The Missing Piece

Levi 08

I felt chubby fingers cupping my face. 

I groaned and stirred a little, deliberately removing my face from the hands that had disrupted my peaceful sleep and turned my face away. Almost immediately, I felt someone climbing onto my bed rather clumsily. "Levyyy wakieee," my five year old brother whined desperately, trying to shake my arms with whatever strength he has in his tiny body. He can never pronounce my name correctly as Levi. He has been calling me Levy since he can speak. 

I tackled him with a giant bear hug which sent him squealing for mercy. "Gotcha! Why do you have to wake your sister so early hmm?" I tickled him playfully and he squirmed and laughed about in my lap. By now I'm completely awake thanks to this precious ball of sunshine. "I wanna have breakfast! Mummy forgot to make me," he pouted and stared at me with his beautiful sea green eyes. 

My heart sank. It's always work, work, work and more work. She has been going into the office earlier and come back later recently. I can understand the amount of pressure and work she has to deal with as the CEO of a prominent shipping company. But it seems to me that she has been purposely avoiding to come back home by staying late into the night in her office and sometimes not even coming back to sleep. We aren't on the best of terms, but I'll be lying if I said I'm not worried about her. 

"Don't worry. I'm gonna make you pancakes for breakfast. How does that sound?" I smiled at Teddy and tousled his dirty blonde hair, knowing those fluffy goodness are his weakness. Teddy cheered and jumped on my bed excitedly. "Okay now go brush your teeth and wait for me in the kitchen okay?" With that, he scampered down the bed and hurried to get ready. 

I get off the bed and checked the green neon digits on my alarm clock...07:00 a.m. Good. I have plenty of time to get ready and make breakfast for Teddy. I took a shower and slipped into a pair of loose cargo pants and a black tank top. I walked down down the stairs while calling out to Teddy to get ready.

"What do you want, little guy? Blueberry and strawberry or banana and chocolate chip?" I cracked some eggs into the flour and milk mixture before stirring it vigorously. "Banana and chocolate chip!" Teddy waved both of his knife and fork in the air at the dining table. "Alright! Can Teddy wait for 10 minutes?" "Okay! Can I feed Bubbly, Levy?" Bubbly is Teddy's pet goldfish. "Yea, of course. Don't feed him too much okay?" "Okay!" 

I used to not let him feed Bubbly because he has a history of overfeeding his pets to death. I finally relented and agreed to let him feed it after he begged me for two days straight. I just can't say no to him. He's literally the apple of my eye. I've been very protective of him ever since our father's death. It hasn't been easy on him...with the absence of a father figure and a constantly working mother.

"Don't open the front door or talk to any strangers alright?" I kissed Teddy's forehead. I've been saying this sentence for almost everyday to Teddy now. He nodded his head fervently and extended his arms, "Hug?" I gave him a tight squeeze before grabbing my bag and headed outside. I gotta hurry up a little if I want to be on time. Getting detention for not being punctual is just not worth it.  

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"So glad to be back to school again," Justin sighed dramatically while opening his locker.