Riley awoke in the middle of the night to a terrifying sound outside of her door. It was her first week sleeping in her new room. Her brother, Jesse, gave his room to Riley for her sixth birthday present. The room was the biggest but it also had a door that led to the backyard. What Riley did not know was that anytime she would hear any sort of noise outside she would assume it was a monster. Luckily for Riley she could always count on her older brother to save her from the monster. When she built up the courage to get out of her bed she went straight to get Jesse.
"Jesse? Jesse? JESSE!"
"Riley? What’s wrong? Are you okay?"
"No, there's a monster outside." Jesse rolled his eyes. He knew how scared Riley could get. At least twice a week Riley would be convinced that there was a monster in her room. Jesse always would help Riley but he did not enjoy being woken up in the middle of the night.
"Riley, there are no monsters. Go to bed."
"No, I know there's something out there this time. I heard…"
“Riley it was just a bad dream. Just go back to bed.”
“But Jesse,” When Jesse looked at Riley she looked like she was going to cry. Riley could get away with anything because of her puppy dog eyes. Jesse hated it but he could not help but fall into her trap.
When Jesse got into Riley’s room he went to open the door before Riley screamed, “Wait, you need this!” Riley handed Jesse her tennis racquet. Sure she forced Jesse to fight monsters, but she never let him go into battle unarmed.
When Jesse opened the door to go outside he heard the noise Riley was talking about. Jesse looked around in alarm for the source of the noise. When he did not find it he thought he must have imagined it. Right as he was going to go back inside he stepped on something and it screamed.
“Jesse did the monster get you?!”
“No Riley,” But Jesse was not so sure. He was terrified of what he would see when he looked down for the source of the noise. But when he looked down he started to laugh.
“Jesse? Was it the tickle monster? I want to see… Kitty!” Riley ran outside to grab the cat that was sitting at her brother’s feet. Jesse stopped her before she could pet the it.
“Riley you should not pet animals you just meet.”
“But I love kitties!”
“You can love the cat but you cannot pet her yet.”
“But what if she gets cold? I know!” Riley went back into her room to grab a blanket from her bed. When she came back she put the blanket right on top of the cat, which to Jesse’s surprise did not run away but snuggled under the blanket.
“Okay Riley, let’s go back inside and go to bed.”
“But what if the kitty gets thirsty?”
“She won’t Riley, she’ll go right to sleep like you should,” Jesse was trying to shoo Riley back into her room but she would not budge.
“You should go get her a bowl of milk.”
“No Riley. Go to bed.”
“Pretty pretty please?”
“All right fine. But you need to get in bed.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you! Jesse?”
“What else could you possibly want?” All Jesse wanted to do was go back to bed.
“Do you think mommy and daddy will let us keep the kitty?”
“Absolutely not,” Jesse knew it really hurt Riley’s feelings when he was short with her, so he was not surprised to see her tearing up when he looked over at her. “But maybe if you are really good and ask really nicely they will say yes. I’m going to get the milk. You go to bed, okay?”
“Okay! And Jesse…”
“What?”
“I love you!”
Jesse walked over to give Riley a hug, “I love you more than you love me.”
“I love you infinity!”
“I love you one more than you love me!” The “I Love You More” game was Riley’s favorite game to play. Jesse and her would play it at least three times a day. “Now go to bed.”
When Jesse came back from getting the milk he found Riley fast asleep. Although he hated being woken up he loved his little sister and was glad to help her. When he turned off her room light and was closing her door he heard a whispered, “I love you more.”