"Tuney, I'm scared"

I looked at my sister, wrapped tightly in her duvet, sleeping softly and looking relaxed. Her blonde hair was a veil across her face, messed up by sleep. I shook her shoulder gently, trying to wake her up without startling her.

"Tuney, please, I'm really scared" I called again, my voice shaking and distorted through tears and fright, but loud enough to wake her. She muttered something in her sleep and rolled over, turning away from me.

I brushed her hair away from her face and kissed her cheek, muttering an apology for what I was about to do. I started to blow in her ear, gently at first, then more forcefully, sending droplets of saliva into her ear. I heard her groan, and she began to move again, facing me this time.

"Lily" She croaked, her voice heavy with sleep and slight annoyance "what on earth are you doing...and why is my ear all wet?" She sat up, leaning on her elbow, and looked at me grumpily, her eyes half closed from tiredness.

"Tuney, I had a bad dream. A really really bad dream...can I sleep with you tonight?" I never went to my parent's room if I had a bad dream; I always went to my sister's, my Tuney's. I don't know why, but I knew my sister would protect me and look after me from anything, so I trust her with all my heart.

Petunia scooted across the bed, making room for me to get in, and held the duvet up so I could get in.

With a smile, I clambered into bed and hugged my sister. I heard her sigh before she wrapped her arms around me and held me tight to her chest. For a sweet moment, I forgot the bad dream and lost myself in my sister's embrace and the feel of her lips on the top of my head, a silent promise that everything will get better.

"Do you want to tell me about the dream, Lily?" My sister whispered in my ear, startling me slightly from the silence of the night. "Maybe it will help"

Knowing my sister would try and get it out of me either way, I took a deep breath to steady myself and began to tell her of the dream. "I don't know why I dreamt it, but it was really bad" I whispered, barely audible even in the stillness of the room. "I dreamt it was dark, like, really dark". I closed my eyes and shuddered lightly at the memory of the heavy, definite darkness. I'm usually happy with the darkness, at ease in it, but this darkness was different. It was suffocating. It was horrible. I took a deep breath and continued.

"In the dark, I couldn't see anything, I couldn't even see myself, just...nothingness. But in the nothingness was a voice. It was really deep, and sounded like you do when you just get up-" She pushed me slightly in protest, but I carried on anyway. "- and it told me that you were gone and that you were never coming back. And it kept telling me this over and over and over again". At that point, I started to cry again, trying to block out the memory of its voice haunting me in the darkness. My sister held me tighter and whispered in my ear, telling me everything was fine, and that she wasn't going anywhere, ever.

"What did you tell the voice when it told you this?" She pulled away slightly so she could look at me. "I shouted at it to stop, I begged and begged but it wouldn't stop. I started to scream and it still didn't stop. I couldn't do anything and it just carried on, as if it couldn't hear me. Tuney...promise me, pinky promise that you won't leave me? Can we prove the voice wrong?"

At this, she took my hand in hers and linked her little finger around my own, her fingers bigger and stronger than my own. She looked into my eyes, the reflection of my own engraved in hers. She looked at me seriously, and told me sternly. "Lily, I promise to you, I will never leave you. I pinky promise to you".

I grinned for the first time in what felt like a million years, and hugged my sister so tightly she seemed to stop breathing. When I let go, she looked startled and I laughed at her wide eyed expression, and after a few seconds, she laughed with me and soon we got so loud that we heard mum and dad stir.

I stopped laughing dead, and looked at my sister desperately, knowing that dad would make me go back to my own room, or tell me off. She thought for a second and then told me "Get under the bed, quickly!" and with that I scrambled out of her bed and onto the floor, rolling under her bed just when dad opens the door and switches on the light.

"PETUNIA, what on earth are you doing, it's 3am and we are TRYING TO SLEEP!" I felt petunia moving in her bed above me, probably to face my dad sitting up.

"Daddy, I was just thinking of something really funny, and the laughter took over me. I'm sorry, daddy, I will go to sleep now. I didn't mean to wake you". Petunia said in a clear, but small voice.

"Well, just be quiet, Petunia, you could have woken your sister. Goodnight". And with that, he turned and went back into his own room, closing his door firmly. When I was sure he wasn't coming back in, I climbed out from under the bed and stood looking at my sister. She looked upset for a moment, but suddenly smiled at me and put her thumbs up, showing that we fooled dad. I climbed back into her bed and put my back against her chest, so she could wrap her arms around me. She wrapped the duvet around the both of us, keeping away the cold, and protecting us against the dark.

"Lily, you're my best friend, you know that? Never ever forget it. I love you Lily". She said it slowly; as if unsure she should say it.

I took her hand and squeezed it, swallowing the lump in my throat. "I love you too, Tuny. I won't ever forget, because you're my best friend too". And with that, I closed my eyes and fell asleep in my older sister's arms, comforted by the knowledge that my sister would never leave me and warmed by the embrace she holds me in. I slept peacefully, with no dreams, just a calming sleep.