Nightmare

Sophie, Ohpy, and Audrey had already gone off to bed, and he was the only one awake in the house. Andrew was sitting on his bed, looking at a framed picture of the whole family: him, Thomas, Ophelia, Josephine, and Audrey. He smiled, letting out a light chuckle as he gently rubbed his thumb over the area where Audrey was. That smile faltered when his eyes skimmed over where Thomas was in the picture. Not a day had gone by where the man didn't think about his best friend. Well, he was more than a friend to Andrew, but he could never tell him that. Thomas couldn't have possibly shared the same feelings that Andrew had for him, no matter what anyone had said.

Andrew sighed, wiping away a tear that had started to form in his eye as he put the framed picture back on his nightstand. What time was it? How long had he avoided sleep? Whatever time it was, he deduced that he should probably head to sleep as well. Sophie would be on his ass in the morning if he didn't. So, he brought himself under the covers and turned off the lamp. Trying not to think about anything, he closed his eyes and was soon asleep.

When he woke up, Audrey was bouncing on his bed, eager for her dad to get up and play with her.

"Alright, alright, I'll come out in a minute," Andrew said, sitting up on the bed and stretching. Playing with Audrey would be a nice change of routine since she was up earlier than usual. When Andrew finally got up and walked out of his room and to the front door, Audrey was there, eagerly waiting for her dad. "Come on, come on!" She grabbed his hand and dragged him out the door. "Let's go to the park! I wanna play Hide and Seek!" Andrew chuckled at his daughter's energy, allowing himself to be pulled. "But wouldn't it be safer to play at home?" he asked, half-joking. "Yeah, but the house is too small sometimes. We gotta go big!" Leave it to Audrey to always get the big picture.

When the pair reached the park, Audrey insisted that she was going to be the first to hide. Andrew obliged to counting, but only if Audrey didn't go too far, which she promised not to do. And Audrey keeps her promises. With that rule established, Andrew turned to face a tree they were near and begun counting. Audrey kept her word and hid in a nearby bush that separated the park from the woods that the park was built next to.

As expected, when Andrew was done counting he began walking further from Audrey's hiding spot. This always happened when the two played Hide and Seek, and Audrey always felt the smallest bit of triumph because of it. "He won't find me," she said, snickering too caught up in her own fantasized victory to hear the crunch of the leaves and sticks behind her. "Nobody'll find me..."

That's when Andrew heard her scream. He whipped his head around, looking towards where he heard the sound. He could barely make out Audrey's horrified face poking out from the bush she was hiding behind. "Daddy! Help me!" she cried. Andrew bolted towards the bush, his heart pounding; not because he was running, but because his daughter was in danger.

"Audrey!" he shouted once pushing through the bush and into the forest that it barricaded. He quickly scanned the area, taking sharp, rapid breathes, but his daughter was nowhere in sight. But how could that be?? He wasn't even that far away from her hiding place!

"AUDREY!!" No... No. He didn't just lose another loved one. No he didn't... No he didn't, NO HE DIDN'T, NO HE DIDN'T!!!

"AUDREY!!!"

"Dad!"

Andrew shot up in a cold sweat, his breaths just as sharp and rapid as they were before. Thank God none of it was real... He shifted his eyes to the right, eyeing his daughter who was standing beside him, a worried expression plastered on her face.

"Dad...? Are you okay?"

Seeing Audrey safe and sound allowed Andrew to calm down as he let out a sigh of relief that turned into a small chuckle. A bit embarrassed to ask her to climb on the bed with him, he just held out his arms towards her. Luckily, Audrey knew what he was asking, and climbed on the bed to give him a hug, to which he gently returned.

"I'm okay, sweetie. Daddy just had a nightmare is all..."