“Kids! Come eat!” Diana fixes the last plate of loaded baked potatoes and sets all three on the table. She stares at the stairwell for a few seconds, but only Shaelyn comes down. “Shaelyn, honey where are the other two?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been locked in my room for 2 hours.”

Diana sighs and rubs her eyes, “Could you go get them please.”

“Yeah, no problem.” Shaelyn starts to run up the stairs.

“Thanks, hun.”

Shaelyn runs into Jacqueline’s room and sees Jacqueline sleeping like a rock and Cecil gently shaking her and saying, “Jacqueline. C’mon get up. Please.”

Jacqueline starts shivering and crying. She starts whispering, “No. Stop.” She wraps her hands around her crown fin.

Shaelyn and Cecil share a worried glance. Shaelyn says, “I’ll go get my runes,” before running out of the room.

Cecil walks up to Jacqueline and kneels next to her bed. He puts her hand on Jacqueline’s shoulder. “Jacki, please wake up. Please.”

Jacqueline contracts all of the muscles in her body. She rolls onto her stomach and clenches her knees to her chest. She quietly repeats, “Get away from me.”

“Jacki. Please calm down.” The air around Jacqueline heats up. Cecil backs up some and says, “Oh no. It’s getting worse.”

He mentally communicates with Diana as he backs up next to the window, “Diana, I think Jacqueline’s nightmares are getting worse.”

“What do you mean.”

“Um...I think she’s about to explode.”

“Get out of there, I’m coming.” As Diana walks up the stairs, Cecil jogs out of the room. But before he can pass through the door, a burst of air explodes out from Jacqueline and knocks him into the wall in front of him.

A few seconds later, Diana walks down the hallway and sees Cecil standing up slowly. She walks up to him and says, “Hey, Cecil, are you okay.”

He rubs his forehead. “No, but Jacqueline’s worse.”

Diana looks up at Jacqueline crying, shaking and sitting with her head in her knees. “Got it.”

She walks up to Jacqueline and sits next to her, “How ya feeling hun.”

Jacqueline silently rocks back and forth, averting her eyes from her mother’s gaze. “Bad mom. Leave me alone.”

Diana gave her a little smile and softly said, “You know I’m not going to do that.”

Jacqueline sighed as she said, “Yeah I know.” There was silence for a few seconds.

“Well honey, just tell me when you’re ready to get some food and I’ll make it for you.” She hugged Jacqueline tighter. The only sound was the air blasting through the vents. Diana sat there with her arms wrapped around Jacqueline for 10 minutes.

Finally, Jacqueline shifted a little and asked, “Mom...”

“Yes, honey?”

“Can I get some food?”

“Sure honey. I’ll bring it up to you.” Diana grinned and started walking out of the room.

But before she could, Jacqueline said, “Actually, I want to come down with you.” Diana turned back and reached her hand out toward Jacqueline. She stood up and stumbled toward Diana, wiping the tears from her eyes. She grabbed Diana’s hand and they walked down the stairs together.

Once they reach the bottom, Diana walks into the kitchen and gathers a plate for her while Jacqueline sits in a chair pulled up beside the couch. Cecil, reclining on the couch next to her, sits up, scoots closer to Jacqueline and says, “Hey, um...you feeling better?”

She shrugs and says, “Yeah, a little bit.”

Cecil nods. “Hmm. That’s good. That’s good. Um, do you want to sit on the couch?” He scoots over, pats the couch next to him and winks.

Jacqueline looks up at Cecil and then looks away again. “Uh...yeah that would be good.” She licks her lips and sits next to him and they watch TV.

A few minutes later, Shaelyn runs behind them and says, “Oh my gosh, are you feeling better? I wanted to help, I just couldn’t find the right room. And then Cecil told me Diana handled it. And I was gonna go back, but then Cecil told me not to. And I rea-” The words spill out of her mouth like a waterfall.

Jacqueline turns around and puts her hand on Shaelyn’s shoulder. She chuckles and says, “Shae, you’re fine,” she takes in a deep breath. “I’m doing alright now...I guess. You’re fine. It’s alright. I’m just glad that you tried,” she closes her eyes and smiles. “Okay?”

Shaelyn sighs with reliefs, sits in a vacant spot on the couch and says, “So what are we watching?”