A NIGHTMARE

 

One day when I came home I saw my father holding a baby in his arms. I was not surprised. Walking into my parents’ bedroom I found mum carrying a younger baby in her arms too. It occurred to me that the babies were my brothers. The realisation did not trouble me in the beginning. When I asked father to cook for me, however, he asked me to go to my mother. When I turned to mother, she was too preoccupied with the baby to notice me. Feeling left out, I went to my room to do my homework. The more I thought about it, the more I believed that I was nothing more than air, because I seemed not to exist in my parents’ eyes. They no longer loved me, and I was virtually a homeless child. After a few minutes I realised that I was an only child of my family. I didn’t know when my mother had given birth to the new babies. Then I woke up.

 

Before I had the bad dream, I thought that the reason I did not want my parents to have a second child was that they would have more pressure. After the dream, I now come to see that the reason under the surface is that I want all my parents’ love. I would not share it with a sibling.