"Momma, mommy?" I hear the voice of Alyx whisper out from beside the bed. I groggily propped myself up on my elbow.
"Yes, sweetie?" I heard a little bit of sniffling.
"Are you or mommy going to die?" Her voice cracked when she said, and I saw her small frame shaking with sobs. I waved her to me.
"Come here, my little bear." Finally, she got close enough to where I could finally pick her up and bring her up on the bed with me. She snuggled into me and continued crying. "We aren't going anywhere." I looked over and saw Emma finally awake and giving a sad expression. She sat up and pulled both of us closer to her.
"Momma's right; we aren't going anywhere." Not too long after Alyx had cried herself to sleep, Aleksey and Asha walk in. Emma and I took each side of the bed while all the kids laid down in between us. I looked over and shared a concerned look with Emma.
"I guess Asha finally told them." I heard Emma's voice appear in my head.
"I just hope the kids don't worry too much." I saw her softly nod her head.
"Me too. As you said, we will get through this together." This brought a reassuring smile to my face.
"Together. Goodnight, my love. I love you very much." She smiled at me back.
"Sweet dreams. I love you very much too." I didn't let my negative thoughts run rampant as they have been recently. Instead, I held on to what my mom said and focused on manifesting the good things.
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The next morning we all woke up and didn't really speak of what happened last night. I wanted to talk to the kids more about what happened with Asha's mom and their fears about how that could happen to Emma, me, or to the both of us. But they acted as if those fears didn't exist, as if Alyx didn't come in there and cry herself to sleep. It concerned me even more how they were acting completely fine. It made me wonder if they were as good at acting as Emma and I are if they have hidden how they really felt to us before.
While the kids were upstairs playing in Alyx's room, Emma and I went to our offices to get some of our work done. I can only imagine how hectic work must be for Emma dealing with a deadly virus because dealing with the new construction of my work building was absolute mayhem. Trying to get ahold of who is actually in charge was like pulling teeth. Well, I guess if you were a dentist pulling teeth might be easy... Never mind, I'm getting sidetracked. My mind keeps going down these random rabbit holes, and it has become more frequent and more difficult to stop. I keep losing focus.
"Okay, Mila, focus." I looked at my reflection on the computer screen, then took a deep breath. I've got this; we've got this, as long as the family is together. I am definitely going to need more coffee and hot sauce if I am going to be able to get through the rest of this work.
Instead of making coffee in my office, I decided to go to the coffee maker in the kitchen. I needed to stretch my legs and have a break from work anyway. So on the way there, I decided to stop off at Emma's office.
"Hey, love, do you need anything from the kitchen?" She looked up from her computer screen, and she looked like she could pull all her hair out.
"Yeah, I'll come with you. I need a break." She closed her laptop with a huff, and the rest of her monitors went dark. She walked with an urgency as if she couldn't get out of her office quick enough. She grabbed my hand as she made her way past me and pulled me at her pace.
"You trying to outrun work there, my love?" I said with amusement laced in my voice. She brought down two cups and grabbed the jug of blood from the fridge, and started filling them up.
"Is it that obvious?" I let out a laugh and went over to start my coffee.
"No, not at all," I said, making my sarcasm extremely noticeable.
"It's getting worse, Mila." Her expression was very serious. I stopped my lax attitude and became serious myself.
"What's going on that has you this stressed?" She basically gulps down her cup of blood as if she was throwing back a shot of tequila.
"The council is talking about shutting down the portals to Alium. There are already rumors spreading around about this. I have had so many calls today from terrified people asking if they are shutting down the portals and what that means. It is complete chaos right now." She sat down at the island and started rubbing her temples. "I've had to make a lot of phone calls today. To families, telling them that their loved one has passed away." I think at this point; she may actually need a real shot of tequila, actually more like the whole damn bottle.
"I'm so sorry that you have to deal with all of us. I'm right here, okay? We are going to get through all of this. Together." I held her close to me, and she rested her head on my chest.
"Together." She whispered this out.
Our moment together was soon spoiled when Emma's work phone could be heard from her office. With her exit, I finished drinking my cup of blood. I then made my way over to grab myself a cup of coffee. I really hope things start getting better from here or at least start going a bit more smoothly.
Tonight for dinner, I went ahead and made Asha's favorite, spaghetti. The kids were excited about it too. This is Asha's last night staying with us, and I will be going back home tomorrow. I hope this time with us has brought Asha a little bit of peace, even if it was only temporary. At least, she knows that with us, it can be a safe place for her, a getaway when she needs it, a haven.
The kids' conversation swirled around the newest toy trends and apparently some famous YouTubers they follow, and the new videos they've posted. Emma and I both didn't really have much food while at dinner. We put just a small portion to give the illusion like we were eating along with them, but really we weren't. We mostly just sipped on our blood and exchanged looks here and there. With everything going on, we just didn't have much of an appetite.
"Remember to brush and floss, please. We love you all, sweet dreams." Emma echoed me, and the kids' responded with various okays, I love yous, and goodnights.
"Do you want to take a hot shower with me? Maybe it will help you relax a little bit." Emma nodded and followed me into the bathroom.
"How did the rest of catching up on work go?" She just hushed me.
"I don't really feel like talking right now." Right after she said that, with no hesitation, her lips met mine with a deep passion. She didn't want to talk about her problems at work to release her stress; she had other ideas on how to do that in mind. And I was more than happy and willing to help her get that release.
After our very stress-relieving shower, we got out and got ready for bed. I could tell that a lot of the tension in her shoulders had gone away. Even the stress that was surrounding the both of us had simmered down. We were just about to get into bed when our bedroom door came crashing open.
"Help them! Alyx and Aleksey. They are both asleep and thrashing around, and they have sweat dripping from them. I tried to wake them up, but I wasn't able to." Asha was beyond frantic. Emma and I zipped over to Alyx's room. In the blink of an eye, we were there holding them close to each other. Emma was holding Aleksey, and I was holding Alyx.
"Come on, my little bears. You've gotta wake up." I was speaking to them soothingly, trying my best not to let my voice waver. Trying my best not to cry. I was completely terrified.
"No! Please, don't do it!" Alyx and Aleksey both screamed out at the same time. Emma and I quickly looked up at one another with horrified expressions. We started to shake them a little bit to get them to wake up. Their bodies were drenched in sweat.
"Babies, please, you've gotta wake up for momma and mommy." We shook them a bit more. "Please wake up!" I said a bit more frantically, not able to keep the emotion out of my voice anymore. They both sprung up at the same time, sucking in deep breaths. They looked at one another, and then they looked at both of us. They immediately flung themselves onto the both of us and pulled us both in until we were in a group hug.
"What happened? What were you both dreaming about?" They were both crying at this point, and I couldn't help the tears that fell from my eyes. Poor Asha looked at us scared and was crying herself.
"Please never leave us, momma." The twins both pleaded at the same time. My heart was wrenching at this. Emma and I both pulled them tighter into the hug. Emma and I both looked over at one another; both of us had tears winding their way down our cheeks, and we both were still wondering what they had been dreaming about. But, more importantly, if they were having the same dream, and if they were, then why?