𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋 | 𝟏𝟖+

𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐘 | 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐑

ততততত

𝐓 𝐎 𝐁 𝐈 𝐍

𝐓𝐄𝐍 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒 𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐑

"Where is my little bundle of chaos?" I call, wandering through our empty abode, cautiously checking under tables for her.

An innocent giggle from my upstairs bedroom sings through the silence. She can never stay still or silent, yet still begs me to play hide and seek with her. Although, she always does the hiding and I do the seeking.

You see, my mother left to go collect some produce from the market, and my father's due to return home from his spontaneous trip to Lagulon at any time. Once he comes back, I'm off to the royal castle to act as a guard for the evening. It's the most meticulous, boring, dumbass job. Thankfully, the sector I have for the evening is the west wing courtyard—far from that goddamn hell where I found myself a week ago.

They assigned me to be a watchguard to ease me back into the militia's routine. The whipping scars still haven't fully healed, and my back will be bloody stiff, but hey, all I have to do is walk in circles with a sword.

I swing open my bedroom door, only to find it completely empty.

"Come out, Aspen," I grin, wandering towards the closet doors with caution.

In a blaze, I swing them open, only to find them empty of my younger sister.

Another giggle erupts from behind me as the window flings open. I spin my head, only to catch Aspen climbing like a goddamn monkey over the ledge and onto a branch of a nearby tree.

Fear shoots through me like a shot. "Aspen!"

She giggles as she climbs towards the trunk. "You can't catch me!"

"Get the fuck down from there!"

"Momma told you not to say that," she chides. Gods, she's a six-year-old disaster waiting to occur.

I inspect the branch that brushes by my window. If I climb on it, the whole fucking thing will snap into two. But not for Aspen. The world is hers, and she embraces it with open arms.

"For fuck's sakes," I mutter, watching her as she climbs along the thick branch until she hugs the rough bark of the tree's trunk. "You're gonna fall and break an arm!"

She sticks her tongue out at me, then starts climbing higher. Damn it.

"Aspen! This isn't part of the game!"

"Are you scared?" she laughs. Those two large golden doe eyes gaze at the window where I stand. Her mess of chestnut curls breeze against her flushed cheeks in the wind, but only for a moment as she shakes them to the side and continues upward.

There isn't a bone in her body that's afraid of anything—spiders, storms, heights, blood. She only fears losing what she loves most: her family. I'm not even sure she fears losing our parents.

I think it might just be her fear of losing me, which will never happen.

I swear I'll love my little bundle of chaos until the end of time.

Looking up, I come to one simple conclusion: Aspen ain't coming down from the tree, and no amount of yelling will stop that little hurricane.

I scramble from my room, run down the flight of stairs, and enter into the small yard outside my bedroom window. By now, Aspen enters treacherous territory on that goddamn tree. The branches thin out, and the trunk wobbles side to side in the wind. Still, she clambers higher and higher.