(Disclaimer: This story, plot, and its characters are all copyright and owned by me unless otherwise stated.)
Remember: Only you can prevent art and writing theft. Please don't be a jerk and steal. Or I'll hunt you down. And my machete hungers for the blood of evil thieves.
Chapter 8
Haydren came back to the apartment juggling five brown paper bags stuffed the brim with food. Roxanna and Jaylyn followed him up the stairs, skipping and singing all the way. If he heard, "Uncle Haydren, can I have this?" once more, he was going to strangle Roxanne.
He opened the door and let the two girls in to run about, locking it behind them then went to put up the groceries. By the time he was done, the fridge was full of food, and the freezer was being put to good use.
Once finished he headed into the living room. Finding Roxanne on the rug playing with Janus, petting the Doberman's large head, he paused to gaze about the small living room. "Roxanne, where's Jaylyn?" The little girl was no where in sight.
Roxanne leaned her head back to look back at him in that way that children did and she gave an unknowing shrug. "I dunno."
A soft wet plop from the bathroom answered his question. He stepped cautiously down the hall way and to the open bathroom door, peeking in. Jaylyn stood next to the toilet, her hands on the rim as she peered inside. Smiling happily. She pointed to the bowl as Haydren stepped into the room. He walked over, afraid of what he might see and leaned over Jaylyn to look inside.
Inside, a lavender and white toothbrush floated in the water. He cringed inwardly. Ana's toothbrush. He fished it out, uttering a curse and dropped it into the garbage. "Disgusting..."
"Ahhh." Jaylyn pouted in disappointment as he washed his hands, looking into the empty toilet bowl as the water rippled.
Meanwhile, Ana was sitting in her calculus class, mind aching as she stared down at the test on her desk.
I don't know any of this, she mentally groaned, plopping her forehead down on the desktop. She couldn't do any of these problems.
When the bell rang for dismissal, she was the first to hand in her test and be out the door. She dragged herself down the hall in air of tired silence. Her thoughts milling over the recent events in her formerly quiet life. Where had she gone wrong? Switching shampoos. All this for using a new kind of shampoo? Talk about a butterfly effect...
"Hey, Ana!" A cheery voice roused her from her thoughts and she turned to see Amelia, another freshman and one of Ana's friends since highschool.
"Morning, Amelia." She muttered, toned resigned as she gave the girl a small wave in greeting.
"You look terrible. I thought you weren't suppose to be here today?" Amelia's high pitched voice held genuine concern.
"Am I here?" She asked, looking down at herself.
"You're so funny, Ana." Amelia laughed merrily, her smile lighting her face. "I thought Jason said he was taking the girls to stay with you today, though? What with his mom being in the hospital and all."
"He what?" A horrible thought crossed Ana's mind. If Jason had dropped off the girls after she'd left for school...Did he even know she wasn't home? Worse yet, had he left them with that sociopathic, gun slinging, pervert?
Oh God, what if he knew about Haydren? Shit, she'd never hear the end of this...
"I've got to get home!" Ana waved a goodbye to Amelia then was off faster than she'd ever ran in her life.
Amelia watched her curiously, shaking her head with a smile.
Back home, Haydren had learnt what exactly a baby sitter does on the job. He was sitting back on the couch in the living room, his eyes glued to the television as some war documentary was playing.
The girls had found ways to amuse themselves. Jay was rolling about on the rug like a bug and Roxie had disappeared, he figured off to Ana's bedroom to find some girl stuff to play with.
Janus watched as the two year old rolled across the floor again, bumping into the coffee table leg with an "omf."
About thirty minutes into a program about the bombing of Hiroshima, a figure appeared from the hall and stopped in the archway.
Roxanne stood wearing Haydren's shoes and a military jacket. Somehow she had also managed to get a hold of his backup gun and holster and had it strung across her shoulder and chest. Rambo style.
"Uncle Haydren, I'm hungry." She whined, fiddling with the leather of the holster, the long sleeves of the jacket swallowing her hands.
Haydren looked to her, having to try very hard to break his attention from the television set. "Huh? Why are you wearing my clothes?" He asked and stood, walking over to take the holster off of her along with the gun. A kid with a gun was probably not the best idea.
"'Cause I wanted to." She shrugged, letting him take the gun, but refused to give up the jacket. Jaylyn stood up next to her, holding her little stomach.
"Ungee." She murmured, her voice going to a low whine.
"What's ungee?" Haydren arched a brow and looked between the young girls.
"She's hungry. And so am I..." Roxanne put her hands on her hips.
Haydren sighed and went to the kitchen. What did kids eat? He put his extra gun up in the cabinet over the stove, popping his neck as the girls entered, following him. "How about some cereal?"
The both stuck their tongues out in disgust. "Yuck." Roxanne turned her nose up. "We want pancakes and eggs."
"I can't make eggs." Haydren narrowed his gaze at the child. This child was evil. She had to sense he couldn't cook. He heard something banging in the cabinets and turned around to see Jaylyn had sat on the floor and produced a large cook book from the bottom cabinet.
He picked it out of her hands, flipping through it. This couldn't be so hard. After all, learning to cook had to be somewhere in the training, he supposed. "Alright...Eggs and pancakes..."
Ana darted up the front steps of the apartment building just as an elderly woman from the third floor was leaving. She dashed inside and up three flights of stairs to her floor as fast as she could. When she got there, the air was thick with smoke and the smoke alarm was wailing.
Roxanne, Jason's little sister stood outside her open apartment door, fanning a towel to wave the smoke out of the apartment.
Ana's eyes widened. Dear God, please say that idiot didn't burn down my house.
"Ana!" Roxie chimed as she saw her aunt come up the stairs. "Thank goodness! Haydren really needs some help!"
"Stay here, Roxie." Ana commanded and went inside, coughing lightly against the smoke, but it wasn't that thick. More like...burnt food. She swung into the kitchen to find Jaylyn on the island in the center of the kitchen, playing with a bottle of pancake syrup, which was now all over her hands. The walls and cabinets and floor were covered in flour and egg shells.
Haydren stood with his back to the door as she entered. She took the bottle from Jaylyn with a sticky pop.
"Haydren, what on earth happened in here?" Ana asked curiously as she picked Jaylyn up, but Haydren did not turn to look at her, just kept washing the dishes, scrubbing viscously at a skillet.
"He burnt the pancakes." Roxanne said cheerfully as she walked in behind Ana. "He can't cook."
Haydren stiffened, but made no reply once more.
Jaylyn blinked at the silence of the room then squealed happily, planting her sticky hands straight into Ana's hair.
Ana made sure both girls were bathed and clean of all syrup before setting out to take her own shower.
Jason had called to check up and she had told him what had happened. That didn't stop him from wanting to know exactly what the deal with Haydren was, but she brushed it off. Explaining that she would watch the girls for the night, since he was going to be longer than expected at the hospital.
She sighed, drying her hair with her towel as she left the bathroom. She had tugged on a long, Maroon 5 shirt and some matching black shorts. "Alright you guys, time for b--" She paused as she entered the living room, eyes falling on the couch.
Haydren sat slouched against the arm of the couch as if he had plopped down and instantly fallen to sleep, his arm draped over the back and the other over the lay limply over the couch arm, dangling nearly to the floor. Jaylyn sat on his leg, one hand nested in his t-shirt as she slept, Roxanne sat on his other side, her head resting back on his side.
Ana stood for a moment simply looking at them in the blue hue of the light from the muted, flickering television. She studied Haydren's sleeping face silently. His mouth was open just slightly as he slept, his long lashes laying gently across his cheeks. He looked almost...childlike. She tilted her head curiously at that thought. Childlike. She smiled softly.
Maybe...he's not really so bad...
