A/N: Originally this chapter and chapter 4 were combined, but then I got frustrated, needed to update, and split them, so sorry if this is kind of short.

This takes place immediately following chapter 4, still in flashback. Enjoy!

Chapter 5- And I'm Alone

That night, after Aunt Vanessa finally went home, Mommy came into my room. She pulled out my suitcase and started folding my clothes into it.

"Are we staying wif Daddy?" I asked.

Mommy paused, then came to sit next to me on my bed. She began running her fingers through my hair. "Oh Sweetie, Daddy's not coming back, we're not joining him."

"Ever?"

"Ever."

Tears started to well up in my eyes. Mommy wrapped her arms around me and gave me a huge hug.

"It'll be okay, sweetie," she soothed, "I'm going to be here. The two of us will stick together, forever and always."

That night Mommy stayed with me while I slept.

The next morning, however, she announced that we were moving in with Aunt Vanessa, Uncle Connor, and my cousin Jessie. Uncle Connor had no personality; he merely went along with whatever his wife told him. Jessie was a year younger than me but I didn't know her very well. I wasn't looking forward to living with Aunt Vanessa; but Mommy said it would only be for a little while,

"Just until I find a little house for the two of us," she said.

"Can we get a pet?"

"Of course we can."

"Can we getta cow!?" I asked excitedly. I wanted a cow very badly.

Mommy just laughed and said she'd think about it.

We moved in with Aunt Vanessa. Their house wasn't very big, so Mommy and I had to share the guestroom. I didn't like staying there; Mommy spent most days of the next month trying to find a house and Jessie took up everyone else's attention. I was stuck in the background, ignored. So I lived in a fantasy world. My imaginary friends were my favorite playmates, the stories I made up became my life, things were perfect in my pretend world. Real life, however, was beginning to crash down around me.

"Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon. The little dog laughed to see such fun and the dish ran away with the spoon! And then they all went to sleep and dreamed happy dreams." Mommy kissed my forehead. "Sleep tight sweetheart, I love you."

"I love you too, Mommy!" She smiled and got up off the floor where I was sleeping and turned towards her bed. "Mommy?"

"Yes?"

"Can we getta cow tomorrow?" I asked sleepily.

"Sure sweetie," she replied. "I'll get you a cow tomorrow."

"Goody!" I drifted off to sleep smiling happily.

When I woke up the next morning, Mommy wasn't in bed, nor was she downstairs. When I asked Aunt Vanessa she said that Mommy had already gone out and that I should go outside to play. I took my doll and went out to the swing that Uncle Connor had hung from a tree.

I was too little to sit on the swing, so it took me a while to figure out how to climb up on it. I finally was sitting on the swing, my doll next to me, when I realized I couldn't go anywhere. My legs were too short to reach the ground. Instead, I just sat there, talking with my Dolly.

I must have fallen asleep for when Mommy shook my shoulder it was getting dark out. She picked me up and carried me upstairs. As she was tucking me into bed, she handed me a small, oddly shaped, brightly wrapped gift.

"It's not my birfday," I mumbled.

Mommy just smiled, "Open it."

I did and found a plush cow.

"I promised to get you a cow today," Mommy said, "do you like her?"

"I love my cow!"

"Does she have a name?"

I thought very hard for a good minute, "Elsie," I declared. "Her name is Elsie."