In-Class Exercise #1

           She experienced her first nightmare at age eight. She awoke in the middle of the night, sheets wet from sweat. The room was blanketed in shadow; the night light was removed from her room a few days prior.

           "You're eight now," her mother said as she held the bulb in her hand, too high for the girl to reach. "You're a Big Girl now."

           Trembling in the dark, clutching her blanket, she had never wanted anything more than to not be Big. But, because she was no longer Little, she kept her lips clenched as tight as her fists. She didn't call out for Stephen, because he was in high school now. She didn't want to bother her brother with something so small; he had a big test tomorrow.