"Mommy!!!" the little girl cried.
Despite who she was calling in her distraught state, James came into the room and sat on the edge of his daughter's bed, pulling her into a tight embrace.
"What's wrong, baby?"
"Bad dream," Mia cried into her dad's chest.
James patted his little girl's back, making shushing noises and hoping she would fall asleep. After no success, he figured it might be better for her to tell him.
"Did something happen to me or Mommy?"
He felt her aggressively nod her head yes.
"Do you wanna tell Daddy what happened?"
Mia pulled back from her dad and wiped her face with her little fists. After she sniffled, she nodded yes with a pout. James let out a little chuckle at how much she looked like Nadine when she pouted. If Nadine wasn't gone for taping in Ilocos, he'd probably voice it out loud just to have both women pouting.
Mia sat up onto her knees and grabbed James' hand, "Zombies were everywhere! And Tito Eze was the president of the zombies and him and Mommy were fighting. And Mommy was with Uncle Bret and then boom! And then you were there, but you were turning into a zombie and Uncle Bret was going to kill you, but then wack! He was gone!"
If James wasn't laughing before this, he was definitely on the verge of tears. The way she told the story was so animatedly, her hands mimicking all the explosions.
"And theeeeeeennn... you went up to Mommy and Mommy had to kill you, but she couldn't because she said she loves you."
"Then what happened?"
"You killed Mommy. And then I woke up."
James shook his head, somewhat confused. Mia was like Nadine that she loved scary movies. So zombies scaring her were a bit puzzling.
"I think I need to talk to Mommy about letting you see zombie movies with Uncle Bret."
"No!" she protested.
"But you're scared, Mia Bear."
"Yeah!" she said sarcastically. "But because you killed Mommy! You went like boom! And then patay na sya! Who's gonna take care of you if you kill her?! Why don't you love her enough to not kill her like
mommy did with you?!"
If James wasn't so amused at Mia, he would be insulted that his 5 year old daughter was questioning his love for Nadine because of a zombie apocalypse dream.
"I love Mommy and I would never kill her, even if I turn into a zombie. What about we call Mommy so you can hear for yourself that I didn't kill her?"
Mia ran off her bed and into James and Nadine's room. James followed her and held open his phone to dial up Nadine.
"Wait!" Mia yelled.
James stopped and looked at the clock Mia was pointing at. 3:46 AM.
James nodded, "Yeah. How about this? You can tell Mommy your dream when you come back from school? I'm sure matutuwa sya sa kwento mo."
Mia yawned and laid down on Nadine's side of the bed. James jumped on the bed, making her giggle as her eyes shut closed. He fell asleep shortly after, still laughing at his daughter's antics.
-----
Nadine was in a haze. Nothing was making sense to her. James had apparently gone off to work in an office type job while she was in front of a school, dressed like a teacher. She was in a world where Mia didn't exist and being an artista wasn't an option.
When she was in the middle of teaching proportions and scaling to her students, the building shook and the ceiling tiles were starting to crumble down. Nadine ran outside to see the whole town being burnt down and people were screaming, crying, and running for their lives.
The first thing she could think of was James, so she got in her car and headed to his building. As she got closer to his work, she saw people who were so pale, they were grey. They were dragging their feet to her car at a rapid pace and if she didn't floor the gas pedal, she would've been eaten alive. So she drove, not giving a care in the world if she was running over the people who turned into zombies.
Her hopes of finding James were dwindling as more explosions blinded her and the buildings came crashing down. When she spotted James running down the street in the opposite direction, she drove even faster. But the minute an explosion blocked the two of them from each other, she was hit from the rubble and passed out immediately.
When she opened her eyes, she was in an unfamiliar place. People she knew were surrounding her and crying and she decided to look out into the space. She was at a funeral. James' funeral.
She fell to her knees and started bawling tears. She closed her eyes again, only to open them to the sight of her students and their parents. She was at a meeting where they were planning against the zombie apocalypse. Just as Nadine was about to speak, light flashed and the windows blew up off their frames. Nadine and all the adults dagged the students to the designated safe zone on the roof of the school. Everyone was rushing, but Nadine looked back quickly to see some of her own neighbors getting turned into zombies.
The little girl that she was forcing through the crowded hallways ran off with the escaping crowd and Nadine's whole world froze as she saw James walking towards her.
He was barely alive. Pale. Grey. Limping and dirty.
She started to yell. As loud as she could.
"Love, it's me!! James, it's just me!!" tears running down her face.
James' soulless corpse paused, looking at her. Nadine could've sworn that he was trying to remember who she was, but then the world went black.
She thought she was dead.
It was so cold.
And then she jolted into a sitting position, bed disheveled and the light from the outside reflecting the hotel room walls.
"Ahhhh... I gotta stop watching zombie movies with Mia."
Nadine looked over to the clock. 9:45 AM. Since they were just leaving the location back to Manila, everyone was able to sleep in and have enough time to pack. Nadine already packed, so she decided to just text James.
*beep*
Love.
*beep*
Just woke up.
*beep*
I had a crazy dream.
James stirred in his sleep. After dropping Mia off at school, he went back home to take a nap.
It was him and Nadine's agreement. If one is working full time, the other has to request off. They'll take turns depending on who has the busier schedule, but they always wanted at least one of them to always attend to their kid. And even if it was just Mia, then people they work with know the agreement too and it's not a surprise if they were to expand their family and suddenly take time off.
He texted back quickly.
Tell me
Using only Emoji's
Hehe
