On the fourth night Bridget could still hear the same murmurs coming from Bianca's room. She had thought Bianca had played too much the previous nights to have made her talk while sleeping, but then she seemed to repeat the same words and particularly Bianca had not gone out to play today. She was worried for Bianca, but at the same time curious about who James was that she kept calling every night.
Bianca was Bridget's niece, she had visited her for the summer holiday. She was 18 and she loves to play. Luckily her Aunt's neighbor had children her age mate whom she played with when she's back from school.
"I'm worried about Bianca" Bridget called Bianca's mum the next morning, "she talks while sleeping, sometimes she's loud and sometimes she seems to mumble the words under her breath". Her voice filled with concern.
"Since she turned 17, she talks while sleeping, " Bianca's mum replied.
"And what have you done about it?" Bridget asked, curious as to why her mum had overlooked it all this while.
"Mmm..."
Before she could speak, Bridget cut her short, "You assume it's her nature?" She knew her sister to always believe in natural occurrence and this was no different.
She sighed and paused for a moment,
"Mum told us she sleep-talked when she was a child," She said, trying to defend it.
"But it was just for a month," Bridget retorted immediately. They went silent for another minute before Bridget broke in, "I'll talk to her and find out if it's a nightmare or something I can help".
"Thank You sister, I'll hope to hear from you again on what you find out" she replied and soon the call hung up.
Early the next morning after the usual family devotion, Bridget asked Bianca to stay back. It was unusual but Bianca remained calm wondering what her aunt was about to tell her. She was already dozing off when a soft tap on her shoulder woke her up.
"How was your night?" Bridget asked while trying to observe her reaction.
"Fine Aunt" she answered, rather too simple. She didn't know what she expected to hear but the answer wasn't enough to get her to the point she was heading to.
"Did you have any strange dreams? Like do you see anything unusual?".
Bianca stayed silent and gaze at her Aunt as if trying to observe if she can trust her.
"Trust me, I wouldn't say it to anyone. Do you always see something or someone in your dream?"
Bianca nodded without saying a word. Bridget sighed, she was gradually heading somewhere she thought.
"So tell me" trying to persuade her to talk, because only until then would a solution be found.
"I see James come to me every night asking me to come play with him" she finally opened up.
Bridget's face glowed , she was beginning to understand why she consistently mentioned James.
"Who's James?" She asked almost immediately, trying to be as calm as she could be.
"A boy in my school, '' she answered. It was okay to dream with a boy from school due to the usual children's play, it would only be wrong if she had continually called his name the whole time she started to sleep talk.
"You can go and sleep, '' Bridget told her. Immediately she dialed Bianca mum's phone number and related to her all her daughter said, but one thing she wanted to confirm was if she had mentioned the name all the time she sleep-talked.
"No, it started recently, but the entire moment she seemed to be struggling to accept someone's invitation and she never opened up to anyone the few times we asked and I assumed it was the same case with mum" the feeling of guilt enveloped her. Maybe she hasn't been a good mum. She thought, "Help me find a solution to this," she begged.
Bianca was called upon a few days later where she was asked to narrate how she met James and it happened that James had shared some of his sweets with her and had tried to bewitch her through them. Bianca's mum called the authorities and narrated every part of the story and the school authority called James' mum and beseeched them to come. At first it was hard for them to accept the allegations but with much pressure, James agreed that he had bewitched the sweets given to Bianca and had tried to initial her into a court.
"So what's the remedy?" They asked James who stood all puffed up with his face tightened
"She'll get me a pack of sweets as a replacement,"he said. A pack of sweets was provided for him and the school authority expelled him from the school to avoid the same occurrence in the future. Bianca after that night was not heard sleep-talking again. Bianca's mum appreciated Bridget who had helped uncover the problem and find a solution to it.