I wrote this because of a sketch I saw on the internet, and this little story kept bouncing around my head in an annoying fashion. I had to write it.
I hope you like it.
.
His Little Angel
The door opened slowly, and the tall, handsome man stepped through. He shrugged off a heavy, snow-laden coat, tossing it onto the coat rack nearby. He had only taken two steps from there when the patter of small footsteps brought his attention to the dark haired toddler.
"Heya, my little angel," Jack greeted the girl as she hurried into the room. "What's up?"
"Daddy!" She exclaimed, racing up to him. He scooped her up and held her aloft for a moment.
"Woah-ho!" He exclaimed, his alternate green and blue eyes lighting with love for his daughter. "Don't fly away!"
She giggled and squealed. "Put me down!"
"Okay, okay," Jack put her on the ground and made for the kitchen, hungry.
She followed. "Will you read to me?" She asked.
"Of course, anything for you, Angel! Just give me one tiny second!" He responded, rummaging in the fridgerator.
The girl bounced impatiently, heading for the living room. She overturned her small box of toys excitedly. She grabbed an old, worn book. It probably been read through hundreds of times already, but she didn't care. Angel was about to rush back to the kitchen when her father emerged into the room.
"Heya! Guess what!" He exclaimed, chewing on a salad he'd quckly thrown together.
"What?" She asked, clutching the worn child's book to her.
"Guess. Otherwise, I won't tell ya." He took another bite, eating quickly and stalling for time to do so. He stabbed at it with the fork.
"Ummm," her small face scrunched in a frown of thoughtfulness and her father chuckled.
"You saw a skag today."
"Nope!"
"You saw a rainbow!"
"Still no."
"How 'bout a shooting star?"
"No, no, and nope." he said with amusement. He finished the salad and disappeared back into the kitchen. He turned just enough to make the item sticking from his pocket plain and noticeable.
Suddenly, the girl smiled. She tracked into the kitchen as he deposited the empty, dirty bowl into the sink.
"You got me something!" She declared in triumph.
"Yup! How did you ever guesssss?" He asked, grabbing her and supporting her against his side, meeting her bright-blue gaze.
She grinned, "you'll never know."
"Then I'll have to tickle it out of you!" He threatened lightly.
"No!" She laughed, as he began to tickle her. She struggled away, bat at his hands and ran into the living room.
Jack's smile faded slightly as he stole a glance into the snowy night through the window.
"She's not home..." he whispered.
"Not yet," Angel said, her face saddened abruptly.
"I'm sure she'll be here soon...oh look! I nearly forgot! This was in my pocket!"
The girl grinned excitedly as he displayed the new picture book to her.
"The Lonely Skag's Adventure!" He read. Her eyes widened as she saw the title.
"Read!" She demanded, as he walked into the living room and sat down in his recliner.
"What's the magical, magic word of magic?"
"Please!" She giggled.
"Alright, I suppo-o-ose..."
"Yay."
She climbed into his lap. He flipped open the book, letting her see the pictures clearly.
"Terry was a skag who did not fit in with his gang of skags."
"Awwww..."
"He was lonely because he had no family, and all the other skags made fun of him."
"That's sad..."
"So he set off on his own, traveling the hot deserts, the cold mountains and wet marshes to find somewhere to fit in." He flipped the page, showing off a little skag in a vast oasis.
"Terry found many places, but nowhere comfortable to call home. The desert was too hot, the marshes too wet and the mountains too cold. " Jack flipped the page again. "He also found danger from people who wanted to harm him." A cartoonish bandit chased the skag with a spear.
That's so unrealistic, Jack thought absently to himself. But is daughter was completely enthralled.
Angel gasped, staring at the page with wide eyes. "What happened?"
He kept reading. "Luckily, Terry dashed to safety, escaping the dangerous man."
Angel sighed in relief.
Jack continued, flipping pages as he progressed in the story.
"The skag was hungry, thirsty, and lonely. He'd been away from home for three whole days now." The illustration of the skag concentrated on making the beast look lonely and pathetic.
"Awww...poor, poor Terry."
"He wandered onward, tired, sad, and overall uncertain on his decision to set out alone. That night, when the stars came out, he found a pool of water to drink at."
"Pretty."
"He saw a shooting star."
The star burned across the page as it turned.
"It was the most beautiful sight the skag had seen, and he remembered that he could make a wish on the shooting star. He made a wish."
"What was the wish?" Angel bounced eagerly in his lap.
Jack smiled and turned another page down. "He wished to find a home, and a family. That night, he slept peacefully."
"Oh."
"When Terry woke up the following morning, he saw a family of ragged skags approaching him. He asked them, 'who are you?'"
Angel leaned forward to peer at the newcomers on the page.
"'We are the vault-hunter skags,' replied the obvious leader. 'We've been searching for something called a vault. It's supposed to contain treasure to last us a lifetime!'"
"Woah!" Angel said.
"Terry asked, 'can I join!' 'If you want,' replied the skag."
Angel had her eyes glued to the artist's new renditions of the creatures.
"The vault-hunter skags set out, and for three more days, they searched, and searched. Finally, they found a large cave that was said to lead to this vault."
"Spooky," Angel whispered, gazing at the massive cavern towering over the tiny skags.
"'I have a bad feeling about this,' Terry said. 'Not to worry,' the other skags assured him."
Angel was now silent, wide-eyed, enthralled in the suspense.
"For miles they traveled, ever deeper into the cave, until at last, a long circular chamber revealed itself to them. In the middle, was another skag, trapped behind a glowing barrier."
The page turned, illustrating the alien-looking room.
"'I need help!' it called to the others. They rushed over to him in curiosity. 'how'd you get behind that?' asked Terry."
Blue eyes widened.
"'I took something from the vault, and this barrier sprang up.' The skag pointed to a pile of treasure off to the side of the room."
The silence was filled with the crinkle of the page as it turned.
"The lead skag rushed over, taking a piece. But a barrier appeared around him too. The others followed him, until only Terry was the free one. He felt scared, uncertain how to rescue the others."
Angel bit her nails as the page turned.
"Abruptly, he had an idea. 'Put it back!' he told the others."
Angel nodded.
"'What?' replied the leader indignantly. 'Put it back!' repeated Terry. 'But we just got this!' The skag argued. 'It's the only way to escape, trust me.' Terry argued back."
The two bickering skags were separated by the mostly innocent-looking barrier.
"Finally, after a bit of arguing, the skags put their loot back. They gathered together as the barrier disappeared. The first skag they'd encountered put his back too. All the skags were freed."
Angel exclaimed, "Yay!" and clapped.
"The skags thanked Terry for freeing them, and the new family, promising to care for each other and to never bother the loot again, left the cave, happy... The endddd!"
"I loved it!" Angel yelped, snatching the book and launching from the chair. Abruptly, she turned. "Would you have put the treasure back?" She asked, eyes wide and serious.
"Yeah, I wouldn't want to spend the rest of my life in a dirty cave."
She nodded. "Is the vault read?"
"No way!" Jack responded.
That's when the door opened.
"Momma!" Angel yelled, rushing out of the room.
Jack stood a bit eagerly too, smiling slightly.
He loved both his daughter and his wife very much. When things got tough, he was certain to have their light in his life. And to be honest, things were always tough. Trying to find better pay was hard enough on top of everything else, and his wife was out almost all day, everyday in search of employment.
Jack regretted not being able to give them more than the occasional gift, so he gave him any spare time he could.
He took a step.
He heard his wife ask an interesting question.
"What the - Angel, why are you glowing?"
The end.
I apologize for any grammatical errors.