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Liane woke up to thrashing sounds coming from the other bedroom of her house. By now, she knew it was her son having trouble with his nightmares.
She quietly snuck into Eric’s room, and found him moving around in bed, along with saying sone concerning things.
”No, no touch. I want mommy, I want my clyde frog. Stop, please.”
She had to watch patiently, she desperately wanted to wake Eric up and soothe him, but the doctors said that it’s not good to wake Eric up from nightmares.
About a couple minutes later, she saw Eric start to cry, the tears flowing down his cheeks.
As she sat quietly, Eric crumpled to the floor and stayed motionless for a while. She could tell he didn’t want to go back to bed on his own right now, so she carried him back to his bed. Halfway back to the bed, Eric jolted awake and started to cry again. He buried his head into his chest, it broke her heart to see her baby like this.
She put a hand on Eric’s hair, gently scratching and moving the hair in a way that was soothing.
“Shh, it’s okay poopsies, Mommy’s here. It was all a dream, they didn’t hurt you. Everything is alright, you’re safe.”
After three minutes of hair scratching, Liane put Eric back down on the bed, and she tucked him in with his beloved stuffed animals.
Eric started to stir. “D-don’t leave, mehm. Please stay.”
“Of course, sweetie.”
She climbed into Eric’s bed, only to find that right after, she felt her son’s chubby hands clasp onto her shirt tightly. She also noticed a sticky spot on Eric’s bed, which was causing a foul smell. Eric was still upset, and it made him even more upset if he wet the bed, but she had to tell him so she could help him.
“Sumsiekins?”
“Yes, mommy?”
“I think you wet the bed, sweetie, we’ll have to sleep in my bed tonight. I’m going to wash your bed tomorrow, okay?”
Eric started to whimper, he thought his mom was going to be mad at him for making his bed dirty.
“It’s okay, Eric. I’m not mad, you were just scared and couldn’t control your bladder. Can I carry you to my bed?”
Eric nodded, and Liane picked him up, softly rubbing his forehead and softly rocking him side to side.
Liane placed Eric’s stuffed animals on her bed, all at a reachable distance from her so she could give them to him.
It was 11 PM, she needed to get Eric back to sleep for school the next day, she knew the quickest solution.
“Do you want me to rub your tummy, poopsiekins?”
Cartman just nodded, he could feel the tears coming from his eyes.
Liane put her hand under Eric’s shirt on his tummy, rubbing it in circles, sometimes using that same hand to scratch his hair. She used her other hand to wipe her son’s tears away from his eyes and cheeks. He continued to sob as his mom was giving him all her love and support that she could.
“Mehm, what if they come back for me and do it again to me? I’m scared, I want the nightmares to stop, mama!”
“The men are not going to do anything to you ever again sweetie, I promise. Do you need me to hum to you?”
Eric couldn’t stop crying after that, she took that as a yes, and started to hum a soft lullaby to her baby boy. He was holding his green stuffed frog the whole time his mother was humming to him. He clutched onto the frog like it was a lifeline.
Cartman started to calm down, his cries starting to simmer and fade out. His breathing started to return to normal, but was still jittery and shaky.
After Liane finished humming, she kissed Eric on the forehead three times, one for each man that traumatized him and caused him to have those dreams.
“Goodnight, sweetiepie.” As Liane murmured those words, she wrapped her arms around Eric, in return, he reciprocated the hug. She would find other ways to help out with these nightmares tomorrow, but for now, she needed sleep.
She would probably have to deal with the nightmares again two hours later, but she knew exactly what to do.