My computer has one of those sensor pads… It's broken though… So what's the point of having it if it just breaks like that? It broke about a week after we bought it… Stupid technology…
The Body in the Shed – Chapter Eight
Emma liked pancakes. That much Pitch had found out. Every time he asked if she wanted breakfast, she'd say she wanted pancakes. He found it pretty cute.
Sitting in the living room with the two of them, it became story time again. Pitch didn't own many children's books, but the few he had seemed appropriate for the two of them. (Even for Jack.) Currently they were reading Alice's Adventures In Wonderland together. The siblings enjoyed the pictures and the visuals in the story more than anything, since they could only read so many words, but it was nice all the same.
"How come this story has talking animals?" Emma asked after a while, "Did somebody experiment on them and make them talk?" Obviously she was referencing the experiments from the camp.
Looking at her brother first, Pitch replied, "Well, since it's only a story, anything can happen. As long as you can imagine it. Stories don't have to be real… They can just be for fun."
"I like fun," Jack commented, smiling.
Pitch smiled back at him. "I like fun, too," he said, "It would be strange to meet someone who doesn't like fun." Jack nodded.
"They'd be angry all the time," he said.
"Is that why those men at the camp were so mean? They don't have any fun?" Emma asked. Pitch couldn't help but chuckle at her question. She had experienced so much, yet she still asked the most innocent questions.
Ruffling her hair, he said, "Most of them are like that. Grumpy old men." Jack made a face, puffing out his cheeks, and Emma squished his face, making him blow all the air back out in a raspberry. Pitch smiled at their exchange.
He did wish he could keep them forever. He had grown attached to them in the short amount of time they'd been together. Getting up, leaving them to a tickle fight, Pitch checked out the back window and the front window, seeing if anything was happening. There was still a mammoth amount of snow- he wished he could take the kids out to build a snowman. Had they ever built one before?
Maybe he could drive them out of town to go and spend the day doing something fun. His car wasn't as well protected as the tanks that patrolled the streets, and it wasn't as advanced as newer models the army used, but it was big enough to hold them all and take them. Problem was, he wouldn't be able to hide the two siblings unless they laid flat in the back seat. Getting them out to the car would also be a problem. He hardly ever used it anymore, what with the war and all, so he left it out in front of his house on the far left side. He would have to walk them out, or smuggle them inside of something. Difficult, considering how tall Jack was.
Walking back into the living room, he smiled at seeing the two of them sprawled across the furniture, giggling like fools. It was impossible to tell if anyone won their tickle battle. They were both crying they had been laughing so hard. Squatting down beside Jack, who was on his back across the couch, he brushed his bangs away and asked, "Having fun?" He nodded happily.
"Wanna go have some more fun?" he asked, looking back and forth between them. They each nodded, sitting up to look at him. "Alright, let's go upstairs and get you two some extra layers of clothes to keep you warm." He got to his feet and began walking to the stairs. When they didn't follow, he turned and smiled at them. "Well? Come on!"
"Why do we need warmer clothes?" Emma asked, confused, "We're warm in these, already!"
Smirking at them, he said, "It's a surprise, come on!" The two kids hopped to their feet and hurried after him, and then began scampering up the stairs. He laughed at the way they bounded past him, excited for whatever he had in store. Once in his bedroom, Pitch took one of his jackets from the closet and helped Jack fit into it. He gave him a scarf as well and then a wool knit hat as well as matching blue gloves. He looked like a bundled up little marshmallow. Turning to Emma, Pitch gave her one of his jackets, just a smaller one he hadn't worn in years but never felt like getting rid of. It was too big on her, but she looked precious in it. He then gave her a red wool hat and some red mittens from his childhood. They fit perfectly. He then got himself a long black coat and some black gloves. Now all that was left was figuring out how to get them to the car. He looked at little Emma, swimming in the jacket, and he got an idea.
Hiding them in bundles of clothing. It would be easier with Emma, she was tiny. Jack would be a bit harder.
He started with Emma. He got a large blanket and several random gloves and hats and lifted her into his arms. "Stay here and wait for me," he told Jack, "I'll come back for you next." Jack nodded and waited in the room.
Carrying Emma outside, Pitch felt his heart hammering in his chest. If they were caught, this could mean death for the poor girl. He did his absolute best to remain inconspicuous and keep her hidden. Opening the door to the vehicle, Pitch set her inside, laying her down. He spoke to her in a voice barely below a whisper. "Don't move. Stay lying down, okay? I'll be right back with Jack. Just stay hidden." She nodded her tiny head and remained where she was.
Going back inside, Pitch gathered up another blanket and some other articles. "Can you bundle yourself up into a ball?" he asked the skinny teen, "Or at least make yourself as small as possible?" Jack nodded and as Pitch picked him up, he curled into a fetal position. Pitch had to kick open the door and go place Jack inside the car with his sister. Once more, he told them not to move. He went and locked his front door before going back to the car and starting the noisy engine. He wasn't even sure what model he had, but it certainly wasn't the prettiest sound to listen to.
Hopping inside, he whispered to the kids not to move until he said so, promising the surprise would be worth all the trouble. Driving away from the town was one of the most terrifying experiences of Pitch's life. Every soldier he saw made his heart race. He swore each look from someone was going to be the last. He was incredibly paranoid.
Once finally out of town, being only glanced at by the guards checking for smuggled goods, (being a well-known ex-general had its perks) Pitch said, "Okay you two, you can sit up now. We're out."
Immediately there was giggling. "Where are we goin? What's our surprise?" Emma asked. He could hear her bouncing around in the back.
He refused to actually answer her the whole ride. He kept telling her she'd have to wait and see and at one point he even had Jack joining him in saying she needed to be patient. Finally Pitch reached a small empty snowy hill. He stopped the car and the kids hopped outside with him.
Taking some of the articles of clothing he had brought, Pitch went out to the middle of a flat plane of snow and they began rolling up mounds of snow. Emma helped make the bottom ball of snow as fat as possible. She said she wanted their snowman, which she quickly figured out they were making, to have a big butt. Jack had to help lift up the next sphere for the middle torso area, and then Pitch had to put the head up on top. All in all, it was a tall, fat snowman.
Lifting Emma up, Jack handed her some rocks they found for the eyes. Pitch wrapped a scarf around its neck and then Jack hurried off and grabbed some sticks. He jabbed them into the side and he put a mitten on the end. Emma put a glove on the other stick, and it gave the snowman a very asymmetrical look. His big rocky smile was perfectly messy, too. It looked like kids had made it. And they had fun doing it.
He looked to his right and smiled when he saw Jack jumping down into the snow and rolling down the hill. Emma squealed and ran after him, jumping into a tumble down the hill. He laughed as he watched them run back up and do it again and again. After several times of rolling down the hill together, the two siblings ran over and grabbed Pitch's wrists, pulling him to the hill with them.
"No, no, no, c'mon, no," he tried to argue, but the two smiling faces begging him to join in the fun convinced him to just give up and let them push him. Lying flat on his stomach, Pitch waited for his tumble.
Instead, the kids jumped down, grabbing hold of him, and began rolling with him. He yelped at the first flip, which the two kids laughed at, and they all began laughing as they flopped over and over down the hill. When he got to the bottom, Pitch had ended up losing hold of them, but he quickly jumped up and grabbed them. They both squeaked when he got hold of them and he took their hats off and filled them with snow, shoving them back onto their heads. The squeal of laughter from Emma when the snow hit her head was too cute for words.
They got back at him for that. Jack grabbed a handful of snow and threw it at his forehead, hitting him perfectly. And then Emma tossed another snowball at him and then soon they were both trying to shovel snow down his coat. They pushed him down onto his back and then filled his coat with the freezing powder. So, as they did, for revenge, he grabbed them and yanked them down against him, making them squish into the snow.
After all that fun in the cold, naturally the kids would want something warm. As long as they stayed out of town and away from all places frequented by the army men, they would be fine. Pitch could afford to treat them. He found a little dive that looked like only those who knew about it ever visited.
The three of them sat in a booth and both Emma and Jack ordered themselves hot chocolate. Jack continuously poked at the whipped cream, until it eventually was nothing more than a mushy pile of white fluff. Pitch smiled as he took a tiny bit onto his finger and touched it to his nose. He said he was gonna turn white like the snowman. "You already are white," Pitch replied, "You're one of the palest children I've ever met." Jack stuck his tongue out at him and proceeded to sip his hot chocolate.
Judging by the big smile on his face, Pitch felt it safe to ask, "Good?"
"It's sweet," he replied, sipping more of it. Emma drank some of hers and nodded in agreement.
"You should've got some," she said, "your drink smells funny." He had gotten coffee. He didn't feel like having anything else, but apparently his choice wasn't god enough. Smiling, he grabbed Jack's cup.
"Then maybe I'll have a sip!" he took a tiny sip, faking it as an enormous gulp, from Jack's. The teen squeaked and flailed at him, trying to get his drink back. He laughed and handed it back, watching his unhappy pout as he wiped the edge clean.
When the two got their food, Emma ordered a full stack of pancakes ironically enough; Pitch couldn't hold back the smile on his face at seeing how bright their eyes got. They were so happy. He wished he could go out in the open with them like this all the time, without a care in the world… as… well, a family.
