of leave would mean a loss of a total of ten dollars, she couldn't afford to let go of that money.
Amelia was scared by Mr Richardson, just the thought of staying alone without her mother made her tremble, she shook her head and said, "Mum! Please, please just one night…just for tonight, I am afraid that those men will come back and hurt me and brother, we are still young what can we do without you? Don't go, what if those men are still outside, waiting for you to leave."
She still remembered what Mr Richardson said—— he will sell her and her brother if they couldn't pay the money.
"Amelia you don't have to worry they will not come here again, believe me, you can sleep in peace now."
Amelia had listened to this many times, Mr Richardson was a frequent visitor to their house and every time he came, he would hurt her or her brother. And every time her mother would say something like this, her eyes turned red and she shouted, "I don't believe you, MUM! You always say that and they always return."
Her sudden shout startled Ella but she didn't say anything, guilt flashed in her eyes and Amelia who realised that she might have gone too far, sucked in a breath and wiped her tears as she softened her tone.
"Mum, please! I beg you to stay here with me tonight, just one night, I know I am asking for too much but I won't be able to sleep a wink without you."
"Ok! Amelia if you want me to sleep here tonight with you in your room then I will. I will do exactly what ask me to. You just wait here I'll bring blankets from my room," said Ella, though she knew that taking a leave tonight would mean a deduction she could only agree to the request of her terrified daughter.
She sent a message to her senior asking for leave before leaving the room.
When she was walking towards her room to take a blanket, she saw that the door of Cesar's room was opened a little bit.
She popped her head inside his room and looked at her son who was sleeping on the bed with his face facing the wall, at first she wanted to call him and see if he was asleep or not, if he was scared like Amelia then she will bring him to Amelia's room and the three will be able to sleep on the floor together, but then she tiptoed inside the room and peered down at Cesar's face.
Cesar's eyes were closed seeing that at least her son was brave enough to sleep alone, she heaved a sigh of relief ——glad to see Cesar sleeping in peace without any fear, she slowly walked out of his room without making noise before closing the door behind her silently and went to her room to get the blanket and pillow.
After she was gone from there, Cesar opened his eyes and checked whether his mother was still there outside of his room or not.
Cesar was pretending to sleep in front of his mother.
When she came inside his room, he closed his eyes just in time, the floor of their house creaked with each step they took, and it was easy for him to sense that his mother was coming to check up on him.
Just like her sister, he was very scared because of the incident that he witnessed, he wanted to sleep tired after the ordeal but every time he closed his eyes, the ugly faces of Mr Richardson with his two men would pop in front of his eyes but he didn't want his mother to get worried about him because he knew that her mother was already very stressed about Amelia's health.
He was also hungry, his stomach was rumbling —— upset with him for skipping his three meals but more than that the images of Mr Richardson pouring the hot soup over Amelia and his sister screaming in pain were running inside his head like a slow mo movie.
Tonight was one of those nights he will never forget—— forget about sleeping, he was too scared to even close his eyes.
Too scared to sleep he sat up straight on the bed and crossed his room as he came to stand in front of the window. The rain still lashing against it, the cold water splattered over his figure but Cesar hardly sensed it, he stared at the reflection of his weak body, thin and scrawny with taped glasses.
His lips curled derisively. " What a loser."
He stood in front of the window until it stopped raining ——the clouds were broken, the sky cleared up and the shining moon came into view.
The view of the moon soothed him and helped him temporarily forget everything about what he went through.
Ella went back to Amelia's room with her blanket not knowing that her son was still awake battling his monsters all alone, she lay a bed sheet on the floor and was preparing to lay down just next to Amelia's bed when her daughter stopped her."Mum, please sleep here on my bed right by my side."
Ella replied calmly, "Amelia your bed is too short we both cannot sleep together on it."
Amelia pursed her lips before saying "Mum I will manage, I just want to sleep in your arms for tonight."
Ella didn't say anything after that, she agreed with her daughter's request and lay on her bed before placing her hand on Amelia's forehead and started gently caressing her.
While she was caressing Amelia's forehead, the latter asked, "Mother are you sure that he will never be back here ever again?"
Ella swallowed before smiling and lied, "Yes, Amelia he will never come back here to hurt you again."
These words made Amelia feel relaxed she finally went to sleep.
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