Louie.

I never knew Louie sleep walked.

At least not until I woke up in the middle of the night when a hand touched my shoulder and would not stop shaking me. At first I felt the annoyance bubble up in me. There was only one person who would dare to bother me.

"Go away," I said, looking at the blue paint on the wall in front of me. There was no response and the hand kept shaking my arm.

"Go bug Loraine," I growled but still the stupid kid said nothing.

I turned over and looked up at him, ready to refuse any of his request but then I realized that his eyes were closed and gibberish was coming out of his mouth.

I laid there for a minute or two, not completely sure if I was right or not. I tried to listen to the words coming out of his mouth but none of it made any sense. He was definitely not blinking either.

I was so shocked. Because this one hit so close.

I had grown use to him coming into to my room searching for comfort from a nightmare but never had he come in sleep walking.

My brain desperately tried to think up a reaction but came up blank.

I just looked at him, eyes closed and hair a mess. He still continued shaking my shoulder, dressed in Buzz Lightyear pajamas. My brain started a mini battle, one side trying to think of something mean to do to him and the other wanting to just send him back to his bed.

I bit the inside of my bottom lip and slowly sat up. My body moved on its own accord and pushed the blankets off of me and stood up.

I felt so odd as I leaned down and whispered into his ear.

"Let's go back to bed, Louie," I said firmly still not completely grasping the fact of what I was doing.

The five-year-old stopped babbling and just nodded his head, allowing me to guide him out of my room and back to his own. I carefully maneuvered him around his toys, resisting the urge to cuss when I stepped on a few Leggos.

Louie quietly climbed back into his bed, while I just watched, furiously biting the inside of my lip, not knowing what to do.

Part of me wanted to tuck him in and kiss his forehead, or grab that stupid orange fox plush he always carried around and put it next to him. Another part of me wondered if I should just settle on plugging in his nightlight, but I did neither of the suggestions and made my way back to my own room.

As I passed my step sisters' rooms I caught a glimpse of Loraine hugging her body pillow in her room, and Beatrice sprawled across her the bottom bunk of her bed, with her glasses crookedly still on her face. I rolled my eyes, hearing Lizbeth's light snores coming from the top bunk.

I turned into my room and flopped back onto my bed.

A part of me was angry at myself for allowing me to do something nice for Louie. But another, more smaller and timid, part was swelling with triumph because I helped make sure Louie ended up somewhere safe when he sleep walked. Even though my mother never did that for me.