Arion

1.07

It was almost time to go home, finally. I'd been working for 9 hours with Kenny. I love him but he gets annoying after the fifth hour.

"Thanks for coming in today Tone. We should be done in a couple days if we keep up these kinda hours," he said. He started cleaning up his crumpled papers and shutting the studio lights off.

We walked together throughout the building to lock down everything since we stayed longer than everybody else.

"See you tomorrow," I said wanting to get home more than anything. He grabbed my arm and pulled me back into a hug. "You okay?" he asked. I was surprised at the question, nobody had asked in awhile.

"Yeah, just.. just gotta get home." I pulled out the hug and hurried in the car. I drove off and with nothing but time on my hands for the next thirty minutes.

I began to realize how cute Kenny actually was and how many questions he asked about me.

I started to think he may like me. Almost all the signs are there and I'm always so lost in my own world, I didn't even realize.

What an asshole I am.

He always asks me out to lunch, and I always say no. Him coming to the house the week prior and me kicking him out.

I pulled into the driveway with him still on my mind, but I have a responsibility to tend to now.

I walked into the house and announced my arrival. I heard squishy feet running my way from the kitchen. "Toni!" Arion yelled and jumped into my arms. She planted kisses all over my face as I walked into the kitchen.

"Hey, Mommy." I put Arion down and hugged my mother. She looked worn out and tired. I guess Ari kept my mom busy while I was gone. "What'd you two do today?" I asked.

Arion ran into the living room and brought back a ton of drawings. "Miss E and me color. Sammy eat a crayon and Marty poopy on Miss E foot," she raced to say.

I looked at my mom and asked if my dog really took a shit on her foot. "No, no. He pooped on my shoe. Shoe, Arion. This is my foot, here."

"Let me see the drawings," I said before she handed them to me. There was a lot of me and her. Some of Tamar and mom. There was a strange one, though. It was concerning so I asked about it.

"Sweetheart, who's this?" I asked pulling her on my lap. She stared at it closely before answering. "This is the bad man. He was in my head in the night," she answered. I asked her to tell me more about him.

"He tells bad things," she said.

"Bad like how?" The last thing I needed was nightmares keeping her and me up all night. "Bad like day one with you," she said, and I can tell thinking about it was unsettling for her.

Bad things? Day one? The amount of questions that ran through my head could fill up a crossword. "Like when you first came? Scary, you mean?" I asked and she nodded.

"He take me and I cry. He tell me bad things," she said then got up and went to go play.

"That's almost terrifying. You should take her to a doctor before it gets worst," my mother said.

There's a lot of things I am worried about just from that conversation. I called her back and began asking questions again.

"Do you know how long you been here? With me?" I asked and this little girl loves drawing so she wrote the number on a piece of paper. Twenty-six ticks, twenty-six days. "You can count?" she nodded and kept drawing around the paper.

"Ari, honey, do you remember when you first came and I asked who left you at the door?" She nodded before talking. "I walk, Toni. Bad man gone, so I walk," she answered.

Her words were starting to sound clearer and her sentences were cohesive, or better than I'd heard before.

"The bad man is real?" I asked a bit surprised. She rolled her eyes and went upstairs. "For a two year old, she's feisty," my mother said, gathering her things in preparation to leave.

"Thank you, mom. See you later," I said as she left.

After I made sure she got to the car safely, I closed the door. I had to go deal with that little girl and her nasty attitude.

"Excuse me, young lady. What did we say about rolling your eyes? What's going on?" I said in a stern and strict tone. I entered my room and saw her drawing on the bed. "You don't make rules here, Arion. Is that understood?"

She nodded without even caring about what was actually coming on my mouth. "Arion Sophia Braxton!" I shouted, realizing she was completely ignoring me.

Her head flew up and she looked at me with complete shock. The lights flickered a bit scaring me. "I listen. No more bad man talk," she stated.

In a way, I feel at fault because I did push and ask about a nightmare, which wasn't the smartest thing, but she still can't have the attitude of some old, bitter bat.

"No more!" She yelled after, completely unprovoked. The lights continued flickering. She kept yelling "No more!" and cried until I agreed no more, and that's when the lights stopped flickering. Exactly the moment her mood changed.

"Okay, okay. No more. No more conversations about the bad man," I said reaching my arms out to pick her up. I laid her head down on my shoulder and shushed her, hoping maybe she needed a little nap.

The more she cried, the more the lights flickered...

What the hell.

I didn't know what was going on, but I immediately thought about calling those doctors the nurse recommended weeks ago.

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Stay tuned, might update again today since I'm snowed in 😘