• I slowly rolled myself out of bed and dressed to the beat of my raging thoughts.Why couldn't my last day be normal? Why haven't any of my friends texted or contacted me? Why do thes nightmares continue to haunt me? Why can't I ever remember them? Why is my life so complicated?
    I tip-toed down the hallway of our bilevel home past my parents' room and my sister's and brother's shared room.
    I am the oldest of the three children. My fraternal twin siblings are two. I feel as if I am their protecter. Mom and Dad are always working, so I am the babysitter most of the time. My dad is an engineer for a car factory, so they are always calling for him about machinery problems. My mom is a nurse at the local hospital. She went back to work two weeks after my siblings were born.
    I reach the kitchen and grab a box of Frosted Flakes. They are the favorite of all three of us kids. My parents can't stand them. I turn on the small television in the kitchen and flip channels until I find something good. I end up on a channel showing reruns of NCIS.
    I get through three and half shows before I am interupted. My little sister, Tabitha, walks in dragging her old pink baby blanket behind her.
    She asks in a sleepy whisper,"Where's Mom?"
    I answer, "Working."
    She sighs, then slowly walks over to where I'm sitting and climbs into my lap. She sits there quietly half asleep for the rest of the show. During the ending credits she jums down and and asks me to make her a bowl of Frosted Flakes. I comply with no complaint.
    Her and her brother are so short and scrawny. They can't reach the counters yet, so I am always getting them a glass of water or making them a snack.
    Soon, her little brother, Parker joined us. She never let him forget that she is one minute and two seconds older. She frequently uses the excuse"because I'm older."
    I love watching the two banter back and forth some days and other times it gets on my nerves. We sit quietly watching the cartoon channel I flipped it to over breakfast. In the back of my mind the nightmare issue nags me repeatedly.