The day Caleb and I met will always be special to me. He's gotten me through some rough times. Especially after my little brother was born. I learned that having a baby in the house meant that the baby needed a lot of attention… especially at night. I didn't mind keeping my brother company during the day. But when it was time for bed… he would cry… a lot.
I'd rather not remember Princeton's first months at the house… I was not myself for a long a time. Mom and Dad told me sometimes I would yell at the forest and scream into my pillows and my dolls. I was so tired and frustrated I guess I went a little crazy. They actually sent me to live with Caleb and his family for a little while. They didn't seem to mind and it was nice to hang out with Caleb all the time. It was like having another brother, except this one didn't keep me up and could walk and talk. It became a tradition since then that I would stay there for about two weeks every summer.
After Princeton turned about 6 or 7 months, everything went seemingly back to normal. But then, one day, I remember I was out in the back yard with Ben, Uncle Tails and Aunt Cream's son. He's like my cousin. He didn't speak much when we were little. Well, he still doesn't talk very much. He's a fox like my Uncle Tails but he was this kind if dark silver color with white highlights. He didn't have bangs like my uncle but his hair grew long and flat. His hair had faint white tips, almost like you could see through them. He got accustomed to wearing a cap to keep his hair out of his face. He was about 3 as far as I can remember. We were watching him and his sister Whitney while Aunt Cream and Uncle Tails were at the doctors. They were going to have another baby.
We were playing in the garden. He had these toys that acted like magnetic building blocks that came in different shapes and colors. It was fun. He would draw up plans for things to build and we'd build them. I never knew what he would draw up next. It could have been a building, a plane, an animal… it was kind of random.
Anyway, my parents were inside taking care of Princeton and Whitney when I felt a gust of wind.
"Ah," I closed my eyes and I ended up falling up against a pot and hit my head. "Ow," I whined. I looked up to see who it was. It was… "Princeton!?" His quills started to grow in and he looked more like Dad than Mom. He was more of an indigo violet sort of color though. Parts of his quills had a dark pink tint to them.
"Princeton!" I heard my mom yell. She and Dad came out of the house. Mom was holding Whitney.
I felt another gust of wind and he was gone.
"What?" I was in disbelief. He couldn't even walk yet. He just barely stood up a few days ago. How can he run like that?
"No way."
"Sonic-"
"On it." Before I knew it, my dad went after him. He hopped over the patio and started to run.
I still couldn't wrap my head around the fact my brother could run like that when he couldn't walk. It was unbelievable.
Something caught my eye, it was Whitney walking towards Ben. She was a rabbit like Aunt Cream but she had dark red orange kind of color with long sort of auburn colored hair in a bun.
"Aw man." I looked at the remnants of what was an elephant taller than me made from the magnetic pieces. "Princeton must've knocked it over."
"Oh, Sweetie, he didn't mean it."
"I know mama, I know. He's just a baby and he's learning." We went through this routine too many times for me to keep getting angry. It got exhausting to be upset three times a day sometimes. I gave up fighting for the most part after the time he started to throw blocks at me.
Whitney and Ben were already at work rebuilding the elephant. Whitney would inspect the pieces before handing them to Ben to place them where they belonged on the elephant. Watching them, I really hoped that Princeton and I would be able to work together like that. I did feel a little jealous towards my cousins. But Mom always said that this was a phase. Princeton would learn. It was taking a lot longer than I thought it would. I wasn't sure how much more I could take.
I looked at my mom and she smiled gently at me. "Come here Sweetie." She held her arms open so I came onto the bench and she held me in her lap. She squeezed me as she told me "I know it's been hard on you the past few months." She kissed my forehead. "It's been tough on your dad and me too."
"It feels like this is taking forever." I sighed and groaned.
She started to rock back forth. "I know Sweetie. But you need to know it won't be much longer." I sighed. I knew my mom was right. Even then I knew. It was just hard. A baby brother was hard to take care of and hard to get along with.
"But how much longer?" I whined.
I looked up at her.
She smiled tiredly at me. "I don't know Sweetie. You can't predict these things."
"That doesn't help." I told her. I looked at her disappointed.
"I'm not going to lie to you Annie. All we can do is wait and make sure Princeton is healthy and happy."
"It hurts though." I said while I held my head remembering yesterday when he flung his toy train around and hit my head. "And what will happen now?" He has super speed like Daddy. What if he wrecks the house?!" I asked worried and scared. I raised my voice a little.
She gently smiled at me. "He won't wreck the house. Your daddy will catch him before Princeton can break anything."
Something hit me. "How come Daddy hasn't come back yet?"