Elsie Taylor knew nothing more than the life that involved the constant moving around. She had always thought that it was normal to not have a place to call home, as she was too young to understand what was really going on.
"I knew nothing more tha...
"What's yours?" she questioned, finally lifting her head up from the crook of her neck as she wiped her eyes. I gently moved her hands away from her face as I wiped the tears that had dripped down onto her cheeks. "It's Oliver, but you can call me Ol" I said, trying to give her the nicest smile that I could possibly muster. It had gotten harder to smile as the days went on, but with Elsie, it seemed to come naturally.
"What about Ollie?" she questioned, reaching towards my chain that I had around my neck. It was a gift that my mother had left Henry to give to me for my 16th Birthday. She was supposed to stick around, but she couldn't just like I knew that my father couldn't stick around when he left us 8 years ago. "Only for you" I smiled again, bopping her nose with my finger causing her to giggle and smile.
I felt accomplished, knowing that I had gotten this little girl to not only stop crying, but to smile and giggle. When her giggles had died down, she turned, looking at a sleeping Ezra, before I watched her attention drift towards the gas station that we had stopped at. There was a McDonald's attached, which is where I had hoped the rest of my brothers had disappeared too.
I watched as Elsie seemed to contemplate asking me something, but I gave her time. I gave her all the time that she would need, before I watched her back down and decide not to ask, while her eyes were still trained on the people carrying bags out of the McDonald's. "Are you hungry?"
The question slipped past my lips right as I heard her stomach growl, causing a blush to creep up on her cheeks. I just laughed quietly at her, before leaning down to zip up the jumper she had on. It was then that I noticed that she had a few splatters of what it looked to be blood. I had to hope that that was not her blood, let alone the blood of someone that she loved and was dear to her.
She nodded to my question, while watching me zip up her jumper. It wasn't winter, but it was early in the morning and Elsie was wearing thin clothes, and I did not want to be the cause of her getting sick when she was returned back to her parents. She did not deserve to get sick. I pulled her closer to my body, as I slid across to Jack's seat, as I opened the door, tucking her even closer to my body, as I climbed out of the car.
Shutting the door behind me, I started my walk towards the McDonald's. I had never been so happy in my life to have seen a McDonald's. The fast food place was on the bottom of my favorite food places, but right now, it seemed to be holding a place quiet high up on my list, just like this little girl was holding the top position of favorite people to be around.
This little girl was already changing my life around and I was not sure how I was going to deal with her leaving for her parents. She had parents, and I didn't. She had people to go back too, just like I had my brothers to fall back on when I needed them and when they needed me so that they could fall back onto someone that would them close.
"Ollie?" the little girl whispered, as I felt her hold onto my shoulders as tightly as she possibly could, while taking a look down at the ground. I pulled her tighter before responding. "Yeah, Elsie?" She paused for a moment, before saying what she needed to say. "I am up so high" her little giggle came through, making me laugh a little as well.
"Yeah, you are" this was what happened when you came from a family with tall genes. All of my brothers were extremely tall, none of us being below 6 foot. I was one of the shorter ones, barely making it to six foot one. "'s scary" she whispered, and it sounded like she didn't want to me to hear her say anything. It was like she didn't want me to change what I was doing for her.
"I've got you" I murmured back, pulling her into my body as close as I possibly could, hoping that that could help her. I only got a hum in response, so I decided to just gently push her head into the crook of my neck, so that she wouldn't have to look how high up she was. Maybe she was afraid of heights, but this was unusual.
Any of the children that I have had to pick up at the hockey camps that our school runs for the younger children in the nearby elementary school were not nearly as scared as Elsie is. The smaller ones were always happier when we got them away from the bigger kids of their grades. There had once been a little girl that was actually quiet like Elsie, but she wasn't scared.
Matter of fact, the girl looked the same as Elsie, but a little younger at the time. She looked to be the youngest of her age group, but she only turned up to a few of the training camps and never made it into my group. After that, she never reappeared. No one knew that she had ever been there, but I knew.
I should dig that photo up some time, and have a look. Maybe even show it to Elsie if she knew if it was her, but it couldn't be. We were a solid 6 hours away from home, there was no way that a girl like Elsie could have possible been back where we live. There was no way that she could have been out here, or wherever we were now.
I opened the McDonalds with my foot, before gently pulling Elsie back up as I searched for my other brothers. Within a matter of seconds, I had searched my brothers out. I walked over, Henry instantly getting up when he had noticed me and Elsie. "Hey, little girl. Remember me?" he instantly questioned when we had met at halfway.
Elsie, having to turn her head up to look at Henry, who was the tallest out of all of us, just nodded her head, before tightening her hold on me. I looked down at her, before looking up at Henry, giving him a questioning look. Henry would of had to of been the one to decide on all of this, and he would have been the first one that she met, so why was she clinging to me of all people?
Not many people kept me by their sides for long, besides my closest two friends. They had been with me through everything in life; the highs and the lows. I just really hope that whatever Elsie has gone through that has caused to end up here, with us, is nothing like what we have hade to endure with our parents disappearances.
We most definitely did not deserve it then, and Elsie does not deserve to endure anything marginally close to what the 6 of us had to deal with when we were just older than what Elsie must be. I really do hope that she has loving parents that are looking for her, because this poor little girl deserves the world, and anyone could tell you that just from looking at her and her little smile.
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