FICTION - Julia's secret - CHAPTER 2

"Julia!"

"Julia wake up!" Tom said as he tried to get Julia, who was obviously having a bad dream, to wake up. He was unable to sleep with Julia tossing and turning next to him and when she started screaming Kate's name, Tom knew that it's time to wake her up. It wasn't easy to do so. He shook a little by her shoulder and pointed with his index finger on her upper arm. Usually that would have done the trick, but it was only after he switched the main bedroom light on and calling her name a few times that she finally woke up.

Very distraught and, almost irritated, she opened her eyes. She looked quite spooked and Tom wasn't sure what was going on. Julia immediately pulled the covers off and inspected her hands and feet. She looked very worried and when Tom asked her what her dream was about, she lied and told him that she could not remember.

"You don't remember?" Tom asked puzzled. "You had a nightmare and you can't remember?"

"I'm telling you I don't remember! Now, can you please just bring me a glass of water and something for my headache?" Julia replied.

Tom didn't say anything in return. He put on his slippers and exited the bedroom door. When Julia heard him going down the stairs, she quickly got up to check on Kate who's room was down the hall.

Kate's door was closed. The typical "No Entry" sign that you would expect to find on a thirteen year old girl's bedroom door spoke louder than words to Julia at that moment. She knew Kate would have a fit if she entered without knocking, but luckily, it's not morning yet so she quietly opened the door to take a peek inside.

It was dark and the only light coming into the room was the faint light coming from the main bedroom. She could see a bump on the bed which indicated to her that Kate was sleeping so Julia sneaked inside and slowly put her hand on top of Kate's chest to feel if she was breathing.

Relief came over Julia. Thank God she thought and sneaked out of the room again. She closed the door behind her, walked back to her room and covered herself with the sheets just in time before she heard the stairs creaking. Tom entered the room with a glass of water in one hand, two headache capsules in the other and a slice of pizza between his teeth.

"You know, you can really make an effort to cook for us once in a while. Left-overs from the diner just ain't doing it for me anymore. That's probably the reason why you get nightmares...all that junk food creeping around your head." Tom said while he threw the capsules on her bedside table and viciously banged the water glass next to her, spilling most of the content on her pillow. "Oh, and another thing, next time you can fetch your own damn water and pills!"

Julia wasn't in the mood for Tom's arrogance. She decided to ignore him, swallowed the capsules, turned her pillow around and turned her back on him. She snuggled herself back into bed and closed her eyes.

"I suppose I'll have to switch the light off too?" Tom said while chewing the last bite of his pizza.

Still in the same position, Julia just kept her eyes closed and waited for Tom to finish up so she could get some sleep. She knew that she still had only about three hours left until morning and that she planned on waking up earlier to bake a cake for Kate's birthday before going to work.

Thirteen years, she thought. That's how long I've been having nightmares.

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To be continued...

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Previous chapters:
Chapter 1 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@bdmomuae/fiction-julia-s-secret-chapter-1