But I Am The Keeper

Growing Up

“AHHHH!”

“What’s it Lee?” I called out, rushing to her bedroom, wiping the sleep residue from my eyes as I turned on the light.

“The black smoke…it… it was following me, mummy. It’s after me.” Raylee sobbed, burying her teared-stained face into my chest.

“Shh, It’s OK Lee.” I tried my best to stay calm and comfort her as I gently smoothed my hand over her dark golden brown hair. “It was just a nightmare, no need to worry, mummy and daddy would never let anything bad happen to you, we will always be here to protect you.”

It had been 4 years now since she had been having these recurring nightmares.

I lifted her into my lap and rocked her, humming her favorite lullaby that Ryder always used to calm her down. Thankfully, it worked every time. Slowly, she drifted back off to sleep and I carefully placed her back down, lying down beside her to cuddle her.

“Alli, another bad dream?” a whispered voice asked as I was gently shaken from sleep.

I turned to meet Ryder’s worried gaze, tiredness swirling in his eyes from the hectic day's work. I nodded and he sighed, sitting on the bed beside us. He placed his hand over his daughter’s sleeping face and gently caressed her cheeks, wiping away the evidence of the dried stream of tears.

“Wish I had been home to help you with her, I know you need your sleep.” He finally spoke, sighing.

He bent down and planted a kiss on my forehead, left to change, then shortly returning, he turned off the light and walked over to the bed. “Scoot over a little.” The bed was a Queen Size bed, baby pink sheets with imprints of several Disney princesses for our princess. It was huge compared to her size but Ryder bought it saying she’ll grow into it.

I eased around, still cradling Raylee in my arms as he slid onto the bed spooning me, and the three of us peacefully slept the remainder of the night.

Ryder’s POV

By 5 years old, Raylee started growing into her personality. She was sassy, strong headed, mouthy and bossy. The only good thing so far was that she wasn’t rude with it, but still, honestly, a part of me feared her teenage years.

“Dad, that’s not the way you have to do it. You have to write it down.”

“But you can do it this way too, sweetie. One, two, three, four, five fingers, plus one, two, three fing-.”

“No, it’s like this daddy. You have to draw 5 lines and 3 lines ON THE PAPER, and then count all of them together.”

“But you can also use your fingers, that’s all I’m trying to say.”

“Well, let me see you try using your fingers to add 5 plus 6….. See, I told you so.”

Well, that settled it, Raylee was going to do it Raylee's way. And this was only the beginning of it.

At age 7, Raylee was a skilled mastermind.

“Daddy, can I finally go to work with you?”

“What about school?”

“Yes, what about it?” she gazed at me confused, as if waiting for me to say more.

“Don't you have school today? Plus, all of your friends will be looking forward to seeing you. They’ll miss you if you don’t go, don’t you think so?”

All of Allison’s friends now had children of their own and they all attended the same primary school. Though they were in different classes, they had all become close friends, since they grew up together.

She hung her head as she nodded.

“Well then you can’t come with me.”

“ OK…” She paused then walked away.

Minutes later she returned. “Dad, none of my friends are going to school today, so I don’t want to go alone.”

“How do you know?”

“I asked mummy to let me ask them.”

“So none of them are coming!?” That was more of a shocked statement than a question. That was strange, but I didn’t think too much of it, or question it either. After all, it was not like she would know why they would be absent.

Allison was busy in the backyard and by now I was running a little behind time, so I didn’t bother to tack back and ask Allison to find out why, plus I could simply ask Theo or Jack when I saw them at work this morning.

“Alright then, just this once. Ok?”

“Yes daddy.” The smile that ran across her face was so pure and innocent… at least that was what I wanted to believe.

I took Raylee with me to work and brought her into the conference office of the Pack house.

“Oh so Haze was actually telling me the truth.” Jack muttered to himself, glancing at Raylee as he walked in.

I just looked between him and his son, Haze, then at Raylee, but didn’t bother to ask what he meant.

“Good morning Theo.” I greeted him as he came in, before looking down to see he had entered with Zaria, his daughter, holding on to the seam of his pants' leg.

“Wow, what a coincident.” I chuckled, glancing at the three children now sitting in the room.

Just then there was a knock at the door. I hadn’t been expecting anyone, but maybe one of the workers needed me.

“Come in.” I called out.

The door opened to reveal Kelly and Marissa and their children with them.

“I heard this was the drop off point.” Kelly said, ushering Klaus in.

Confusion filled my face at her statement. Drop off point?

“You can go in.” Marissa told her twin boys, Silas and Stiles.

What? The whole troop of tiny boppers were here. My eyes widened as I took it all in… Raylee, Haze, Zaria, Klaus, Silas and Stiles. What was going on?

I finally shook myself from my tranquilizing shock.

“What do you mean drop off point?”

“Oh, Haze said you were bringing Raylee to work today,” Jack began. “So he asked if he could come too. I told him yes.”

I guess that explained his comment earlier.

“Well, Zaria told me both Raylee and Haze were coming to work with their fathers. So she asked and I said yes.” Theo explained.

“Silas and Stiles said they were invited by Raylee to spend a day at the office…. I tried to call Alli to confirm but the phone seemed busy-”

“Maybe that was when she called to speak to Klaus.” Kelly chimed in after Marissa. “He told me, none of them would be at school today, so he asked to spend the day with them at the office. I figured it was because you were just….” She paused, rethinking her thought process. I doubt any of them gave much thought to this whole ordeal. They seemed to have moved blindly on the words of their children.

I narrowed my eyes at Raylee, who had just momentarily glanced up at me. “Care to explain yourself young lady?”

“Technically, dad, you asked if I had school but you never said I had to go, plus you said I couldn’t come because my friends might miss me, so now they don’t have to.”

Where did she learn such a big word from? Had she really just vindicated herself on the terms of a technicality?

Oh boy, even now more than ever, I dreaded the future.