“AHHHHHHHH!” 

 

   The scream came from the TV, filling the entire room. I stared, eyes wide, as the leading heroine proceeded to walk towards the abandoned house in search of the screamer. 

 

   “No, no, why would she even go?” I whimpered as I tugged on L.Joe’s t-shirt sleeve. 

 

   “Because if she didn’t, there would be no movie,” L.Joe grinned.

 

   “Well now she’s going to die!” I curled up into the fetal position and stared anxiously at the screen, where the girl was just now stepping into the darkness of the empty home.

 

   “If she died, there would be no movie either!” L.Joe glanced at me, amused.

 

   “How are you not scared at all? Something is going to pop up!”

 

   “How are you so scared? It’s fake!”

 

   I nudged him playfully with my elbow, before turning my attention back to the screen. Big mistake – the actress was exploring the washroom, and had just found a trail of water leading to the bath tub, which was overflowing with water.

 

   “Oh, no, no, no, something is going to pop up.” I shrunk in on myself, half blocking my field of vision, just in case something did pop up, and I had to hide quickly. 

 

   L.Joe chuckled and put an arm around my shoulder. “Come here, you’re being silly.”

 

   I quickly cuddled up beside him, placing one hand on his chest and folding my legs up on the couch. I peeked at the screen, watching the girl on screen walk towards the tub, and slowly peer into the dark water.

 

   “AHHHHHHH!” I screamed alongside the actress at the sudden pale hand that shot through the water, pulling her face-first into the tub. I stared, horrified, as an undead figure rose from the dark waters and stared back at me with holes for eyes. 

   I buried my face into L.Joe’s chest, refusing to look at the screen again. “Tell me when it’s over!” I cried, feeling his laughter rumble through his chest.

 

----

   “I can’t sleep,” I whined, looking up at L.Joe. We were lying in bed, cuddled up together, but I was still shaken from the horror movie. 

 

   “Hmm…just close your eyes,” he grumbled. I could tell that he was cranky.

 

   “When I close my eyes, I see that face!” I cried. “What if it comes for me...” I paused mid-sentence as L.Joe withdrew his arm, which was originally draped lazily over my hip, and turned over.

 

   “Just go to sleep!” He said, exasperated.

 

   I pouted at his back, hurt, before turning away also. Letting out a sigh, I lay there for another moment before sitting up, knowing that I wasn’t going to get a decent night of sleep anyways. Should I go watch some dramas, to distract myself? Read a book? I zoned out temporarily, scanning through my options.

 

   It was no use, it was already so late. If I did something else now, I’d stay up even later, just to come back to bed and be haunted by the thing’s empty eyes anyway. Plus, I’d have panda eyes the next morning. I lay back down again, trying to make little to no movement at all. With L.Joe already cranky, I didn’t want to annoy him by jostling him in his sleep.

 

   As soon as I finished carefully tugging the blanket over myself, L.Joe flipped quickly around, facing me again. He wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me against him and eliminating any space that was separating us. He lay his other arm above my head, my hair.

 

   “I’ll punch it out if it tries to steal you away from me,” he murmured, with his eyes still closed. “So don’t be scared, and try to sleep, okay?” He opened his eyes and gave me a sleepy, but reassuring, smile. 

 

   Any hurt that I previously felt instantly dissolved, and a smile automatically tried to stretch out on my face. I nodded meekly before snuggling into the crook of his neck.

 

   Feeling L.Joe’s hand tangled in my hair, his heavy breathing on my forehead, and his arm wrapped tightly against my waist, there was no way that I could feel any more protected.

 

   “Hey, sleepyhead,” I whispered, nudging his chin slightly with my head. 

 

   “Hmm?” He half groaned. I giggled, knowing that he was half asleep already.

 

   “I love you, you know?” I whispered, reaching up to give his jaw a peck.

 

   His eyes were still closed, but he grinned an adorable smile.

 

   “Go to sleep, you.”

 

   That night, I slept quite peacefully.