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He was busy making breakfast when he heard her scream.

"Leonard!" her voice cracking and hands trembling,clutching onto the duvets tighter as tears rolled down her cheeks.Grasping for air as beads of sweat covered her forehead and one trickled down her spine.

He pulled the cover off and cautiously walked around the bed and wrapping his sculpted arms around her,he spoke softly,"Baby, its okay, I'm right here,just a dream."

But somewhere inside he knew it wasn't the same for Lennie. It wasn't 'just a dream' for her.She had been having the same dream from childhood.

At many other mornings in the past,she had woken up in the same manner,scared and trembling,screaming out loud.He tried every possible way to get it all out of her head but it seems its etched in her memory so deeply that she can't let it go.

Lennie and Ben has been married for three years now.Ben had pictured her as his wife from the time he had known her.He was eleven when he had first moved in with his parents to the town where Lennie lived in.

She was nine,then.He meet her at his new school.They both came back home together after school as there wasn't much distance between their houses,his was a block away.

Everyday on the way back home they used to chat around and when they grew up to be good friends,nobody had that record.

Ben was too fond of her and secretly loved her too,so he tried every possible way to always keep her  happy.She was quiet,keeping to herself type of a girl,who never played with the neighborhood kids.And it seemed Ben was her only friend even at school or at home.

It was one Summer,when Ben's parents had to be away for a while,and Lennie's mother had happily agreed to look after him that he had stayed with Lennie and her parents.

One morning,he heard her scream and saw her mother rush into the room and calm her.That was the first time he had seen her wake up screaming her lungs out.The whole day he piled up questions in his head but just couldn't make himself go up to her to ask.

It was that very night when he woke up to get a glass of water that he overheard Lennie's mother and father's conversation.He got all the answers to his questions.And from then on he always over-protected her from any difficulties.

Though he succeeded to get all her problems solved but when it came to this he just felt helpless.He loves her so much that it always cuts through his heart to see her in pain.

Lennie was five when her brother Leonard accidently died.They were dizygotic twins.She was a child and that memory left her scarred.It keeps coming back to haunt her in her dreams.

It was one October afternoon,when Lennie's mother,Martha and her father were away for work when this accident happened.

Lennie and Leonard had been playing in the courtyard,and it was Lennie who insisted on playing hide and seek.After playing a round,it was Lennie's turn to be the "it".

She searched everywhere in the house as well as the backyard,but Leonard wasn't there.When she got tired she screamed out 'Ollie Ollie oxen free' many a times but he was no where to be seen.

She waited and waited sitting right by the door.She was angry at Leonard for playing the hiding prank with her.She decided to complain strongly about it so she waited right outside for them to come back.

Its was late evening,when Martha returned and till now Leonard hadn't come out of hiding. Lennie angrily babbled to Martha complaining and telling her about how much she hated Leonard's prank and that she would never play with him again.

Matha laughed at her every complaint and assured little Lennie that she would surely scold Leonard.She reached for the door knob,jostled it open and entered,"Leo,come out now,Mommy's home!"

She changed her work clothes and poured herself a glass of wine.But Leonard was no where to be seen.She walked up to the room but he wasn't there.

She screamed "Leo,come'on now,enough!",but there was no answer.She was tensed and frantically searched every room.Leonard was not there.

She asked Lennie,"Sweetheart,tell me;from how long have you not seen Leo?"

Lennie answered,"Mommy,we were playing hide and seek and.."

"Yes then what darling?"

"And I looked for Leo,but he dint come out"

Martha was really worried now,it was more than six to seven hours that he has been hiding somewhere.She flipped opened the cell phone to dial,when something caught her eye,she saw the out-house through the window.

She picked up a torch and ran towards the house,creaking open the door. Lennie quickly followed her pace,right behind her.

Lennie and Leonard were forbidden to go to the out-house.It was their father's strict rules,and that is why she dint go searching for him there.

It was dark,Martha switched on the dim light hanging to the ceiling and pushing the torch button throwing in more light for clarity.

It was more of a warehouse-cum-garage-cum-storehouse.The place was dusty,and filled with a broken bicycle,car parts,some labelled boxes,broken items and an old unusable refrigerator.

She flashed the light to every possible corner and to her horror,she saw Leo inside the fridge.He dint move,she pushed her way inside and quickly opened the door a lifting him up she carried him outside.

She ran towards the car and opening the passenger door she laid him on the seat. Lennie followed her mother and sat at the back.She dint have the slightest idea of what was going on,but she dared not ask and say anything.

Matha quickly drove to the hospital,and rushed inside carrying unconscious Leo in her arms.Nurses and doctors rushed to help her get him into a stretcher and took him inside,leaving Martha and Lennie standing outside.She quickly dialed the numbers with trembling fingers.

There was pin drop silence except for the sound of equipment alarms or the respiratory monitors beep at intervals,where they were seated.

Lennie was terrified and she was more scared because she saw her Mom praying and tears rolling down,as she knew she was scared too.

After a while the doctors with the nurses pulled out a stretcher but this time an impeccable white cloth covering something underneath it. Lennie could not see what was inside it,when suddenly a hand poked out,falling lifelessly out at the side and a loud scream of grief echoed in the hallway.

And from then on Lennie was a different person.She couldn't get the sight of that lifeless hand out of her mind.Every night,she would wake up screaming and crying.

The memory left a deep scar on her mind and nothing seems to be just enough to fill the void.