The Lost Boys Daughter ✓ [COMPLETED]

CHAPTER 5

Ten year old Cerise...

DAVID

I just start to fall asleep after a long night, but I'm awakened by something small pushing on my shoulder.

"Dad? Hey dad, are you awake?"

I open my eyes to see Cerise just a few inches away.
"Cerise...are you alright? Why are you out of bed?" I ask concerned. She doesn't usually get out of bed unless something is wrong.

Cerise pinches the tips of her fingers, eyes looking everywhere but at me.
"I, had a nightmare. Can I sleep with you?"

"Aw," I open the blankets. "Sure."
She climbs in, getting comfy under the covers.
I wrap an arm around her. "You wanna talk about it?"

She shakes her head, pulling the blanket to her nose. I respect her decision. I hold her close. "You don't have to be scared love. I'm here...so is Marko, Paul, and Dwayne. We'll protect you, always."

I kiss her head. "I love you Cerise."
"Love you too," she whispers, closing her eyes. "Will you be here when I wake up?"
"Of course," I smile, "I'll always be here. Whenever you need me."
She smiles a little, and soon she's asleep. And so am I.

★★★

Twelve year old Cerise...

DAVID

"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Reese! Happy birthday to you!"

Marko and Paul set the cake down on the table in front of Cerise, who wears a newspaper party had that took me five tries to make.

"Make a wish sweetheart!" Marko sits beside her, leaning forward excitedly.
12 years ago today, Cerise became a part of our lives. She was an unexpected surprise, but I couldn't be happier.

Cerise takes a deep breath in, and blows all the candles out.
We cheer and clap.
"12 year old Reese today...man where did the time go?" Dwayne says, shaking his head in disbelief.

I couldn't agree more. It seems like yesterday she was a diaper wearing little baby.
Now, she's almost a teenager. Isn't that scary as hell?
"Now you get to open your presents! Here open mine first!" Paul hands her his gift.

Cerise smiles, tearing away at the newspaper wrapping paper. "Wow! Thank you Paul!" She gets up and hugs him.
"Your welcome sweetie."
"Hold it up in the air! Let us see!"

She holds up a silver chain necklace with four charms on the front.
One is a heart, the other a bat, the third a skull, and the fourth a knife.

Paul's been working forever to make that. We don't have an income of money, but we all wanted to give her the best birthday.
We homemade all the gifts, but we stole the cake.

She puts it on and wears it proudly. "This'll look great with my leather jacket," she squeals. I smile softly.

"My turn," Marko her hands her a patch. "Happy birthday, Reese."
Reese...we started calling her that after we discovered her love for Reese's Pieces candy. It's funny, and it suits her perfectly.

The patch Marko gave has a red heart with a black butterfly resting on it, and the backdrop is black.
"I'll help you sew it on later," Marko winks.
She hugs him. "I love it! Thank you."
He blushes.

Dwayne hands her his gift. It's a hand written story that took him about two weeks to write and draw.
"Remember how we wanted to write a comic about Garfield, but he's a vampire?"
"Yeah!" She says happily.
"Well there it is! Happy birthday!"

She gives him his hug. "Thank you so much! I can't wait to read it."

And now it's my turn...

I hand her a black leather book. "And this is from me. I hope you like it."
Paul, Marko, and Dwayne lean in closer to see what it is.

She opens it, and the first page says, 'Cerise's memory book'.
She flips the pages, and there's pictures of all of us.
A picture of her being held by Dwayne as a baby. He's sitting on the fountain, staring into the camera, not smiling. But you can see that he's happy.

Then there's another picture of her at the age of four. She's in between Paul and Marko, and they're making funny faces while doing the devil horns with there fingers on there heads.

And there's one of her and me. She's sitting on my chair, and I'm behind it, resting my arms on the handles as we both smile at the camera.

"Wow..." She flips through all the pages before her eyes raise to look at me.
"Happy birthday darling."
She runs to me, squeezing me tightly.
"I love it so much," she breaks the hug to look at them, "I love you all."

Paul holds a hand over his heart, and Marko smiles.
"We love you too," they say at the same time.
Then we all gather to do a group hug.

Paul rushes over and turns the stereo on, and the four of them dance.
I sit and watch.
Marko takes Cerise's hand, spinning her before she is passed to Dwayne.
I can't help but smile watching them all.

We're not your ordinary family, but I couldn't ask for anything better.
My best friends, my brothers...
And our little girl.

★★★

Fourteen year old Cerise...

DAVID

"Okay Cerise! Give it a little gas."
She revs the engine softly. We're all outside on our bikes. Just a few days back we got Cerise her very own bike so that she can ride with us. And this is her very first time trying it.

I feel like crying a little...she's grown so much. Where's my little girl gone?
She smiles, pushing aside a loose strand of hair that came out of her braid. "I think I'm ready!"

"We'll go slow, so that you can get a feel for it," Marko says, gently giving his bike some gas and riding away.
Dwayne and Paul follow, but I stay behind to watch Cerise.

She's going to slow, its messing with her balance.
"Go a little faster!" I say, speeding up a little. She does, and soon she's balanced off and is driving with confidence.

I laugh. "There you go!"
She's giggling, and she speeds up more.

"That's too fast!" I say, but she's already way ahead of me, screaming in joy.
I give my bike some gas and fly down the beach. She's caught up with the others, and they all are laughing their asses off.

"We got ourselves a natural!" Paul shouts over the roar of engines.
We certainly do...
I smirk at her. "Your doing great Lost Girl!"

She laughs, the wind blew her braid loose and her hair is flying everywhere.
She looks so free in this moment, so happy...
We drive for hours, until the sun begins to rise and until we retreat to our little cave home.