Zayne watched his siblings.
Stood at the living room entrance, he looked upon each one. Brayden lying on the 'L' part of the l-shaped couch, dozing off whilst watching his sister. Zach trying to keep Brynn on her stomach to keep her from putting pressure on her injured back. Silas and Zaiden laying out quilts and pillows on the floor. Ezra leaning against the wall staring at the couch, still dumbfounded by the events of this evening.
And Callan. Oh poor Callan. He sat on the rounded arm chair and his eyes were focused on the floor. The man's hands were shaking. With rage? Terror? Despair?
Zayne couldn't watch any longer. He clenched his eyes shut for a few seconds, gathering himself.
The oldest Verlice made his way to the kitchen, making himself the strongest coffee he could. He could have done with an entire bottle of vodka right now, however they threw out any and all alcohol when they heard of their little sister coming. They didn't need her to be exposed to that.
Although it seems that there were far worse things she was exposed to than simple alcohol.
He poured a second coffee upon hearing footsteps come close to the kitchen. He recognised them to be Callan's.
He didn't even look behind him as he reached back and placed the coffee mugon the kitchen island. He pushed it so it slid over to the other side where Callan was already stood.
No words were exchanged. They just sipped their bitter drinks.
Callan was first to initiate a conversation. "Is it our fault?"
Zayne stayed silent.
"Should we have tried to persuade father to let her stay? Done more check-ups on her and that bastard? Say something, Zayne!" his voice cracked at the final sentence, he was becoming increasingly pissed off with his emotionless older brother.
"We should have done a lot of things, brother," Zayne spun around to face Callan.
"Do you have no sympathy?" Callan hissed, leaning forward.
"Don't start, Callan."
"Do you have no care?" Callan's voice rose so loud, everyone in the living room, bar Brynn, winced.
"I have care!"
"Then fucking show it you dispassionate bastard!"
"Remember who you are talking to Callan!" Callan flinched at his brother's tone. Zayne stared him down, it not taking long for Callan to get nervous.
"I'm sorry."
"I know."
Callan ran his hands down his face as the kitchen and house were once again brought to silence.
Zayne went to leave but was halted at the doorway when Callan spoke again.
"What would dad say?"
It was deathly silent now.
"He would've burned the whole world down for her," Callan carried on.
Zayne straightened his back up, "and I will."
---
The youngest Verlice sibling lay on her stomach, looking around. Looking at all her brothers. Silas, Ezra and Zaiden laid in the middle of the room in their own sheets. Zach laid right next to her on the floor by the couch. Brayden laid at the end of the couch, the couch blanket draped over him, similar to her. Callan laid on the armchair, arms crossed and lastly Zayne.
Zayne wasn't lying down, nor was he asleep. He was stood at the door, mindlessly watching.
Brynn felt guilt infiltrate her body when she saw that he was still in his work suit. Did he not sleep at all last night?
Zayne knew his sister was awake, he just waited for her to notice him. When she did, they stared at one another. He could see the tears forming in her eyes and he swore he heard his heart shatter.
"I don't want to talk about it," she whispered, dejectedly.
Zayne nodded, understanding. He knew she'd feel like that. And he knew that the rest of their brothers would know that too. Not only because they were all awake right now, but because they had common sense. And they knew their sister.
Zayne knew they were all awake as well. Each of them silently respecting their baby sister's wishes to not talk about it.
That's what she was to them. Their baby sister. Not even a teenager yet and already been through so much.
Shrugging his depressing thoughts back, Zayne walked over and held a hand out for his sister which she took slowly. He kept a firm hand at the top of her back to stabilise her and still held her hand in his even once she was fully standing.
They stared at each other, Zayne intensely and Brynn sheepishly.
"Come on, let's have breakfast," Zayne broke their tense silence. Well, tense for Brynn.
Brynn followed after her oldest brother like a lost puppy, still being half asleep.
"Your brothers tell me you've been doing well with eating lately," Zayne started conversatiom. Brynn looked up from the marble counter she was sat at.
Yeah, if you count all the pieces I've thrown out, she thought to herself pitifully. She truly believed she was the most selfish person on earth right now.
"Thank you." I don't deserve it, she thought.
Zayne decided to eat a piece of toast with her, so she didn't feel as alone. They ate in silence. Brynn now having to be forced to eat both pieces as Zayne watched intently.
He found it suspicious how well she could eat right now, especially after fighting tooth and nail to try and eat as little as possible when she first arrived. Curious...
Brynn finished as fast as she could, taking her plate over to the sink and washing it. "Can I go to my room, please?" she asked nervously. Zayne almost frowned at her reluctance to ask him such a simple question.
"Hm," he hummed, nodding and signalled that she was free to go.
What a great way to start the weekend. Brynn thought to herself going upstairs.
She sped up when she felt that familiar bile rise up her throat.
Great.
---
Brynn's POV
Nothing's more depressing than a Sunday. That one day a week where an endless amount of anxiety is built up inside of you, knowing that you have to re-do yet another week.
I didn't want to do anything this Sunday. Just wanted to continue wallowing in my own self pity.
Nobody's hated me more than I did after Friday night. I woke up early, as usual, and just laid there. What else was there to do?
Today went exactly like yesterday. I was allowed to eat in my room and I didn't leave. Callan came a lot, like I'd disappear if he was gone for too long.
I felt awful, not speaking to my brothers. I felt awful for what happened on Friday night.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
By nine, I got fed up with myself. I couldn't spend another day locking myself up in my room, it wasn't the solution to anything.
You're a Verlice.
Having a sudden rush of adrenaline, I forced myself out of bed and into my bathroom. I showered, washed my face, changed into black sweatpants and a black t-shirt before tying my hair in a low ponytail.
When I walked out of my wardrobe I saw Brayden sticking his head into my room. I stopped where I was, chewing on my lip and playing with my fingers. He saw me and un-tensed a little.
"Hey, honey. You wanna eat breakfast with me today? It'll just be me and you, promise," he asked, softly.
"Yeah," I whispered back, my voice going as soft as his' was.
I just wanted to forget about what happened and continuing my day as normal seemed to be the best way to do this.
I ate breakfast with Brayden, just me and him as promised. The little I had on my plate was half ate and when Brayden's back turned, I threw a few pieces of bacon in the bin.
Guilt ate away at me for it, but it was this or intense nausea. Besides, I covered it up perfectly so there was no way I'd be caught. This way, my brothers think I'm eating enough and I don't have to cry over the toilet.
Brayden tried to convince me to watch a movie with him when we'd finished eating in comfortable silence.
"We can watch that mermaid show?"
I felt my heart smiling at his suggestion. He was tugging at the sleeves of his grey grandpa sweater. He was dressed so casually today, no jeans. Just black sweatpants, the sweater and fluffy grey socks. It was oddly comforting.
"I think I'm just going to do some homework in my room," I nervously tugged a hang nail off my pinky finger. I didn't have any homework.
Brayden looked slightly sad, "oh that's fine." He cleared his throat, "good girl. Doing your homework. Maybe you could try and get Zach to do his as well, before Zayne does," he laughed and I joined him.
We sat in awkward silence when our laughter died down. Brayden was staring at the counter top of the island, his arms stretched out in front of him as he leaned on it. I sat slumped in my chair, rubbing my fingers and trying to avoid eye contact at all costs.
Then suddenly, Brayden took a deep breath and stood up straight fully.
"Right, I'm just going to do some paperwork then," he said, sounding like he was trying to make it exciting. I smiled and nodded, my eyes still not looking at him.
I wasn't even reprimanded for it. There was just a dejected sigh and footsteps. I waited until I couldn't hear footsteps anymore and slumped further into the bar stool.
You hurt his feelings.
Just as I was about to get off the stool, someone came at me from my side. I flinched back violently at the sudden action, but I didn't get very far away from the person.
Arms wrapped around my torso, pulling me into a hard chest and the person's right arm came in front of me to cup the left side of my head and bring it closer to them.
I recognised Brayden's grey sweater and his cologne when he bent his head down to rest it atop of mine. "Brayden?"
"I love you."
I felt tears brimming in my eyes as my breath got caught in my throat. I haven't heard someone say that to me for years.
I didn't know what to do, to say. Do I say it back? How do people usually exchange love?
I settled for wrapping my arms around his middle, squeezing him tightly. This was my way of saying it back.
I'm not sure if he understood, but he squeezed me back just as tightly. I turned my head to the side to avoid wetting his sweater with the few tears that slipped out.
I don't know how long we stood there. For once, I didn't feel the need to count the seconds. I just wanted to stay here forever. Safe in my brothers' arms.
Eventually, he kissed the top of my head and loosened his hold.
"Right, I'll go for real this time," he mumbled into my hair. I nodded.
He let go of me fully and left. I could see his feet leaving for definite this time and sighed.
Then I looked at the large clock above the cooker. The large hand pointed at the six and the smaller hand pointed in between nine and ten. I decided to go back to my room now to try and avoid any more social interactions this morning.
When I got back to my room, I had nothing to do. I made my bed, fixing all of my pillows to make it look somewhat put together. Like myself.
I got my new favourite book from under my bottom pillow. 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'.
I looked from the book to my now perfectly made bed, conflicted. Oh well.
I slumped onto the un-crinkled blankets and fluffed up pillows.
I remained exactly where I was until lunch, when Brayden came in and forced me to eat a sandwich. He came back after a while and saw my empty plate. He smiled, looking proud and I knew I didn't deserve his proudness. Not with said sandwich remaining in the bin in my bathroom.
At dinner time, there was a knock on the door. I was probably going to be made to eat dinner with them. I placed my book down on my side table. "Come in."
Zayne entered.
Crap. I expected Callan or Brayden. Not my oldest brother. I quickly sat up on the edge of my bed, feeling like I needed to make myself look presentable. He obviously just came home from work.
"Hi," I greeted. He acknowledged my greeting with a short nod, going over to my desk. He picked my chair up with one hand and pulled it up next to my bed, a few feet away from me.
He unbuttoned his blazer and sat down. Is he going to give me a talk? Was he mad that I stayed in here all day?
"Brynn, how did you feel after your mum died?" What?
Out of all the possible options I thought of, he said that.
"I don't know," I answered, uncomfortable with the energy we had created. This was a tough topic, I haven't spoken about my mum in years. I didn't even get to grieve properly with so much going on with being adopted by Milo.
"Were you upset?" he pressed, not looking sympathetic whatsoever. I was honestly at a loss of words.
"She was my mum, of course I was," I replied back, feeling a bit pressured. She was my mum.
I started playing with my hands anxiously again. "Didn't really get a funeral, she wanted to be cremated," I mumbled mostly to myself. Zayne nodded although he didn't seem surprised by this information. His face remained stoic.
"How did you deal with this?" It was becoming harder to breath.
"I- I don't know. I moved in with Milo straight away, there was too much going on." There was too much going on for me right now.
Zayne just continued looking at me, looking deep in thought.
"Why?" I asked. What was he doing?
"Brynn, do you think you need therapy?" he asked, almost carefully. My throat seemed to be clenched so hard, I couldn't speak.
I swallowed, answering the best way I knew possible, "do you think I need therapy?"
He wasn't bothered by me answering his question with a question. Like he expected it.
"I think you need to speak to someone about your feelings. Someone who will understand and offer help in a way your brothers and I, regretfully, can't."
Well, how's that for an answer.
"I have an old friend, who's a child psychologist. How would you feel about meeting him? Just a chat." His voice stayed unexpressive.
"Aren't psychologists where you go when you're seen as crazy?" I mumbled, looking him in the eyes for a second before looking away, his gaze was intense.
I heard him huff a little, like he was amused. "We don't think you're crazy, Brynn. We just want to help."
I looked back at him. If he wants to help by doing this, then I'll do it. It's the least I could for my brothers after acting like an ungrateful brat this weekend.
"Okay," I agreed. He nodded at me, then stood back up and put my chair back. I inwardly breathed. He's so intimidating doing this simplestthing.
Before he made his way back to the door, he turned back, "are you coming? I believe Callan's made you favourite. Chicken nuggets and chips, right?" He sounded a little... wistful?
Damn Callan.
I looked at him, a little excited. He wanted me to walk down with him.
I hastily got up and followed him out, walking a little behind him. He saw that I was a little behind and scoffed quietly, stepping back to me and walking next to me.
When we got downstairs, everyone looked surprised to see me but Zayne shot them a look and they stopped looking. I took my seat just after Zayne took his and everybody began to eat.
Before I began eating though, I looked around me. I grinned to myself so wide, I definitely would have looked insane if I hadn't lowered my head.
Everyone had chicken nuggets and chips, like me.
---
That night, I couldn't sleep at all. It was around about two in the morning and I was exhausted, however my brain just wouldn't shut down for sleep.
My heart stuttered when I heard a loud buzz from my phone. I quickly reached for it to silence it so my brothers couldn't hear it. I also looked who it was from. It was Aubrey.
the three
aubrey: brynn brynn brynnnnnnnnnnnn
aubrey: brynnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
aubrey: calling miss verlice????
penny: aubrey stfu
aubrey: BRYNN
aubrey: i know you're seeing these
I chuckled to myself and responded
yes?
aubrey: ah good you're here.
aubrey: sleepover? In two weeks? At the weekend? Yes?
I bit my lip, hesitating on what to say. Would I even be allowed to go to a sleepover?
Then Penny started typing.
penny: where is my invite?
aubrey: i just presumed you'd invite yourself.
penny: fair. so you coming brynn?
Damn.
I really wanted to, I've never had a sleepover before.
I thought about the fact that it was two weeks away. I could gain the courage to talk to Zayne in that time.
Yeah, I totally could.
i'll ask and let you know.
aubrey: fabulous. now go to sleep, goodnight ;)
penny: night guys
night :)
I switched my phone off and put it on charge on my bedside table. This could be my very first sleepover. Excitement bubbled in my stomach and my face hurt from grinning to myself so much.
I finally managed to calm myself and felt my eye lids get heavy. My brain was finally allowing me to go to sleep. I laid comfortably on my stomach with my head smushed into my pillow, happily.
I sunk deeper and deeper into my pillow, slowly blurring out the world as I fell asleep.
However, someone had other plans because I heard my door creak open and a slit of light showed on my floor. I didn't have the energy to look up, my eyes were barely open.
Someone came up to the side of my bed and kneeled down. "Brynn," they whispered. What was Zach doing?
"Hmm?" I hummed back, not having any energy to speak or ask what he was doing.
He whispered back, "hi, so I was outside in the garden."
I nodded back weakly at him, encouraging him to continue. He did.
"And I was walking down the steps and I stood on something and at first, I was like 'ah shit I've just stood on a bug' and nearly pissed myself, but then I looked down and I saw that it wasn't a bug. But then I was like, 'hold up what was it then?'" Despite being half-asleep, I was actually fully invested in this story. What was it?
"So then I bravely reached down to pick it up and saw that it was, in fact, just a pebble. But then I was like 'wow this pebble looks cool' because it did look cool and I thought 'hey, this reminds me of Brynn' so this is for you," he finished his whisper rant and I could faintly see something being held in front of my face.
"And I wanted to find another cool one so we could match, but stupid Callan came out and was all 'bed now, you have school tomorrow'," he mocked Callan's voice which I laughed at in my head.
I could feel myself smiling into my pillow though and after a few moments of silence, I heard small clatter on my side table.
I felt a hand gently rest against my back and Zach lean down. "I'll leave that there. Goodnight, love," he whispered. He kissed my cheek and left then.
My face muscles began to ache with the amount of tensing and blushing I had to do to keep myself from smiling.
---
I finished buttoning up my school shirt, arms shaking from the cold. I couldn't get my blazer on fast enough.
When my blazer was properly on, I got my backpack and slung it over my shoulder ready to go. The stone on my side table caught my eye though.
Zach was right, it was a cool stone. It was pure white with small black lines all over it which looked like veins. It was smooth all over apart from one small dint on its side, where it had a silver shimmer to it.
I walked over and pocketed it in the front pocket of my bag.
Now I was ready.
I saw none of my brothers upstairs so I presumed they were either downstairs or at work. I hoped most of them were at work, this horrible pit at the bottom of my stomach kept flaring up and I didn't like it. I felt nauseous but I didn't throw up.
My thoughts on the peculiar feeling were cut off when I got to the middle of the stair case and saw Ezra walking up from the bottom. I slowed down significantly and tried to make some space between us which he didn't seem affected by, he looked moody.
When we passed each other, he stopped and turned around to face me; I gripped the stair handle and paused.
"I'm picking you up from school, football practice is going on far too late and Zayne wants you home by six. You're coming to work with me," he informed/ commanded. I nodded and he rose an eyebrow.
"Okay."
I didn't like this, he was at least a few above me both literally and metaphorically speaking.
He nodded and mumbled back, "good." Continuing his trek upstairs, he soon became out of sight leaving me to breath out in relief for what felt like the millionth time.
My tiredness from last night was now catching up with me. I furiously rubbed my eyes to force the sleepiness away and made it downstairs into the kitchen. Brayden or Callan were nowhere to be seen so they must have been at work already.
Zaiden, Silas and Zach still looked as cool as they did last Monday and whilst discreetly throwing some of my breakfast away, I saw that Zaiden's nail polish was still on even though it was slightly chipped.
The only conversation that was happening in the kitchen was between Zach and me and that was about the cool stone he found. I grinned, excited about it and reached into my backpack's front pocket to retrieve it.
Zach looked surprised that I had it. Why wouldn't I? This was the coolest, most thoughtful gift anyone's given me.
We spoke about it until Silas stood up and picked his bag up, signalling that it was time to go.
Everybody got up and I put the stone back where it belonged in my bag. Silas drove us once again and this time, I wasn't so much dreading today. The only bad lesson I had today was Maths.
I had all lessons with Penny and three of them were with Aubrey too. Before I could get to English though, Silas called out to me. I blushed as the attention of most of the hallway fell on us.
I met his eyes and moved a little closer, "yes?"
"You can sit in the library. With your friends," he answered. I lit up.
"Really?" Really?!
"Well I said it, didn't I?" he scoffed at me with a slight hiss.
"Right," I mumbled. "Thank you."
He looked taken back by my thanks, quickly putting himself together to respond, "yeah well."
I smiled before turning around to where my class was going in. "See you later."
I saw Penny when I first walked in. She was stood in between two desks, on her phone. I could barely contain my excitement as I came closer to her.
"Hey," I greeted standing opposite.
"Hi," she smiled brightly and tucked her phone back into her pocket.
"I can stay with you guys in the library today," I told her and she seemed just as excited as me.
"Wait really? No way, how did you convince your-"
"Move," we were roughly shoved away from each other by Malcolm. I looked down and moved further away from him. Penny just scoffed and mumbled to me, "ass."
I chuckled which caught Malcolm's attention. "Somefin funny, Verlice?" he snarled.
"Yeah, your haircut," Penny retorted, snorting. I bit my lip to stay quiet.
"Shut up, you fucking slut," this caught my attention. How the hell did he come up with that pathetic insult?
Mr Laurier entered the classroom. "Is there a problem in here?" he questioned, silently reprimanding us with his eyes.
"No, sir," Malcolm answered, gruffly with a fake smile.
Mr Laurier hummed, obviously not buying it. He told us to take our seats and we did, me avoiding Malcolm's harsh glare. How can one kid look so evil? If I could glare like Zayne or Ezra, I probably would've caused him to faint right about now.
The best part of this day was by far lunch. The library wasn't deathly silent like I'd expected it to be. It was actually quite calming to hear some noise whilst sitting for lunch. Not too loud nor quiet. And of course kept making us laugh. I liked this lunch set up.
It was a nice, white rounded table right at the back with five chairs surrounding it and Aubrey and Penny said that they had claimed this spot as their own.
Whilst they were eating their own lunches, I looked at mine. Would my brothers know if I didn't eat mine?
I mean I ate half of it, so technically if I binned the rest of it, they wouldn't know. Yes, that's what I'll do. Good idea.
I did that and came back to the table. They began to stand up, "we should go to Maths now," Aubrey groaned to us.
I felt exactly the same. "God forbid Ms Gren sees us come in one second late."
"I don't even get why she hates kids, like why be a teacher?" Penny grumbled as we picked our bags up and walked to class.
"Well, I get why she doesn't like Brynn though," Aubrey smirked. I furrowed my eyebrows.
"What, why? What did I do?"
"Shit you don't know?" Aubrey looked absolutely amazed.
"Know what?" I asked, desperate to know what she was on about.
"It's because of what your brother did when he was here," Penny clarified.
"Zayne?"
"Yep."
"Students still talk about it to this day, the 'legendary Zayne Verlice going away gift to Ms Gren'," Aubrey emphasised her words by moving her hand and miming out the last few words.
"What did he do?" I really wanted to know now.
They looked at each other, smirking. "He-"
"Girls!" We all jumped at the voice. Ms Gren stood outside her classroom, looking stern as always.
"Do you think she heard?" Penny whispered loudly to us.
"Shut the hell up," Aubrey sang with gritted teeth at her.
Ms Gren made eye contact. I smiled hoping to ease the tension which did not work.
"Miss Verlice," she sneered like I was poison,
"What are you just standing there for girls? Class is starting," she stormed back into her classroom and we all breathed in relief.
"That was a close one," I mumbled.
"I know. I blame Aubrey," Penny said
"Thanks." We all chuckled walking over to the classroom door but we soon sobered up when we stepped in. The maths classroom was where fun ended.
---
I don't know if it was because of us or if anything else happened, but Ms Gren was definitely not in a happy mood today. She set the entire class a huge thirty page booklet to finish by next Monday each.
Of course, no one argued or complained; she might have made the booklet bigger.
I exited the giant double doors at the school entrance, looking around for Ezra. I had been psyching myself up for this all day. I wasn't going to annoy him or pester him. I'm just going to simply be there. Maybe this way, he'd want to be around me more.
I saw him right at the front, leaning on his black lamborghini on his phone. He didn't look bothered whatsoever by the anxious stares he was receiving. If anything, he looked like he enjoyed it, smirking at a group of boys who kept looking at him. They all widened their eyes and scrammed, making sure to avoid Ezra's path at all costs. Like basically everyone was doing.
I gulped and made my way over. He must have sensed me or something because he opened the passenger door still not deterring his eyes away from the screen.
I got in and he shut the door, walking around the front to get to his side. I was quietly freaking out in my head. I was allowed to sit in the front. Of Ezra's car. Ezra's car!
He got in and smoothly exited the park lot, no one daring to cut him off.
For the duration of the ride, Ezra kept giving me subtle side looks which I tried to ignore and pretend I was doing something on my phone. That something being going back and forth between my notes app and the weather app.
"We're here, come on," Ezra ushered me out. I got out and shut the door as he went to lock it.
He strode towards the entrance, "quicker." I shot my head up and sped as fast as I could without looking weird to him. He got his keys out to unlock the door.
"Stay close," he muttered, entering and turning the lights on. The gym looked weird this empty, almost creepy.
We went to his office where I was painfully reminded of the last time I was here. Thank god I didn't need the toilet.
"I'm going to turn everything on, mini fridge is over there," he pointed next to the black leather couch, "it's got drinks and snacks for you. Ones you like obviously."
"You know where the toilets are," he gave me a pointed look which I avoided by pretending to be interested in the contents on his desk. "No one will be here for about half an hour so you can roam around a little. Only where I can see you." I mentally wrote all of this down.
"There's a spare charger on my desk if you run out of battery, and there's blankets in the basket over there, "he pointed to the basket besides the mini fridge, "in case you want lay down, I know you fell asleep at two am last night." I blushed, guilty. How did he know that?
He was giving me a slight look of disapproval, causing a pang in my chest.
He went to leave but I stopped him, gaining the courage from god knows where. "Can I help?" He turned around and I didn't feel so confident anymore. "With the setting up and stuff."
Ezra looked conflicted, then sighed. "You can turn the bathroom lights on for me, you remember where they are?" I nodded, happy I was given a task to do. "Yes."
"The code's 1908, just type it in the code pad behind the doors," he instructed. Hey that's my birthd- oh.
Ignoring the probable coincidence, I made my way to do the tasks. I felt extremely professional having to type on a keypad and everything. Even if it was just to turn the toilet lights on.
I finished my task, proudly and went back to Ezra's office. He wasn't back yet so I sat on the couch. I had nothing interesting to do on my phone and I didn't bring a book.
I got out a water bottle from the mini fridge and drank almost half of it. This was a good substitute for food.
I placed the water in front of the couch and leaned back, the same tiredness from this morning creeping back up on me. I laid down and curled up into the cool leather. It was comfier than I'd expected it to be.
After some time, I could faintly hear the gym doors open and someone being greeted. Following this, the office door opened and footsteps sounded and then they ceased.
Then they sounded again, closer this time and I felt a presence hover over me slightly. I groaned softly when I felt my head being lifted and one of the pillows from the side of the couch was pushed underneath it.
"Shhhh go back to sleep-" Ezra cleared his throat.
He reached down to the basket and pulled out a white, fluffy blanket; wrapping it over me. I snuggled into it, it was by far the most fluffiest blanket I've ever felt.
I couldn't remember much after that. I could recount waking up a few times. Once when Ezra was talking loudly on the phone, but I just fell right back to sleep. A second time when a customer walked in and Ezra brought them outside.
And the final time when Ezra was on the phone.
"No you can't speak to her right now, she's asleep." He listened to the other side.
"Yeah she's had some water."
"No she's been asleep nearly the whole time."
"I know."
"We're leaving now."
"Alright I'll see you then."
He turned his phone off and came over to me, sliding his hands under my knees and torso, lifting me up like I weighed nothing to him. He took the blanket with me as he did so. I couldn't find anything in me to do anything. It was like I was half-awake and half-asleep. But this time, I felt safe. No Milo.
Ezra walked out, kicking his office door shut with his foot.
"Hey Derek, can you shut down for me when your shift ends?" he called someone over.
Said man, Derek spoke lightly, "yeah no problem."
"Thanks mate," Ezra thanked the man, walking over the front doors opening them to let the crisp, cool air hit us.
I resisted the urge to cuddle further into him, content where I was.
Safe.
---
<3