Bubba's Little Princess

Chapter 2

Tuesday April 24th 2001

It was the middle of the night when Detective Munch woke up, still laying next to his granddaughter. The little girl's cries had woken him up. Katie was crying out for her mother in her sleep and was kicking her legs slightly as she tossed and turned. But she was still asleep and was not aware of her actions at the moment. The sight was honestly heart breaking for John to see. There was nothing that anyone could do to prevent the nightmares but that did not mean that the man wanted to see his granddaughter in such a state.

So Munch gently shook Katie awake and said "Sweetie, wake up. Come on, sweetie, wake up.". He was unsure of what else to say to wake up the young girl, but he kept gently shaking her and tapping her shoulder to wake her up.

It did not take too long for Katie to wake up luckily, and the young girl was upset and buried her face into her grandfather's shirt as she sobbed hysterically, shaking slightly, still afraid from the dream she had just had. It was obvious to Munch that it was a nightmare. Dealing with nightmares was nothing new to the grandfather, as when his son Josh had been little, like all kids he had nightmares. And he had comforted his son and stayed with him until he fell back asleep. Somehow this was a different situation, mainly because surely this had to be due to the trauma Katie had gone through with being abandoned by her mother.

"It's alright, sweetie. It was only a bad dream, you are safe right here with Bubba." John told his granddaughter, kissing her head and rubbed her back. Part of Munch was unsure of what else to do to comfort the crying little girl in his arms right now as he was not sure of how best to help her. Katie had spent the night with him plenty of times before and a few times she had nightmares at his house. But those were simple as all it took for Munch to calm her down then would sit with her and let Katie cuddle up to him as he read her a story again, she would always fall asleep again before the story ended. This time things were different and Katie was just so hysterical as she cried into John's chest, making wet spots on his shirt with her tears.

It took quite a bit of time for the young child to calm down and for her to stop sobbing hysterically. Munch kept holding Katie close and rubbed her back with one hand, she clung to him like a vine.

"It's OK sweetie. I'm right here. I am not going anywhere." Munch reassured the little girl once again. "Do you think you can tell Bubba about the dream you had? I think it might make you feel better." He hoped that this would work because clearly Katie was upset about whatever she had dreamed about. But if she was so upset, the young girl may not be in a state where she would talk about her dream.

"It was scary." Katie said slowly. The crying had luckily stopped at this point but she was still scared. It was evident from how the child was still clinging to her grandfather like how a baby koala clung to their mother.

"How was it scary sweetie?" Munch asked. As she aired for the girl's response the detective could not help but tuck some of her blonde hair behind her ear. It was a little bit tangled because Katie had been sleeping, but it was something that could be dealt with later on.

"Cause mommy leave me all alone again." Katie told her grandfather. Her little hands gripped her stuffed bunny a bit tighter. "But it different in dream." the girl continued looking down at the blankets on the hospital bed.

"Can you tell me how it was different?" Munch asked looking down at his granddaughter, as he continued to rub her back and hold her close to him. He was a bit unsure of what else to do to comfort the little girl but his simple presence seemed to be enough to keep Katie calm. Well for right now at least.

Katie was quiet then and she continued to look down at the hospital blankets. It was a long few moments of what felt like painful silence to Munch before his granddaughter responded to his question. "Cause Mommy not the same. She threw away all the food and drinks. Then she laugh and tell me bye bye." As the girl was recounting the dream tears were starting to form in her brown eyes once again, threatening to spill over. Clearly she was still about the dream and talking about it was upsetting her. "Then she leave me and lock me in the house so I no go after her. And I cry and cry for her but she no come back and no one come for me. Not even you Bubba and then I cry and cry before you waked me up." This was the point where the young girl began to cry all over again.