The Darkness

Chapter 16

"Ms. Celeste, Ms. Celeste play Dora the Explorer again!" Janey excitedly jumping up and down on the stage much to the horror of the boys.

"Ughh! Not again, she has played that like a gagillon times!" Steven balked at the idea of hearing the little kid song again.

"Hey if my little sister wants to hear Dora the Explorer again, then she can." Robbie warned.  Aww that's so sweet to see him being protective over his little sister.

I laughed as I launched into the theme song for Dora the Explorer for the twentieth time.  The girls running around chasing the boys and singing along to the notes I played. "One more song then that will be all for the day, but everyone must agree on the song." The kids huddled as they loudly whisper their choices and briefly arguing what everyone could accept as their last song for the day.

After a heated debated, they all shouted, "Spongebob Square Pants!" This had to be the second most requested song behind Dora. I began the childhood melody and all the kids started marching around the piano shouting out the words they all knew by heart.

The past hour and a half was the most entertaining time I've had in over a year.  The joy and exuberance was infectious bringing me out a bout of darkness that threaten to swallow me whole earlier.  I knew that after today this would be one of my favorite pastime here at the compound.

After the song, the kids gave me hugs and kisses and promises to return tomorrow.  Before leaving I made them promise to keep our rendezvous a secret so that we would not be interrupted.  I knew it was wrong of me to tell them to keep our meeting secret, but this was something that I needed.  I crave the genuine love that I got from the kids, even though I didn't deserve it. 

Restoring the piano to its original state, I pulled the back lid of the piano down and then move to the front to close the lid over the keys.

"Ms. Celeste."

I turned to see that Janey and Robbie waited at the bottom of the stairs of the stage while the others had already left.

"Hi Robbie, what do you need?"

Robbie grabbed Janey's hand and ushered her up the stairs stopping a couple feet away from me.

"I wanted to ask you if you could teach Janey how to play the piano? She really wants to learn."

I smiled and crouched down to Janey's level looking into her big brown eyes. "Do you want to learn?'

Her head bobbed furiously with a lopsided grin on her face. "I really want to learn." I glanced up at Robbie.

"We can start tomorrow after the others leave."  I stood up and Robbie held out his hand.  I grinned at his manly gesture and shook his hand. Janey squealed her excitement hugging my legs. I patted her back and sunk back down to give her a hug.

"Thank you, Ms. Celeste." Robbie tugged on Janey to leave.

"You welcome."

I decided after leaving the theater that I wanted to be useful.  So I headed to the kitchen to help with preparing dinner.  The women gave me warm welcomes and Tracy threw me an apron. As dinner approached my nerves escalated to the point that I thought I would hyperventilate.  I needed to calm down, it was just dinner.  I've been on plenty of dates before, so I couldn't figure out why I was so nervous eating dinner with Colin. 

"That is it for you." Tracy announced pulling me away from my prepping station and untying the apron.  I begrudgingly handed over the apron only for it to be replace with a covered tray. "Dinner for you and Colin. Now scoot."

"But I haven't finished." Stalling and trying to put off the inevitable.

"We got it covered. Never keep a man waiting for his food." she gave me a gentle push out of the kitchen and I sighed heavily.  Well here goes nothing. I walked the familiar route to the hospital wing of the house  thanking everyone who held the door open for me as I went. I didn't hesitate this time in front of his door but use my backside to push it open.  The sight in front of me almost made me drop the tray on the floor, because standing in front of me was a fully naked and totally drool worthy, Colin Wright.