“Liam? I’m scared…” Skilar lay down in his bed anxiously, looking up at his older brother, “What if there’s monsters? What if you didn’t scare them off?” Liam felt a weak smile tugging at his lips. “It’s okay, Skilar. I’ll be in my room, and you know I’ll always be a few steps away from you if you need me.” Still seeming unconvinced, Skilar glanced over at his closet, and then the floor. “What if there’s more than one?” “I’ll protect you, okay?” Liam did his best to keep his faintly amused voice gentle. Skilar paused for a moment before speaking again: “What if John comes?” At this, Liam couldn’t help but frown. “Sky...he’s not going to come, okay? He knows that I’m here, and he knows that I’ll stop him before he can do anything bad.” “Why is he a bad guy?” Skilar asked softly. “I...I don’t know-I-I-” “Is that why we can’t go see Mom anymore?” Liam nodded weakly. “Because he knows that we were visiting, so he’s never leaving the house unless he knows we won’t come.” “What would he do if he found us?” That question was all it took to make Liam freeze for a moment, but he managed to hug Skilar and smile warmly despite the horrid fear that was gripping him, refusing to let go. “I’m going to protect you. There’s no monsters here, okay?” Skilar nodded. “Okay.” “Goodnight, Skilar.” And with that, Liam slowly tucked his brother in and walked out. In his room, Liam leaned against the now-closed door, sighing shakily and sinking to the ground. “I have to protect Skilar-” Minutes passed, perhaps even hours-Liam didn’t know. All he knew was that it was a long time before he forced himself to stand and get to bed his mind crowded with thoughts that made it hard to sleep...but he still did. He still shut his eyes and drifted off into temporary nothingness, hoping that maybe John would still fear coming to their house, that maybe...maybe...nothing bad would happen to Skilar. Maybe…
hmm this story and its characters belong to me
