

Lily and Ben were playing hide and seek in the park. Lily was the seeker and Ben was the hider. Lily counted to ten and then opened her eyes. She looked around for Ben, but she could not see him. She heard a noise behind a big tree. She ran to the tree and shouted, "I found you, Ben!"
But it was not Ben. It was a big dog with brown fur and a long tail. The dog barked at Lily and wagged its tail. Lily was scared and ran away. She forgot about Ben and the game. She wanted to find her mom.
Ben was hiding under a slide. He heard Lily scream and the dog bark. He wondered what happened. He waited for Lily to come back and find him, but she did not. He felt lonely and sad. He wanted to play with Lily. He wanted to hear her voice.
He crawled out from under the slide and looked for Lily. He saw her running to her mom, who was sitting on a bench. He followed her and called her name. Lily heard Ben and turned around. She saw him and smiled. She ran to him and hugged him. She said, "I'm sorry, Ben. I was scared of the dog. It reminded me of the bad dog that bit me once. Are you mad at me?"
Ben shook his head and said, "No, I'm not mad. I was worried about you. I'm glad you're okay. The dog was not bad. It was just clumsy. It wanted to play with you, too. But I understand. Sometimes I'm scared of things that remind me of bad things, too. Like the dark and the silence. They remind me of the night when the storm came and the lights went out."
Lily nodded and said, "I don't like the dark and the silence, either. They make me feel alone. But we're not alone. We have each other. And we have our mom. She loves us and protects us. She's not scared of anything."
Ben and Lily hugged their mom and thanked her for being there. They decided to play a different game, one that did not involve hiding or dogs. They played tag and laughed and had fun. They forgot about their fears and enjoyed their day. They were happy.
