Carmen woke up—she could have sworn she heard someone in the house, but Shane was passed out next to her, Max was staying at his boyfriends and Shay was asleep down the hall. There it was again though—like someone sniffling. Carmen slowly turned around, trying to make as little noise as possible, and looked towards the bedroom door. It was cracked open a bit—Carmen knew they had closed it all the way so that they didn’t wake up Shay during their lovemaking.

The door crept open a little more and Carmen quickly pulled the sheet up to cover her naked body. “Oh my god. I really wish we had a bat around here,” she thought to herself.

Whoever was on the other side of the door must have heard her because the sniffling stopped; after thirty seconds or so it started up again.

Carmen’s eyes had finally adjusted to the dark and she could just make out a tiny figure peeking through the crack. She let out a deep sigh—it was just Shay—little Shay peeking through the door with tears rolling down his face.

“Shay, is that you?” She whispered.

Sniff sniff. “Uh huh,” he whispered back.

“Hold on a sec, stay right there,” She said as she searched around for a pair of shorts and a shirt. She looked over to make sure the sheet covered Shane’s body.

“Ok. You can come in now.”

Shay slowly opened the door and slipped in.

“Hey what’s wrong little man? Come here.”

Shay just stood and stared at her. He looked so little in his SpongeBob boxers and baggy t-shirt.

Carmen smiled. “It’s okay. I promise I won’t yell anymore.”

He slowly shuffled his feet towards the edge of the bed.

“You want me to wake Shane up for you?”

He shook his head no.

“Jesus,” Carmen thought, “He’s as bad as his sister when it comes to the whole talking thing.”

“Ok well what do you need then? Did you have a bad dream?”

He stares at the floor and nods his head.

“Oh I’m so sorry, Shay. What happened? Was it about your dad?”