Chapter summary:
Jazz has taken Danny's safety into her own hands.

I meant to post this earlier but I got distracted by The Adventure Zone
Original drawing can be found here: post/618370538475307008/day-17-childhood-how-much-of-jazzs-childhood-do

Jazz looked up from her book at the sound of her brother running around giggling. "Be careful!" she called as Danny stumbled over his own feet.

"I am careful!"

The girl giggled before going back to her book. "If you say so."

The two siblings remained in a comfortable silence, neither needing to exchange any words. A small smile had graced Jazz's face during the quiet, and she happily shut her book, saying an excited, "done" in the process.

"Alright, Danny! Do you want to go outsi-" Jazz looked over to where her brother had been. Her eyebrows raised in confusion as she looked at the empty space where the boy has been. "Danny?"

Her eyes scanned the room, and they widened as they finally found the boy. "Danny!"

The five year old was walking over to the basement, a big smile plastered on his face as he turned to look at Jazz. "I'm going to say hi to mommy and daddy, OK?"

"No!" exclaimed Jazz, getting up and running over to the staircase down to the basement, and placing herself in front of it. "It's not OK!" The girl spread her arms out as if they were barricaded once Danny had caught up to her.

She could hear the feint sound of her parents working on their technology, and the occasional laugh. Neither of them knew the exact piece of technology they were working on, but Jazz knew it was dangerous and that she had to keep her brother away.

"It's dangerous," she said, looking down at his big blue eyes.

"But I want to say 'hi'."

Jazz brought her hands down to Danny's shoulders and turned him around. "You can say 'hi' after they come back up," she said, nudging him away. "They're busy."

"Oh... OK!" Without a second thought, Danny ran back to the living room. Jazz let out a relieved breath and turned towards the staircase.

She would never let her brother get hurt down there.

Ever.

—

Danny died in their basement nine years later.

That last line was supposed to be my authors note. But then I thought "eh. Might as well keep put it in"