Nightmare

It was a truly horrifying dream.

We were all at the airport, excited and ready to go on our family vacation. As we were rushing across the airport to get to security, the girls lagged behind and I lost sight. We found little A, who told us OO went outside through the automated doors. We ran outside but she was nowhere to be seen.

I remember the panic as we approached boarding time, but OO was still missing. We searched high and low, and then the airport morphed into an old hotel (hey anything can happen in a dream). I frantically looked inside each room, inside wardrobes, under beds, but still no sign of OO. I remember thinking to myself, that she disappeared because I don't care about her, and I blamed myself for all this. The fear, the guilt, the desperation.

I remember praying hard, promising that I'd love and cherish her if she could be found.

Then there she was, inside one of the rooms, soaking in a tub, oblivious of our devastation.

Then I woke up, shuddering hysterically, tears burning through my still-closed eyes.

I gave her the tightest hug when her happy face greeted me in the morning.

OO, I do promise to love and cherish you. Don't ever disappear like that, please?