Sedona

Thomas & Annie

Esme's POV

"Look, Mrs. Esme! Mrs. Esme!" For the fifth time that afternoon Thomas pushed one of his many crayon drawings my way. The scribbles were rectangular and looked like a person almost with a whole box of colors added in.

"It's a robot!" Thomas clapped his hands and bounced in his seat in his excitement.

"Your robot looks great, Thomas!" I smiled at him. Each photo, he showed me was either a car or a robot. "Annie, what have you drawn?"

These two were the only ones left at the daycare. Thomas and Annie sat at a table in the corner. Annie barely spoke to me at all today. I tried to talk to Annie but I haven't gotten much beyond one-word answers.

"A cat," she responded, setting it aside to color instead.

"I'm going to go call your parent again." I got up from the table.

"Do you think they forgot us?" Annie asked Thomas, coloring a unicorn in a coloring book.

"No, no...They must have just got held up by something at their work." I struggled to find a reason for their parent's absence. "One moment."

I fished for my phone and walked out of the room. I took one last look through the door's window.

My phone buzzed to life in my palm. Carlisle was on the other line. I accepted the call and brought the phone to my ear. "Hello?"

"Hello, dear." I heard his voice respond. "I have patient, Mx. (Y/N) (L/N). You have their children with you?"

"Yes, I do." I gave the door another glance. I worried about their parent for their sake. My dead heart felt like it was beating rapidly.

"This may be an odd request, but could you bring them over? They need to stay at the hospital overnight."

"Yes, but why do they have to stay? What happened to them?" I didn't know what to say to the kids. This isn't a normal occurrence.

"They received a snake bite at their work. They need to start a full 24 hours. They have no one to get them for them"

"Oh, dear. Well, I'll get them over there then. Bye, I love you."

"I love you too."

I pulled the phone away from my ear and ended the call. With a deep breath, I went back into the room.

They didn't seem to notice my return just yet. Thomas continued to scribble fiercely and Annie colored with her best precision.

"Hello, you two. I need you two to listen carefully for me." I pulled a seat back up at the table and sat down. Their attention was on me now.

Thomas lifted his head completely, while Annie peered through her eyebrows above her stuffed bunny, Fred.

"Your parent was bit by a snake." Thomas and Annie's eyes widened at my words. "They are okay now, but they are in the hospital and need to stay a whole day, okay?" They nodded to show they were following what I was saying.

"So I need to bring you two to the hospital to visit your parent. Do you want to do that?" I looked from one to the other.

Thomas softly nodded his head and Annie buried her face into Fred.

"Alright, let's get your things together and go." I stood up and began collecting the crayons scattered across the table. "Both of you get your bags, please." I pointed in the general direction of the shelves where the kids' kept their things every day.

Thomas and Annie scurried off to get their things. I put all the crayons in a box and put it in its bin. "Gather up your drawings, Thomas. I'm sure that your parent would love to see them."

We all raced around the large colorful room to get going as soon as possible. Thomas snatched his bag and raced back to me. Annie took her time a little by speed walking instead and taking the time to put her bookbag on.

"Annie, would you like to take the coloring book with you?" I reached over the table and pulled it over. Annie gently took it from my hands with a nod. Thomas messily got his drawings together.

"Alright, both of you ready?" I gave the room a once-over before leading them out the door. I reached my hand into the room to blindly shut the light off and closed the door.

Thomas and Annie ran down the short dimly-lit hallway to the double-door exit with gentle thuds against the tiles. The drawings on the wall flutter lightly as they pass.

I push the door open and let them through. The air chilled the two kids and the sun slowly came down giving everything a dark blue hue. An orange tint peaked from above the trees. I ushered them to the back seat of the car and started it up.

Warm air slowly filled the car from the heater as I pulled out of the parking spot.

"It's warm in here," Thomas whispered to Annie.

"Is it too warm in here? I can turn it down?" My hand hovered over the dial.

"No," Thomas answered. "The AC is broken in my parent's car."

"They're my parent too, Thomas!" Annie smacked Thomas' arm.

"Ow, I know!" Thomas smacked her back.

"Ow!" Annie smacked once more before I ended it.

"Annie, Thomas. Let's not do that. That's not a nice thing to do." I tried to ask nicely from the front seat.

"Well, our parent's car has a broken AC." Thomas corrected himself.

"What happened to it?" I asked.

"I don't know." I can see him shrug his shoulders through the rearview mirror. "They said that the car fixer people would try to tell them something wrong when it isn't."

"You mean a mechanic?" I raised a brow at his choice of words.

"Yeah! I'm going to be one when I grow up!" He cheered. "I'm going to be the best of the best!" He lifted his fists in the air in his declaration.
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1013 Words