Sometimes, Nick would come into my room at night after a nightmare. He would come in and tap my shoulder. I would wake up and see that he had been crying. He would ask if he could sleep next to the bed and I would nod my head yes. He would set his blanket on the floor and fall asleep.

 

One night he had a really bad nightmare and came to my room.

 

"Rachel." He said softly. "I had a bad dream. It was worse then the others" he said. I could see he was shaking. I looked around and the other girls were still sleeping. I sat up and he sat on the bed.

 

"Wanna tell me about it?" I whispered. He shook his head no. He always told me his dreams so I knew this one was bad. I put my arm around him. I told him I would be right back because nature called. When I came back he was asleep on my bed. I covered him up and fell asleep next to him. He was gone before anyone awoke the next day.

 

At the orphange we have a small party for everyones birthday. On Nick's we had some cake and some music. Since none of us really had money we mostly would make things or buy something with the little money we had. I was able to get him a picture frame and put a picture of me and him into it. He loved it. 

That night, after the party, I walked in to Nick's room to give him the last piece of cake. I walked in and he was standing by the window looking out. He didn't even hear me come in. As I walked closer to him I could tell he was crying. I could see the tears running down his face.

"Are you ok?" I asked softly. Nick slowly looked over at me.

"I miss my mom and dad." He whispered and looked down. He went and laid down on the bed. I put the cake down on the night table and sat on the end of the bed. I wasn't sure what to do because I didn't know what it was like to miss someone. So I just sat there. Hoping that just me being there would help him. Now that I look back on it, I know it did.

My birthday was soon after Nick's in Febuary. This was also my first birthday with out my parents but I really didn't mind it. I actually had fun this time. I wasn't hit or yelled at and I actually got gifts! I was given little things that would seem dumb to other kids that lived in normal places but meant a lot to me. Nick's gift meant the most to me though. He gave me a scrapbook of pictures that Mrs. Bradshaw had taken of us. Not only did it have pictures of us in it but he drew around the pictures and he wrote lines from songs in there too. It was the best gift. To this day I still have that book. I brought it everywhere with me.

"That picture you gave me for my birthday gave me the idea to do this." He said smiling after he gave it to me.

"It's the best Nick! I love it!" I said back smiling.

........................................

A few days later we were listening to the radio and Nick started to sing along. That's when I knew he could sing.

"You're really good!" I said when the song is over. He blushed a bit.

"Nah." He smiled the looked down and giggled.

"Yea you are." I said giggling back. "I bet you will be a famous singer on day."

"I wish. That would be so cool!" Nick said jumping on to the bed.