5 Minute Reads - Anthology

The Return by WhisperingWater

Blake Carson woke up when he felt his wife's lips gently touch his cheek. He smiled softly, turning towards her.

"Hey handsome." She grinned. "I need to go out for a while, diaper shopping. Teddy is still sleeping. Don't wake him up, okay?"

Blake nodded, kissed her forehead and turned around to sleep for a little while longer. Alexis smiled at her husband and placed the baby monitor next to him. She walked towards baby Ted's room and checked if he was still asleep. Seeing him peacefully sleeping, clutching his blanket, she bent down, placed a small kiss on his brow, tucked his blanket where he had kicked it off and walked out of the room.

Later in the morning, the sound of the baby monitor woke Blake, he sat up and turned to hear his son coo over the monitor. Blake rubbed his eyes as he walked towards Ted's room and saw that the six-months-old was busy gnawing on the ear of his stuffed panda. Blake smiled and picked him up, panda and all, and his son smiled all gums and drool.

"Hey, buddy, you up already? It's Sunday and waking up at 7 AM is bad." Teddy babbled making Blake smile and continue, "Just kidding; good boys wake up early and help Mommy make breakfast. Stay right here, I'll quickly grab some coffee for myself and some milk for you." He gently placed Ted back in his cot, making sure to put the panda back with him and walked away towards the kitchen to make some coffee for himself and heat up the milk.

As he shut the fridge door after pulling out a carton of milk, he saw the baby monitor on the kitchen counter. Wondering if he was still half asleep, Blake plopped on the chair, carton in hand, wondering how it traveled by itself from his bedroom to the kitchen. Even as he got up to go check the bedroom, he heard a sound coming from the baby monitor. It sounded like a woman's voice. She was humming to Ted, "Go to sleep, baby . . . Go to sleep."

Wondering when Alexis had returned, Blake smiled and shook his head thinking she must have kept the baby monitor on the kitchen counter and walked towards Teddy's room. He had just placed his hand on the door knob when he heard the front door open, and Alexis's cheerful voice called out to him, "Blakey, I'm home. Is Teddy still asleep?"

Alarmed, he pushed open the door and saw his mother smiling at Ted, still humming to him even though he had fallen asleep. Her dark hair was braided, she wore her favourite blue summer dress and when she looked up at him and smiled, Blake panicked. The last time he had seen her smile like that was during summer break, 15 years ago . . .

. . . Before she died.