Deborah refused to go back to her room that night. She was too scared and had to sleep in the large bed with her parents.
In the early hours of the morning, she started thrashing the bed. 'No, no I can't come with you. You are a wicked woman. You are not my aunt. My aunt can't be as scary as you. Go. No, don't touch me....'
Sharon and Bryan woke immediately and were shaking her awake.
'Dint touch me. You hands are filthy'.
'Deborah! Hon! Wake, you are dreaming'.
She opened her eyes and saw her parents. She was confused for a moment and then the words of her parents seemed to penetrate. 'Dream... nightmare'.
She hugged her mother. Then she went over to rest on her father's body.
'Dad, it was horrible. I thought it was actually happening'.
'It's okay, forget about it, it was just a foolish nightmare'.
'It might be a nightmare, dad but it was not foolish. Not at all'.
'Do you still remember the dream?' Sharon asked.
'I do and it scares me'.
'Well maybe if you spoke about it, it will not longer frighten you? Tell us about it'.
'Mum, it was horrible', she said again looking from her mother to her father and they could see the fear in her eyes.
Bryan swore under his breath. He could not forgive whoever was doing this to his beloved daughter.
'I had just come from saying goodnight you both. I went to my room to sleep and found that my toy was missing. My most favourable toy and I remember keeping it on the bed. I felt that it must have fallen and got kicked under the bed, so I bend down to get it and saw a pair of dark eyes staring at me like those of a monster. I told myself that I was not a baby to scare easily but it brought out it's hands and it had sharp claws, coming towards me and as I was about to scream, it clamped it's hands over my mouth and came out and I saw that it was none other than the aunt who had taken me somewhere', she stopped to regain her breath and her parents exchanged glances. They had to take her for therapy so that she could over one this fear of hers but was she not too young for that? And how could they do that when the issue with Devon was not yet fully settled?
'I knew that she wanted to take me this time to some evil place and might even eat me after tearing me up with her claws and so, I bit her and she removed her hands from my mouth and I started screaming at her and hitting her before you woke me' she concluded breathing fast and looking at a place in the distance as though she was reliving the whole experience.
Sharon thought fast. How could she make her forget about this nightmare and about her experiences with Devon?
'Oh my darling', she said hugging her daughter on her husband's body. 'It was not a foolish dream at all but it is incredible. You see because Devin has no claws and she could not possibly hide under your bed without us seeing her'.
'But she came in here the other time and no one saw her. How do we know that she is not here now and I just got the premonition to warn you all to be more vigilant? She scares me. She wants to take me away from my parents. Some if the time she spoke to me when she carried me away, she said that my mother took her husband away from her but my mother's husband is my father. How then did you mum take her husband away from her?'
'You should not pay attention to all those ramblings of hers. She is not feeling very well at the moment like I told you and that is why she is making such claims', Bryan put in still caressing his daughter's back to calm her. 'Once she concludes her treatment, she might not even recall that she said such things and if she does recall, she would definitely apologise to you and your mother and to everybody she has troubled'.
'But dad, honestly, I do not think I can trust her even when she gets well. She will have to stay elsewhere so that she won't keep scaring me and troubling you and mum. We need to have a happy home and not one with an an what's the word now?'
'Intruder'. Sharon supplied because she understood her daughter very well as she was expressing her own sentiments.
'Yes, intruder because that is what she is and what she will be if you allow her back in here'. Deborah concluded.
'Later this morning, I am going to go to where they are keeping her captive and give instructions to them', Bryan said seriously. This fright if his daughter's was getting him really bothered. 'And I promise you right now that she is never going to disturb you anymore. You are the daughter of Bryan Ferdinand after all!' he said tickling her and she started laughing, forgetting her worries and fears for the moment as she basked in the love and attention of her parents.
Bryan was deep in thought. He hoped that the nightmares that his daughter was having will cease and not be a persistent thing and he would find out if there was anything like a therapy for a girl as young as his daughter. The way she spoke sometimes and her height, one was liable to think that she was much older than her three years but she was still a baby.
'That reminds me, it is just a few days away. How are the preparations for my daughter's birthday party coming up?' he asked because he actually wanted to know but also to give Deborah one more reason to smile and another thing to discuss about rather than her nightmares and fear of Devon.
'What do you expect? You have given them the instructions and they will definitely comply except they want to get you furious with them'. She smiled knowing what he was trying to do and appreciating the effort.
Deborah was already chatting about her birthday and her friends who she would like to invite.
Bryan wanted Deborah's birthday to be the best. It was the first birthday he was throwing for his daughter and it had to be memorable. He looked at the wall clock and it was already morning. He had to get to the bank, intimate David on the recent happenings, see how much work he could put in and go to where Devon was being held. He could not believe that all these had really happened. It felt like a nightmare and he could understand how a child who was in the midst of it all would feel about it. This had to stop!.
He got up and went into the bathroom for his shower and all, a pot of fresh coffee was already ready for him when he got ready and he ate with a little breakfast and he was already on his way to work. Kissing his daughter goodbye and kissing the one in Sharon's stomach as well and then kissing Sharon squarely on the lips.
'Have a great day', she wished him, already missing him. She saw him to the door and she and Deborah kept waving at him until he had driven away out of sight.