Tristan lay in bed dreaming. He found himself at school on a the second floor, which he was fairly sure must have always existed. The young arctic fox accepted this had always been the case while secretly wondering if there was something special about it. The halls were lined with bookshelves, lockers, pictures and trophy cases which he walked past with some but not too much interest. There was a crowd of taller cubs near him who he figured were his classmates, but none seemed to get in the young arctic fox’s way as they were quick to move from his path as they approached and then passed. He looked behind for a moment and looked forward again to find the cubs and bookshelves were suddenly gone and replaced by the seafoam painted brick walls periodically interrupted by french gray painted door frames and doors. Tristan tilted his head and continued, drawn in by the nearly empty hallway. He looked back again at where his class was and found they were gone and replaced by the emptiness in front of him. Doors that had been open to other rooms were no longer there. The walls just continued on uninterrupted now, and the pale green paint was chipped in places where underneath an eggshell could be seen.
	In the real world the kit unknowingly pressed and rubbed his muzzle against his pillow, while in his dream Tristan walked down the hall and found the disappearance of people and things upsetting. Turning around in a bit of a panic to see what was happening, he decided to go down the hall at a bit of a run which he found made no difference and he might as well have been standing. His steps felt very light like he wasn’t making contact with the floor at all. Another uneasy feeling came over him before he noticed there was a hole in the floor in front of him that he couldn’t help but fall into. He saw a waterfall and cursed because he should have known to look out for it. The frightened kit yipped in surprise as suddenly the dream light faded into darkness.
In that darkness Tristan rediscovered the waking world with a dull thump against the carpeted floor with the entire school disappearing just like the people and objects did moments ago. The flustered child fell out of his bed while holding onto his big, brown teddy bear he named Kester. It wasn’t a long fall, but it was enough to startle the young fox kit. After that, the boy noticed a familiar, warm, wet sensation in the crotch of his diaper and sighed. Of course he was pissing himself, he thought sarcastically. Having to wear diapers wasn’t something he was particularly proud of, but lately he’d felt slightly ashamed. The feeling spread slowly as his weak bladder drained.
	Tristan stayed still and held onto Kester while his nerves settled down. It was still dark out, but that was all the indication of time the little kit had since his alarm clock was sitting on the bedside table above him. He inhaled through his nose and rubbed his eyes sleepily with his paws before getting to his feet. He still held onto the bear as he pulled open the door and waddled out into the hallway and down the stairs. His waddle was half out of grogginess and half from the swelling and sagging between the kit’s thighs. He reached out to the railing in the dimly lit stairway and managed to descend to the bottom. In the silence of the home the creaking of the stairs seemed loud to him, just slightly louder than the crinkling sound his waist made.
	The eight year old lily passed by his father’s luggage in the living room as he made his way to Mommy’s room. He knocked gently and listened for a response only to hear slow,steady breathing from the other side of the door. He knocked again and opened the door timidly to poke his nose inside. It was dark inside the room, the only source of light were from the small lights a closed laptop on the bed and the alarm clock. It was around three in the morning.
	Tristan approached the king size bed, and in the darkness he could see the hills and valleys of a blanket only about halfway up the bed before seeing the sleeping bodies of his parents. He continued his approach and placed his paw on the end of the bed and tugged the blanket only to have it fall down from the two adult fox’s hips.
The boy’s heart jumped as he heard one of them stir and turn over with a groan. The young fox bit his lip and hugged his teddy bear closer. “Mommy?” He called in a voice just over a whisper. He got a short grunt in reply. “Mommy, I can’t sleep.” The kit said. He waited for a reply but none came for a while.
Tristan was going to try to get her attention again when he heard one of them groan again, this time with words. “Tristan, what are you doing in here?” Nancy asked flatly. She didn’t seem too upset with him being there so much as she was to be awake at that moment.
He just blushed and was looking to her out of the corner of his eye. “Mama, I can’t sleep. I had a bad dream.” The vixen just huffed. “Can Kester and I sleep with you tonight?”