A happy ten year old Shelly Butler skipped out into her backyard. She was still wearing her bright green gymnastics leotard from earlier with only a tight pair of grey tracksuit bottoms on to cover the skimpy article of clothing. She was barefoot but didn't care and ran through the overgrown grass towards her newly built tree-house. She ran around to the back of it and climbed up the wiggly rope ladder. She glared at her two brothers when she came up onto the deck.
"Hey! Get out of my tree-house!" She cried in anger and stomped her bare foot forcefully. Her two eldest brothers Henry and Marcus lay down on her deck on her tree-house playing cards without her!
"It isn't just your tree-house, Smelly." Marcus said shoving his little sister aside. She stumbled back a little and fell against the wooden fencing around the tree-house. If the wooden fence hadn't of been the same height as her she would've fallen off.
"I could of gotten hurt!" Shelly screamed and stomped her foot again. Her dark brown hair fell out of the ponytail it was tied up loosely in. She glared her hazel eyes at her brothers and stuck her tongue out at them.
"I wish you did!" Marcus mumbled and moved one of his cards. Henry groaned in defeat.
"You win." Henry told him and gathered up the cards and began to shuffle them.
"I want to play!" Shelly declared and looked down at her brothers who up until her arrival were peacefully enjoying their game of cards.
"This game is too hard for you, why don't you go back inside and play with Wendell and Walter." Henry suggested and began to give out cards between himself and Marcus.
"I can play! I'm smart!" Shelly announced loudly and stood between the pair on top of the cards.
"Smelly get off the cards." Marcus moaned and shoved her over again. She fell over onto her shins. They grazed a little at small specks of red appeared in the white scratchy skin. Shelly pouted, she wasn't really in pain it just gave her an excuse to get Marcus into trouble.
"I'm telling!" Shelly shrieked so loud that Henry and Marcus had to cover their ears.
"See what you did." Henry grumbles angrily.
"Me? What'd I do wrong? She's the one bugging us!" Marcus declared.
"Mommy!" Shelly screamed loudly and let out fake whimpers. She started to rub her eyes so that they would be red and make it seem as though she was crying.
"Fine I'm sorry!" Marcus gave in. Shelly stopped crying and sat cross legged next to her brothers.
"I only want red cards." Shelly ordered.
"It doesn't work that way." Henry told her and ran his hands through his hair as shade only slightly lighter than Shelly's.
"Well make it." Shelly replied quickly.
"Uh oh here comes trouble." Marcus mumbled looking out through the gaps of the fence. Two diapered boys ran carelessly through the grass towards the tree house. The let out frustrated cries as both tried to climb up the ladder at the same time.
"Why is everyone trying to come into my tree-house?" Shelly asked and squished up her face in her hand.
"I'll go help them up" Henry said sounding defeated and bent down and pulled the young boys up by their arms. He sat them down on the sofa in the sheltered part of the tree-house and walked back onto the deck with Shelly and Marcus.
"Why'd you let them into my tree-house?" Shelly asked in a voice of disgust.
"Shelly looked at your cards when you were gone!" Marcus blurted out.
"You did too!" Shelly retaliated.
"What's that Enwy?" One of the two twins questions stepping out of the tree-house barefoot like his sister in only a diaper and a bright red t-shirt with a banana stitched onto it.
"What's what buddy." Henry asked with a smile and ruffled his baby brothers fair hair.
"That." The other twin replied and pointed upwards at something plummeting out of the sky.
"What is that!" Marcus asked his voice filled with fear.
"Cover your heads." Henry ordered and grabbed the twins and sheltered their small heads under his chest.
"Mommy!" Shelly whimpered loudly and shield her head with her hands. Next to her Marcus crouched himself in a tight ball as small as possible. Both himself and Shelly felt arms pull them closer to Henry and all five of the siblings huddled close together as a colorful rock struck their tree-house quicker than they anticipated. The tree in which it was built in collapsed to the floor and broken wood panels scattered around the yard.
Mrs. Butler heard the noise and quickly ran out to the backyard. She let out a scared shriek when she saw the scene. Her knees went wobbly and she couldn't stop shaking. Tears began to well up in her bright blue eyes. She starred at the damage and was dumbfounded when a burst of blue, purple, green and red light burst through the gaps in the wood. The tears fell out of her eyes and her hand covered her mouth. It was then that she ran towards the mess and started pulling at the broken pieces of wood and scattered tree branches.
She searched for the best of an hour and only found a torn piece of a red t-shirt with a banana stitched to the front of it. She clutched it tight to her chest and let out a cry. She heard her husbands car pull into the drive way.
"David! David! Come quick! David!" She plead as the snot and tears rolled down her pretty porcelain face. She watched as her husband rushed outside.
"What happened? Where are the kids?" David asked worried and turned his head about frantically. Mrs. Butler let out a wail and pointed a shaky finger towards the wreckage in their garden. David's brown eyes widened and he quickly rushed over and through pieces of wood into the air. Mrs. Butler had her arms crossed over her chest but bit on her thumb. "Call an ambulance! The fire station! Anyone!" David called to her wife. She ran inside and did so.
David pulled up the large piece of wood which was the broken remains of the roof of the tree-house. Underneath was a crater with his five children unconscious inside it with a steaming colorful rock in the middle of them. He carefully lowered himself down and picked up the twins in his arms and returned to the top.
"Janice!" He called. She ran outside with the phone still in her hand. She dropped it and ran over to her babies. She swooped the, up and kissed at their temples.
"Are the other there too?" She cried as more tears streamed down her cheeks. David nodded and went back down and through Marcus over his shoulder and picked up Shelly bridal style. Her went up and lay them down on top of the pointy pieces of wood.
He went back down and carried Henry out with much difficulty.
"Are they going to be okay!" Janice repeated over and over again as more and more tears clotted her vision.
Shelly Butler woke up aching underneath a thin crisp hospital blanket. There was wires coming out of everywhere on her and a weird tube thing sticking in at her nostrils. She moved her nose a bit but it didn't come out. It was dark in the room apart from the one door that let in light at the side. She could hear hushed conversations between people, footsteps walking by and beeps coming every few seconds.
"Mommy?" She whispered and looked around the room. Her voice hurt when she said that. She licked at her lips and they were all dry and cracked. She was scared, she had no idea where she was. Her eyes started to well up with tears and she let out a hoarse cry. It only hurt her throat hurt more. She moved her hand up to her throat only to feel a wire sticking into the front of it. She looked down at it in confusion and tears began to fall from her eyes.
"Mommy!" She cried as load as she could despite her sore throat. She just wanted to get out of the scary, dark room. Her voice was crackled and she sounded like she had throat cancer or smoked twenty boxes a day. She heard loud feet run towards her room. Her mommy!
It wasn't her mommy though. It was three woman. They had flipped on the light switch. The light hurt poor Shelly's eyes really bad and she started to squint. Tears fell from her eyes. The woman sat Shelly upright in the bed and took a few of the weird wires out of her.
"I want my Mommy." Shelly whispered. Only one of the nurses heard her. She gave her a light nod but never once said anything. The other nurses made a big fuss over her and re-dressed all her bandages and insisted on her drinking the water they had set out for her.
It was twenty minutes later when her mother finally came in. Her dad was right behind her. Shelly was really tired but she didn't want to go asleep in this place, she wanted her bed with all her stuffed animals and her blanket.
"Shelly. Are you okay?" Her mother asked and rubbed her daughters hair back. There was happy tears in her eyes.
"I wanna go home." Shelly pouted and looked at her mother properly for the first time. Her mother looked as though she hadn't slept for months and her pretty brown hair wasn't even brushed.
"You can't go home yet. The doctors still have to watch you for a little." Her mother told her sadly.
"Where's Henry and Marcus." Shelly asked tiredly. Her mother looked nervously at her father.
"They're sleeping." Her father told her. "Look who I have." Her said cheerfully and held up a bright yellow bag. He pulled out of the bag a stuffed panda bear.
"Sally." Shelly said quietly her eyes were getting very heavy. Her father placed the bear underneath his daughters arms. Shelly looked down and only noticed now how pale she looked. Sickly pale. So sick she was almost green.
"Mr. Butler, Mrs. Butler!" A confused nurse called running into the room. "Your sons are after waking up." She said out of breath.
"Which one." Shelly's father asked and stood up from where her sat next to Shelly's bed.
"All of them." The nurse said confused. Her mother and father stood up to exit the room.
"Don't leave me alone." Shelly begged quietly.
"It'll only be for a minute, Dolly." Her father promised and kissed her forehead. Shelly winced and clutched tighter to her panda.