They met bleary-eyed Jane coming out of her room while cinching the ropes of her nightgown.
For a moment, she stared incomprehensibly at the two of them rushing towards her.
"What is going on?" Reyona asked urgently.
"I am just about to check. I heard someone scream."
"We did, too," Maxwell said as they rushed past her.
"Ally?" they heard Junior's voice as Reyona opened the door to the children's room.
The expansive room was decorated just as the kids wanted.
The two sections of the room were divided by an AC sheet room divider that gave the children a feeling of having their own space even while being together.
Allysyn's side was decorated according to her taste.
She was more of a purple and print girl and that influenced her choice.
The wall was done in interlacing bold and light purple, the bedding purple accents, while the wall decor, artwork, frames and side lamps were in contrasting bold colours.
Even her mini bookshelf had purple accents at its end.
While Junior's side was mostly done in blue with shades of orange, with his beloved football-related decorations on the wall and his array of superheroes on his mini-shelf displays as well.
His bed is in the shape of a Chevrolet car and covered with a blue, star-stripped cover.
He was rubbing his eyes as he tried to get out of bed when the door opened.
He looked towards the door with blinking eyes and his eyes widened a bit when he saw them enter.
"Reyona? Is Ally crying again?" he asked with uncertainty.
"Again?" Maxwell echoed as they rushed over to Allysyn's side.
"Jane stay with Junior" Reyona said in a near-panic as she saw that the sound they were hearing was coming from none other but the girl thrashing in her bed.
"Yes, ma," Jane said as she held Junior back and led him to his bed with assurance.
Reyona's heart constricted with pain as she saw the way the girl was struggling with all she'd got.
Her arms were flailing above her as she thrashed with all her effort as if she were trying to fight someone off.
Reyona quickly crawled into bed with her as she tried to reach for her.
Allysyn's arms and leg movements became wilder as she let out keening sounds in her throat. "No. No. no!"
One of her legs kicked Reyona violently, and she stumbled against Maxwell.
"Are you okay? Let me try," he said with worry in his voice while looking at the girl who seemed to be having more than just a nightmare.
"No, I can handle this," Reyona said as she moved closer to Allysyn again.
She quickly moved towards the girl's head to avoid another hit, then she gingerly lay her hand on the girl's hair while she crooned, "Allysyn. It was just a bad dream. Baby, you are fine now. Nobody is going to hurt you here, okay? Can you hear me, Allysyn? You need to wake up now."
The thrashing seemed to reduce as Reyona spoke
Then the girl's head moved slightly in the direction of Reyona's voice.
Reyona quickly moved closer to her and reached out to touch her again.
Though she jerked violently at the touch, her fist didn't lash out towards Reyona.
So, Reyona quickly lay down and held the girl's shaking and clammy frame to her warm body as she stroked her hair while crooning to her in assurance. "It is okay, Ally. You are okay. It is just a nightmare. You are fine. Whatever it is cannot touch you now. You are fine."
The girl's shakes reduced considerably as Reyona kept talking and assuring.
The pace of her hands didn't stop and the girl finally stilled.
That was when Reyona finally heard Junior's worried voice from the other side of the partition.
"Is she okay now? Is she still crying? I promise I will not disturb her, Jane. She didn't want me to tell anyone, and now she will be angry with me, that you know. Do you think she would be angry with me? I don't want her to be angry with me."
Reyona did not hear Jane's whispered response as Maxwell crouched in front of her at the side of the bed.
He leaned over to brush his knuckles over her face as he said "She is fine now."
That was when Reyona realised that she had been crying.
She nodded at his statement and rubbed her hand over her face to clear the remaining smudges.
What could have happened to the girl to cause all this? She wondered.
Junior's earlier statement made her remember that he had once said something like that when they were in the Emergency Foster Home.
Reyona covered her face as she wondered why she had not paid better attention to that.
She had only thought the girl was crying because she was missing her parents.
She had no idea it was something of this magnitude.
She looked up when Maxwell pulled her hand from her face.
He shook his head and mouthed "Don't do that."
Her questioning look had him mouthing "You can't blame yourself for this. You did not know. None of us knew."
How had he known what she was thinking? She wondered.
But the main question was, what exactly are they dealing with here?
They still didn't know, all she knew was that no one would react the way the girl did unless something traumatic had happened to them.
She doubted if the ever-so-quiet girl would be willing to share anything like that with them.
She looked down again at the girl as she felt her body relax more against hers.
Allysyn's choppy breathing was back to normal and Reyona felt she was sleeping again.
She could still hear Junior's low murmur to Jane on the other side.
She still marvelled at the fact that the boy had been able to keep something like this a secret just because his sister had asked him to.
With his love for talking and filterless expressions, she still couldn't believe he would keep something like that.
Only a fool would underestimate kids these days.
She wondered if he knew what caused the panic too.
She doubted he was going to tell them unless Allysyn allowed it though.
The right person who could enlighten them about this was Allysyn.
Reyona sighed inwardly at the thought of getting traumatic information like that from the girl.
They would need all the patience and tactics they could summon.
For now, she was glad that the girl was finally sleeping.
They could deal with other things the next day.
She slowly stopped stroking her hair and gingerly shifted away from the girl's hold.
She was just getting up when she realised that the girl's eyes were open.
Not the sleepy eyes that you would expect from someone who has been sleeping.
Her eyes were alert yet glazed, and she kept staring at Reyona while she was lying so still on her side.
Reyona could almost believe she was not seeing her.
"Ally?" she called uncertainly.
Nothing.
Maxwell raised his brow to Reyona in question as he mouthed "She is awake?"
Reyona nodded.
"They won't stop," Allysyn whispered so low that Reyona almost didn't catch it.
Her heart clenched at the anguish in the girl's voice.
She leaned closer towards her as she asked "The nightmares? I am sorry that you have to go through that. How long have you been having them?"
Allysyn merely stared straight ahead for a moment.
Maxwell quickly turned around to the other side of the bed, so he could see her face the way Reyona was.
They both heard it when Allysyn said it again a bit more strongly this time. "They wouldn't stop. They were trying to do…things to him." she started crying as her face contorted in a semblance of rage and her hands curled in fists. "They wouldn't stop. I tried to stop them."