Nightcap. (Part 1)

He can’t sleep. It’s the middle of the night and he wants to go to the bathroom. But there’s something underneath his bed. He’s only safe as long as he’s on his bed, under his blanket; his fort's never failed him yet.

He really has to go though, maybe if he jumped off the bed, as further away from the bed posts as he could, he’d be out of reach of whatever’s hiding underneath it. His brother’s sleeping next to him, with a peaceful expression and steady rhythmic breathing, oblivious to the danger. Of course, he is the one who’ll worry for him; it’s his duty to protect his baby brother.

Plucking all the courage he has, he makes a dash for it, a heavy thud where his feet touch the floor. He rushes to the bathroom and quickly closes the door behind him.

He hears a stirring, some grumbling. He’s woken up daddy. Daddy won’t be happy about it. Daddy might start screaming at him any moment now. A stinging blow across his face or back isn’t unexpected either. It will most probably be more than that.

It’s time for the commute back from the loo to the bed, he slowly opens the door, hoping against hope daddy isn’t outside.

Daddy isn’t outside. He thanks the God his mother tells him to thank. He’ll be a better boy from tomorrow so that daddy won’t want to send him away to that boarding school for bad boys. They scream at and hit bad boys like him over there.

He’ll make daddy proud someday and daddy will tell everyone he’s a good boy. And daddy will hold his hand and take him everywhere and tell people he’s daddy’s son.

He tiptoes back to the bed and from about two feet away jumps back up on. He jams his knee into one of the wooden posts and lets out an involuntary gasp. Thankfully not a very loud one. Daddy says only girls cry and gets angry when he sees tears. He rubs his knee to numb out the pain. He’s back in his blanket, safe and sound for another night. He slips out his hand, feels around for his brother's, clasps it and drifts into a peaceful sleep.

Next morning, mommy wakes them both up for school. He hates school but hes a big boy now and won’t whine, it annoys both mommy and daddy. His little brother, being a baby, is allowed to do so. Breakfast is a sandwich again, he doesn’t like sandwiches but mommy was very angry when she found the half eaten remains at the back of the TV lounge cupboard where he hid them.

Daddy is awake early today.

(This is my first attempt at fiction. I wrote it quite a while ago though. Part two of this coming soon IA :) )