Write Me A Letter

53 | embrace

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE | E M B R A C E

WHEN BRIE WAS YOUNGER, she was easily scared. She remembered knocking on her parents' door at night when she was six. She was a tiny kid and her pajamas were too long for her frame that it covered both her feet and hands uncomfortably. It was a struggle to walk, but she still braved her way to their room in the dark with her fingers pressed to her lips.

She was having another nightmare that night.

In her dream, another kid who looked just like her had her replaced, and she was helpless; screaming inside a glass box where she was trapped with no one to help her. She slammed the glass with her tiny fists, sobs raking her small body as she screamed. But her parents were too busy having breakfast with the girl who looked just like her, they didn't spare her a single glance. Just like that, they no longer wanted her.

Her dad opened the door with a yawn, rubbing the sleep off of his eyes as he crouched down to her height. "What's wrong, love?"

"Daddy," she cried out with puckered lips. "Daddy, please don't pick the other girl."

Her dad looked confused before realization dawned on him and he engulfed her in a warm hug that smelled of sandalwood. "Oh, Aubrie, did you have a bad dream again?"

It had been happening quite often. Ever since her neighbor and best friend, Reese, transferred to another school when her mom remarried and they stopped talking, the nightmares had been plaguing her sleep. She knew Reese already had a new best friend. The last time Reese sent her a letter, it had a drawing of a pretty girl with long blond hair that had pink ribbons. It had the words 'best friend' right under it in deep purple crayon. Reese no longer wanted to be her friend, and now, even her dream told her that her parents wanted another kid.

She sniffled. She remembered wrapping her hands around the collar of her dad's pajamas then and how much the feel of the soft fabric comforted her. "Yes, daddy. You took the other girl. I promise I'll be a good girl. I won't write on your paper anymore. Please don't be angry."

Her dad chuckled. How Brie wished she could go back in that time to hear that sound again, just one more time, just another stolen moment.

Rubbing her back, her dad pushed her away to look at her in the eyes. There was a small smile on his face as he stared at his crying daughter. "I don't get angry when you write letters on my important paper," he consoled then shook his head. "Okay, sometimes I get mad but whenever I read how much you love me and mom in those letters, I forget that I was mad in the first place. But next time, love, please ask daddy first if you can write on a paper, okay? I can give you a clean one that you can use."

Little Brie beamed at the idea. It was almost twelve years ago, but she could still recall how much that elated her as if her dad spoke a promise of buying chocolates first thing in the morning.

"Thank you, daddy. You won't pick the other girl anymore and change me?"

"Exchange you with another girl?"

She nodded and tested out the long and unfamiliar word on her tongue.

Her dad's eyes twinkled with affection and he pushed her hair behind her ear. "Aubrie, I could never replace you. You'll always be daddy's little girl. Remember what will daddy say especially when you're older, okay?"