Hannah's Nightmare
The scream from the inner chamber woke Jumoke up. She had experienced Hannah's sudden struggles at night and had been bothered. She stood at the door post and stared at Hannah whose clothes were soaked from a profuse sweating.
"What's wrong?" She asked her, concerned written over her face. Hannah only stared at her without saying a word as she panted heavily. Jumoke moved closer and sat beside her, more softly she asked this time
"What did you see?" She was afraid history was about to repeat itself. When she was Hannah's age, exactly 11, she had had nightmares of an old man who chased her every night denying her a peaceful sleep. People told her it was her fathers who came to every daughter born into that family. Even though a solution was found, she wasn't sure if it ended with her.
"A saw spiders hovering around me" Hannah finally spoke. Jumoke let out a sigh of relief.
"You'll be fine, go back to sleep" she patted her gently and laid her on the mat.
"Say a prayer each time you have such dreams" she told her as she lay her to sleep
Jumoke didn't sleep, she stayed awake and pondered about what could be wrong. It was the 7th night Hannah consequently had nightmares, the fear in her eyes could tell it was terrifying. So many thoughts ran through her mind, they had visited a museum some weeks ago where Hannah saw a certain spider, she had avoided that section until they left the museum. It could be the reason she assumed, but her concern was the streak of occurrence and she needed a solution for it.
"What did she tell you?" Joe, who had just rolled to face Jumoke, asked her. He had noticed her state since she came back to the bedroom to join him.
"She's having a nightmare of spiders hovering around her" she replied, and bent her head in concern.
Joe sat up and threw his hands on Jumoke's shoulders drawing her closer.
"We can get a dreamcatcher and put it in her room. This will help her". With that, Jumoke felt at peace and finally went to sleep.
Early the next morning Jumoke reminded Joe of their discussion and asked him to get the dreamcatcher. He assured her. Jumoke was glad to know a dreamcatcher existed, it wasn't in their era. All they had then were herbal doctors who had to smoke the room for days. She remembered an experience she once had when she almost got choked by the excess fumes that were expelled into her room. She smiled , how things had transformed, she thought as she went about doing her daily chores.
As the sun gave way to the moon, at that time Jumoke was done preparing dinner. Joe came back holding a small weaved basket that looked like a net with a holder assumed to be for suspending it in the air. Jumoke could only imagine how such a thing works. It was her cousin who had told her of a dreamcatcher but she had not been privileged to see one.
"Is this the dreamcatcher?" She asked as she welcomed him home, amazed at how small it was in size. "It looks fancy though," she added before he could reply.
"Yeah, I hope it works as promised," Joe replied while handing it over to her.
Hannah slept peacefully for days, no screams, and did not wake at night. Jumoke would sometimes visit her room to notice if there were strange behaviors but noticed nothing. For days Hannah slept peacefully with no nightmares. Jumoke was glad Hannah's Nightmare was not related to her past and that the dreamcatcher helped her sleep peacefully.
This is a well-constructed story, @kristowe. There is a conflict from the beginning (a child's nightmares), which is compounded by a mother's concern the nightmares might be inherited. The mother is relieved that the content of the nightmares is unique to the child.
Your depiction of the mother's concern is convincing. The dialog is good, and that adds to the credibility of the characters. Also, you have a great 'hook', first line. All in all, you did a good job with this story, @kristowe. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Thank You. It's a good thing to know I'm improving daily