Arianne pulled the car to a stop and glanced at the dashboard mirror, looking at the twins who were safely strapped into their car seats. It was one of the things she and Franz had agreed to add to their vehicles. Even their driving speed had been set to no more than 60 kph.
She had attended therapy with them that morning.
Leo had been asleep on Layla's lap when the accident happened. He woke up in a hospital without his parents.
Since then, sleep had not been simple.
Leo had not said it directly during therapy. He didn't need to.
He associated sleep with loss. With waking into a world that had already changed without him.
Arianne had listened while the therapist spoke, her hands folded neatly in her lap. She had nodded at the right places.
But when Leo glanced at her during the session—just once—she understood the part that wasn't clinical.
He wasn't afraid of nightmares.
He was afraid of waking up and finding someone else gone.
