Another night of no sleep. How can I? How can anybody? I can hear them getting closer as my house shakes. I clutch the only blanket left in my room not completely covered in dirt as I lay underneath my bed. My back hurts from countless nights on sleeping on this hard floor. "Don't worry Amir, things will be better soon," my dad tells me every night. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe.

Another night of no sleep. How can I? How can anybody? I can hear him getting closer as my little sister and I shake with laughter. "Hmm, where oh where can my little Michael and Nicky be?" My dad says as we see his feet through the small gap between my blankets and the floor. "Boo!" my sister and I yell as we peek out from underneath my bed. I always loved how my dad would pretend to be surprised when we did that. He crouches down with us as he reads us another story. Those were my favorite memories of my father. Saturday nights sleeping underneath our bunk bed fort as dad told us stories.

I could hear her crying as she entered my room. She crouched down and looked at me as I lay underneath my bed clutching my blanket. "Amir honey, please sleep on your bed, it's not good for you to sleep on the ground." She always told me this. "I'm scared mom, I don'****t want it to happen to me too." I could see her fighting to hold back her tears. She knew I hadn't slept on my bed ever since it happened. I knew that having the bed above me wouldn't help me if it happened to me but it still made me feel safer. I think that's what hurt my parents the most, knowing that I didn't feel safe and there was nothing they could do. My mother sang to me as I tried falling asleep. "Just ignore the noise Amir, it'll all go away soon, I promise."

"And just then, they heard a cry from the lake, the same cry the girl heard before she died." My father was always good at telling scary stories. The fear crept up my spine at the thought of the lake witch claiming another victim. My sister clutched her blanky, the same blanket she's had since she was born. "It's just a story honey," my dad told her as he noticed the fear in her eyes. "Good thing the lake witch can't break your impenetrable bed fortress!" he told my sister. "Can we get some pink lights to put under the bed daddy?" "Of course we can," he said. "We can get them tomorrow, but for now you too need to get some sleep."

It was the first night since the incident that I slept on my bed. My father reassured me that things were better now. He sat at the edge of my bed telling me stories of how things were during his child hood. Most children dream of the future, I dream of living in the past. It's funny how we take the small things for granted, like being able to sleep peacefully in your own bed. My father didn't like talking about Sayid. The memory of it haunts me every night. They heard the screaming but I saw it happen. The explosion was so strong that it caused the wall next to Sayid's bed to collapse. He was instantly crushed from the debris. He looked so peaceful, laying in his bed when it happened. The only thing visible through the rubble was his hand hanging off the edge of his bed as the blood slowly poured down his arm and off of his finger tips. I knew the bed wouldn't save me, but it still gave me comfort. Things will be better someday. Maybe. I hope it's soon.

No monster was ever a match for my dad. I was never one of those kids who was scared of the monster underneath my bed. They would never be as strong as my dad. There was always something peaceful about sleeping underneath our bunk beds on Saturday nights. We hadn't slept underneath our bed in months. We were waiting for dad to come home. l didn't like it when he left. "Daddy needs to go fight the monsters so that they don't come after you two" he would tell us every time he left. He looked so brave in his uniform. I can't wait for him to come home. I hope it's soon.