Tricks of Fate

Chapter 2

[Iris]

After bathing the little girl and tending to her surprisingly small head wound I took her to my room and laid down with her. The emotions coursing through me as I watched her sleep were frighteningly confusing. I'd never scene her before and yet here I was, too scared to sleep in case I woke up and this was all a dream. Then I'd never see her again. I layed on my side and just watched as her chest rose and fell. Rose and fell. Rose and fell.

In one natural and fluid motion I reached out and stroked her dark curls gently, before letting the back of my hand slide down her adorably chubby cheeks. She turned her head towards my touch, her reaction making the moment endearing. Her eyes began to flutter and when she opened them I felt my heart dissolve into nothing, replaced only by my need to keep her safe. She stared at me with gentle orbs of golden honey. Small but full of expression. Her baby lips then opened and she whispered
"Mommy."

"Shhh." I told her, stroking her cheek yet again.
"Get some sleep. I'll help you find your mommy tomorrow. OK?"
She nodded, her eyes never leaving mine, before she came closer to me and curled into a ball at my side. She fit like she was ment to be there. Like we were made for each other, two parts of a whole. I hugged her sleeping figure closer to my chest and the proximity gave me the comfort I needed to fall asleep.

The next morning when I woke up I found her laying with her head on my chest. I looked at the time and realised that I'd over slept.
*Guess I'm skipping the first day of school.* I thought. Not that I wouldn't have made it for my afternoon classes, but the little sleeping figure beside me needed my attention a little more than news writing formats.
I decided to get up and make us some breakfast, I had a feeling she might like pancakes, but, then again, who doesn't like pancakes?

Carefully, so as not to wake her up, I got out of bed and made my way into the kitchen. As I got the ingredients out of their respective resting places I started humming a little tune to myself. That's when I realised that my throat was scratchy and I sounded as hoarse as a fangirl after a concert. Remembering the night before I realised that I must be getting a cold, so I made a mental note to go to the doctor later to have it checked out. For that moment I decided to have some tea to sooth my throat a little while I made breakfast. As the batter sizzled in the pan I noticed the little angel spying on me from the door way in my room . She was wide eyed and seemed shy so I smiled and called out to her.
"It's OK sweety." I said, my voice hoarse and rough. Clearing my throat I tried again,
"You can come out, I won't hurt you."

She thought about it for a moment then carefully made her way to the island I had for a table. I smiled then turned my back on her to flip the pancake. Suddenly I heard a large crash behind me followed by a howl of pain. The pan and skillet dropped from my hand and I rushed to her side. It looked like she was trying to get onto a high stool and it fell back with her. She held her arm and cried, seeing her that way made tears spring into my eyes but I had to be strong for her so I held her close and rocked her.
"It's OK baby girl. It's OK. Come on. Let's go get dressed and I'll take you to the hospital to get that checked out."

Picking her up, I kissed her cheek and she stopped crying.
"That's my girl." I smiled, then walked us back into the room. I found a yellow top in my closet, one of those that looked like a dress cause it was tightened just below the bust, and thought it would look cute on her. And I was right. The yellow looked amazing against her caramel toffe skin and it brought out the gold in her eyes. For myself I picked out a top similar in colour and some jeans. Then I picked her up off the bed, grabbed the car keys, and off we went.

We drove in silence, listening to music, I was surprisingly calm. I could feel an overwhelming sense of worry but instead of freaking out, I numbed out the panic and focused on getting her the help she needed. When we arrived, I parked and got her out the back of the car. I wanted to carry her but she slid down my body onto the floor and held out her other hand for me to hold. I smiled and did as she was asking. I noticed then that she didn't speak much, she mostly used her eyes and gestures to communicate. I thought it was cute but I hoped she'd speak again soon. As soon as we walked through the automatic sliding doors at the hospital I was hit with a sudden wave of nausea. Everything around me started spinning and I felt overwhelmed. My knees gave in and I blacked out.