Short Words, Big Love

Silas Needs to Sleep

As I stare into my glass of milk, the only thing I regret is eating half of a bag of assorted fun-size chocolate bars. It was a great Halloween night in the company of family, friends and neighbors. After a year of renovating this house and giving birth to my adorable son, I was in need of fun. Mark thought I was crazy for planning something big and elaborated, but I felt we deserved something good. So tonight, our house was transformed into a ghouls' ball, only interrupted from time to time by the trick o' treaters at the door.

Beside my sore stomach, my back hurts, so I guess it's time to go to bed. The after-party cleanup can wait until tomorrow. I walk upstairs and find my husband asleep, so I tiptoe to the bathroom and perform the torture of removing my makeup and fake eyelashes. A cute noise calls my attention. My little Silas giggles in his sleep and it melts my heart.

I doubt on whether I locked the door and head downstairs to perform the task quickly. My legs complain as I head up to my room. Silas coos and I hear his mobile music. Mark is taking care of him for which I'm grateful.

As I open my bedroom door, I see Mark on the same place he was before and snoring. Maybe he turned on the mobile and went back to sleep. Silas giggles again and I hear a voice so soft I have to concentrate to figure out where it comes from. I walk to the hallway and see that the night lamp in his bedroom is on. It is motion-activated, and he lays too far away from it to activate it.

I push the door open and see the rocking chair on the corner rocking slightly, but the window is closed. My heart rushes to my throat when I see her. In the dimmed light of the room she looks grayish. I try to talk. Try to scream, but my mouth has gone dry. She bends over the crib and seems to caress my son who smiles and giggles at her inexistent touch. Seeming to register my presence, she turns to look at me and I see how beautiful she is.

"Shhh, Silas needs to sleep," she says in a soft voice.

I take a step forward with wobbly knees and watch how my baby yawns and falls asleep. She watches him lovingly and her figure dissolves. My shocked existence can't take it anymore and I curl into a ball right in front of the crib.

I wake up in my bed and find my husband reading the newspaper next to me.

"Hey sleepy head," he pinches my nose playfully.

"Mark, you will think I'm crazy, but I think I saw a ghost last night. Wait! I fell asleep in Silas' room. What am I doing here?" I look around wildly.

"What I think is that you ate too much candy and drank too much punch. You have been snoring like crazy the whole night,"

Was it a dream? But it felt so real. I get out of bed and go to check on Silas who babbles with a little bunny in his bed. The rocking chair is still and the mobile silent, but I feel a soft caress on my cheek and in my head her words repeat: Silas needs to sleep.