Close Friends Stick Together

I woke up and felt something shivering beside me. I looked over only to realize it was Sonata. At first, I thought she was simply cold, but then I heard her mumbling.

“Sonata, what’s wrong?”

She didn’t answer. For some odd reason, she looked like she was talking to someone.

“Sonata, wake up.”, I whispered.

She still wouldn’t wake up.

“Sonata, please.”

I kept nudging her, but she would not wake up. Dammit! If only Aria was with me, it would be a little more easier. Still, I wouldn’t give up. I kept pushing her to wake up, to no avail. I kept pushing and pushing. Suddenly, she jumped out like a jack-in-a-box. Then, I said to her,

“Are you okay? You’ve been moving around and talking in your sleep.”

She looked at me with that same, sad look in her eyes.

“Listen. I shouldn’t have said-”

“No. It’s not you.” she said, stopping me mid sentence.

“Huh? What’re you talking about?” I asked surprised.

“I had this dream.”

“A dream?”

She nodded.

“Tell me about your dream. What happened?”

“Well, when I was asleep, I suddenly woke up, and I was in the same room as you, only you weren’t there.”

“What do you mean?”

“I walked around looking for you. I checked everywhere, seeing if you were trying to play with me. I was hoping to find and scare you.”

“Why?”

I was surprised at what she just said. I was here, trying to wake her up, and she was trying to scare me… I continued to listen to the rest of her story.

“I kept looking for you, but you weren’t anywhere. All of a sudden, I heard voices.”

“What voices?”

“I didn’t know. I followed where the noise was coming from. I walked around and I started to see these shadows?”

“Shadows?”

What she said wasn’t making any sense. If she really was having a dream, she would’ve woken up already. Something’s wrong. She kept telling me,

“When I followed the shadows, they suddenly disappeared.”

“Where did they go?”

“I don’t know. I looked around, but then I saw something glowing.”

“What was it?”

“Well, I followed the light, and there was this door behind it. I thought they were lightbulbs at first, but they were red for some reason.”

“Red?”

“I opened the door, and then I saw these jewels on the ground.”

“What jewels?”

“They were RED jewels.”

“I know Sonata. I’m just trying to make sense of what you’re telling me.”

She sighed annoyingly, and she continued.

“I was so amazed by their shiny looks, so much that I wanted to touch them.”

“Well, did you?”

“I bent down and I grabbed them, then suddenly, these monsters came out of the jewels.”

“Monsters?”

She nodded her head.

“What did they look like? How many were there?”

“Well… there were three of them.”

“Three?”

“That’s all I saw.”

“What did they look like?”, I asked.

“I don’t know. They just disappeared all of a sudden. Then I woke up because “somebody” kept pushing me.”, she answered.

“I was worried. I thought you were-”

“I wasn’t! But it sure felt like it.”

“What do you-”

Suddenly, I remembered what I told her.

“You're not just saying that to snuggle with me, are you?” I asked sarcastically.

“I WASN’T TRYING TO SNUGGLE WITH YOU!!!” she yelled, offended.

I was taken back by her sudden outburst.

“I'm telling you the truth.” she said, lowering her voice.

“Sonata, I wasn’t trying to make fun of you. I’m just trying to figure out your problem.”

“My problem is that you’re trying to push me away.”

“Wha-? I’m not trying to push you away.”

“Oh yeah? When I was little, my parents did the exact same thing. They wouldn’t let me sleep next to them because they thought that I would take up most of the bed.”

“What?”, I said, shocked.

“One time, when me and Aria were sleep in a dumpster, she wouldn’t let me snuggle next to her because I was too clingy.

“Oh, Sonata…”

“That’s not all... I was never allowed to be too close to Aria or anybody else. Whenever I was holding onto to someone, I was often pushed back. My parents wouldn’t even hold my hand…”

She was beginning to tear up in front of me. I said nothing as she was struggling to speak.

“Ever since the day that I met you, you would let me stay close to you. When you held my hand, when you hugged me, I’ve felt something that I’d never felt before.”

I was taken back by what she told me. She was always so cheerful to me and Aria. There was rarely ever a sad look on her face, at least not until what happened to Aria. But what I’m seeing right now… I have no words to describe what Sonata’s going through. She then covered her face, so that I wouldn’t see her cry. I said to her,

“Sonata, what I said to you earlier today...”

She didn’t look at me as she was too ashamed. I resumed as she hid herself from me.

“I wasn’t trying to be mean to you. I was trying to help you become stronger. I wasn’t trying to push you away. All I wanted from you, was to be independent. But seeing you now… I shouldn’t have put you through what I just said and for that, I’m sorry.”

I began to tear up as well. I grabbed her face gently and moved her hands from her face as she look at me.

“Please. Don't cry.”

Making her look at me just made her more sad, and she finally began to cry. I began to cry with her as well, holding her in my embrace.

“I should’ve been more stronger for Aria. If I had…”

“Shhh-shh. You have nothing to be ashamed of, Sonata. None of this is your fault so please, don't shoulder any of the pain.” I said, in a whimpering voice.

“I’m always the burden of everybody else. If I had just disa-”

“No, no, no, no, no. You're not a burden to me, or Aria.”

We kept crying for several minutes. I pushed her to far. I should've been more considerate of her feelings. After a little while longer, the sobbing had subsided, with her face stained in tears.

“You feel better?”, I asked with a faint smile.

She nodded and looked back up at me.

“I think we should get back in bed.”, I said.

Agreeing with me, she got up and went back into her bed. Seeing how sad she was, I decided to snuggle with her, at least until she fell asleep, I think? Before she fell asleep, I said to her,

“If there’s anything you wanna talk to me about, just let me know. I’ll always be here to listen to your problems no matter how small.”

“Okay. I’m sorry that I’ve been a-”

I put my finger on her lips and I said,

“Don’t ever say that. Don’t even think that. Everything that we’ve been through as a family. You’ve never been a burden to me. Not even Aria would see you as the least bit useless.”

She smiled that beautiful smile that she had always given me. Afterwards, she dozed off. Not caring about our past problems, or anything else. When Aria comes back, she will feel even better than she ever has been. Still, I couldn't shake the fact that tomorrow would be another challenge. Even so, with Sonata, and when Aria comes back, we will be stronger than we ever were before. I was going to get up, but she held me close and her grip was pretty strong for someone as small as her. Besides, I couldn't leave her with a smile like that. I kissed her on the forehead and started to fall asleep.