"Honey? Aren't you going to wake up? My baby?"
The voice was so soft, familiar and impossibly warm that Soren's eyelids fluttered before he even understood why. He blinked against the gentle light filtering through the room, and there—sitting beside him on the edge of the bed was his mother.
Her hand glided over his cheek with that same careful tenderness he remembered from childhood, her fingers brushing aside strands of his hair as though nothing in the world had changed. She looked exactly as she always had in his memories.
She has gentle smile, soft eyes filled with warmth and her presence was wrapping around him like a blanket he had long been denied.
"Mom…?"
"Hmm? Did you have a bad dream?" she whispered, her voice dripping with gentle concern. "Aww, my poor baby…"
Her embrace tightened, warm and protective. She also patted his back with her steady and reassuring touch. Everything he had yearned for in moments he convinced himself he didn't need anyone.
