Can't Trust Summer

(5) Trouble Time

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Anna sat quietly at the kitchen table while she watched Linda prepare breakfast for Aris before heading off to work. Kurt was moving around with them slowly, gathering everything he needed for the workday. Anna wasn't sure why she was awake so early, but she felt tired as she sat there.

Aris made some noises every so often, pulling her attention from Linda momentarily. Anna tapped her foot on the ground, occasionally switching feet as she swallowed hard. She noticed that while Linda was preparing Aris' breakfast; she was pulling things out of kitchen drawers and placing them in new spots.

This immediately made her think about the new pictures she noticed. She wanted to cry on the spot, but held the tears back as her heart raced a little faster than normal. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, her eyes focusing solely on Linda now. She wanted to speak up - ask her to put things back in the place they had been, but she found the words stuck in the back of her throat and she couldn't force them out without sounding disrespectful.

Anna hated change. She noticed the little things - when things were out of place, when things were new, when things required necessary change... but what Linda was doing was bothering her - because the things she was moving around had remained in the same places for as long as she could remember. Long before Linda was ever in the picture.

"Anna, if you plan on going out today, can you please be a little more careful today?" Kurt asked his daughter.

"I always am." Anna cleared her throat, eyeing Linda as she switched the silverware drawer from right underneath the cabinet with all the plates and bowls, to the drawer near the microwave.

Kurt noticed his daughter watching his soon to be wife, and placed himself between the two so she was forced to look at him instead.

"There was another Sporix Beast sighting last night," he told her, "And I mean it when I say I want you to be more careful."

"I know." she nodded back.

"I mean it Anna. I want you to be checking in more often and don't go wandering off into places you don't know. I know you like the park and the library, but if you go anywhere else you need to tell me." Kurt enforced.

"Dad, I know. I'm not a little kid." she sighed.

"I know you're not," he sighed back, "But you are still a kid - and I worry about you. Even more now that there are literal monsters running around the city."

"I'll be more careful." she smiled, ensuring her father that she was hearing what he was saying.

"Make sure you take your medicine." he reminded her.

"Already did." she responded.

Her eyes flicked back over to Linda moving around, plating Aris' breakfast and then making sure it was cool enough for him to eat. Linda smiled, offering her some but she declined. She was never really a breakfast eater, but by lunch she'd be starving.

She had no real plans for the day other than going for a walk once Kurt and Linda had left for the day. Anna was thankful that she wasn't stuck watching Aris during her summer break, but she didn't mind it sometimes. She loved her little brother, but after the other night, she knew that she wouldn't be allowed to watch him for a while. Not if Linda had anything to do about it - even if the circumstances were out of her control.

Anna sighed as she sipped on a glass of apple juice. She noticed her dad tap Linda on the shoulder and then whispered something to her. She nodded back and Anna wondered what they were talking about. Then she met eyes with Linda, "Do you think you could do me a huge favor?"