"One, Two, Three, Four, Five…"
Lloyd's counting the apple gels, making sure we don't have to buy anymore. I swear, every day he does something else that confirms it's him that it's my son, my little angel that shares the same name, the child that I swore died those 14 years ago.
Lloyd offered to count! Lloyd, the boy who would do anything to get out of school type things offered!
But then, that is what has told me again that it's him. He loved to count, was always counting the apple gels, orange gels…anything he could get his hands on he counted. He even counted the stars…
"Won, too, free, fouw, fife…"
"Lloyd sweetie, no need to count those, we know we have enough. Daddy just bought them."
"Count jewls Mommy!" the three year old Lloyd says from his place on the floor of the small hut they had been staying in for the past week.
"Yes sweetie I see that, but Mommy has to put them away now, we have to get moving soon."
"Count!" the toddler insists holding up one of the gels for Anna to see before going back to his counting. "Won, Too…"
Anna sighs looking out the window into the star filled night, hoping to catch a sight of her husband coming.
A smile comes to her face as she finally spots him, and she runs over as he opens the door, walking in.
"Not packed yet?" he asks after looking around the room, a worried look on his face at the fact that they weren't ready to leave yet.
"No, I can't get Lloyd to stop counting the gels so I can finish," Anna says with a shake of her head.
"Alright, you pack; I'll take care of Lloyd," Kratos says walking over to the child and kneeling down in front of him. "Come on My Little Angel, let Mommy pack those and how about instead you and I will go count the Stars?"
"Staws!!" the three year old all but yells, dropping the gel he was holding and throwing his arms around his father's neck. "Staws Daddy! Staws!"
Kratos smiles over to his wife before walking back out of the hut, Lloyd's counting heard as soon as the stars are in site.
"Won, too, free, fouw, fife…"
"Kratos, Hey Kratos!" Lloyd's voice snaps me out of my memories, his hand waving in front of my face blocking my view of the rest of the world.
"Finally! I don't get how you can walk without paying attention like that!" the teen says with a shake of his head. "As I was trying to say, we're stopping here for the night. Raine says we'll reach Palmacosta by noon tomorrow."
It's then that I notice that the sun has almost disappeared below the horizon and that the other three members of our group have just finished setting up camp.
My focus turns back to Lloyd who is just about to head over to The Chosen.
"Lloyd," I say bringing his attention back to me, "want to…go count the stars?" The question comes as a shock to him. That much is plain to see by the look on his face and he stares at me like I've gone crazy before a smile slowly finds his way back onto his face.
"Sure, I'd like that!"