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Sebastian slowly cracked open the door to his mother’s bedroom, tears threatening to fall down his reddened cheeks as she sat up and shuffled to the side of her bed, tapping the mattress to invite her son to sit next to her
“Ay, mijo, what happened?” The boy clumsily stumbled over to his mom, holding his arms up towards her as a signal for her to pick him up. She bent over to the side, placing her hands on the sides of Sebastian’s torso and helping him lift himself up next to her. Once there, he scurried over to his mom and buried his face in her shirt, leaving two small eye-shaped tear stains on it as she ran her hands up his back and held him close — the warmth from her grasp made Sebastian’s sobs and hiccups gradually quiet down until all that could be heard was his sniffling.
“I had a nightmare—”
And before he could even finish speaking, the lady squeezed him in her arms, the pressure making him attempt to pry himself out of her arms to no avail. Though despite the struggle, he began to laugh and reach upwards to poke at his mother’s face as she let go of him — however still keeping a hand on his back. He wiped the remaining tears from his eyes with his sleeve, leaning onto his mom’s arm as she rubbed his, moving her hand up to brush his hair out of his face. “Are you feeling better?”
“No,” Sebastian replied, “not really.”
“Here, lay down,” his mom said, gently nudging him to lay his head down on the pillow before doing so herself. “Tell me about that nightmare.”
Another sniffle. “I dreamt I was getting tested on by some… some scientists…” he bleated, turning to the side to rest his head in the crook of the other’s neck. “And they made me look all weird.”
“Weird, how?”
“I had a tail instead of legs…” A hiccup. “...and I just… I looked weird!”
Sebastian’s mother shook her head, leaning down to place a kiss on her son’s forehead and ruffle his hair. “Nada te hará daño, ¿ok?” she assured him as she pulled her duvet back over both of them, holding him close to her chest so he could hear her heartbeat — something that would always soothe him.
“Amá,” Sebastian sobbed, “Can I sleep here?”
“Of course you can. You don’t even have to ask me,” the other replied, pressing another couple of kisses to the top of her son’s head. She closed her eyes, resting her hand on Sebastian’s spine and caressing it tenderly. As she pulled her duvet up higher to cover his back (in her thoughts, so he wouldn’t catch a cold,) she let out a content sigh and began rummaging through her thoughts so she’d drift off to sleep faster.
She was always one to study dream interpretations. Whenever somebody in her family told her about a dream they had, she would instantly search up what it meant — or even recite it off the top of her head. And Sebastian’s dream had her a bit concerned. A dream about being experimented on usually meant a sense of helplessness or low self-worth. Helplessness in what case? Ah, the thing that usually helped her sleep every night was only gathering up more things to worry about.
A hum left her lips. She’d ponder on what this meant later on. For now, what she was focused on was Sebastian falling asleep sooner than later so she could hold him without consequences.