Page 23 of Their Little Foursome

Her Daddy gave her a look that let her know that despite the giggling and fun, she was expected to remember her manners.

“Sorry, Daddy. May I please get down? I want to help too.”

“I’ll take yours,” Sadie said, putting the empty plate and glass on her own tray. “I’ll be back in just a second.”

“Thank you, I’ll be right here.” Lori lowered the hand she’d lifted to wave so her Daddy could pull the tray over her head. “I’m really sorry, Daddy. I got a little excited.”

“Alittle?Babygirl, if that’s a little, I’m not sure I can handle a whole lot excited.”

His smile and the kiss he pressed to her forehead awarded Lori the forgiveness she needed. Throwing her arms around his neck, she hugged him hard. “I love you, Daddy!”

CHAPTER 8

Blake

Blake and his Mommy had had a great weekend, but he was excited about going back to school. He’d brought the sketch he’d completed yesterday while his Mommy made supper. He was anxious to show it to his friends and to start filling it in with colored pencils. When it was finished, it would join all the other ones the Littles had been working on to hang in the hallway as decorations for Halloween. His might even be chosen to hang in the lobby, but if not, it didn’t matter because heloveddrawing and everything about Halloween. From the costumes to the trick-or-treating, from the spooky stories being told around the fire to the ghost-shaped marshmallows they’d roast before smushing them between graham crackers. He could practically taste the melting chocolate bar in the middle of the s’mores they’d stuff themselves with.

The door opened to the Butterfly Room, and he saw his teacher, Miss Price, stepping out into the hall just as he heard his name being called.

“Blake!”

He turned and grinned at the sight of a group of Littles at the entrance to the Littles’ Wing. His sketch in hand, he waved and started back in the direction he’d come in order to meet up with his friends.

“Hi, Sadie!” he called but was pretty sure she hadn’t heard because at that moment the sound of the bell ringing filled the hallway.

He’d already been late a couple of times and his Mommy had informed him a third tardy would result in him facing the corner to contemplate his behavior while sitting in his naughty-boy chair on his bare, very hot bottom. He’d just turned back to return to his class at the same time the Littles still caught in the hall began to run down it. Seeing the Caterpillar room door opening and Nanny J stepping out, he picked up his own pace.

“No running!”

Though he was looking at his teacher, it hadn’t been her voice he’d heard. Neither was it his Mommy’s or even Nanny J’s. It hadn’t been any woman’s at all. It was the same voice he’d heard in the grocery store.

Stumbling to a stop, Blake turned around, no longer seeing Sadie or their friends. Instead, his eyes locked on those of a man whose height allowed him to look over the heads of everyone in the hallway.

It was him.

The man in his nightmare.

Memories slammed into Blake as the Little group split, one stopping in her tracks while Sadie and the others ran ahead. Blake’s heart raced, his blood pounding so loudly in his ears it was all he could hear.

He looked from the girl in the pink-and-white dress and then back to the man and back again.

It was her.

But it couldn’t be. It was impossible, and yet, despite the distance between them, when the Little’s eyes widened, Blake’s heart skipped. Their green depths were exactly the same as he’d seen that night. Even during the horror engulfing him, he’d instantly thought of emeralds when she’d opened her eyes for the briefest of moments before she reached up to touch his cheek and then…

“No!”

Unaware that he’d shouted, not hearing the concerned voices of teachers or friends, all Blake heard was the voice in his head telling him to run. He tore down the hall, dropping the sketch he still held, not seeing it flutter to the floor. Blake slammed against the door at the end of the hall, giving another cry until he managed to tear it open and leap outside. He ran. He ran past the sandbox… past the jungle gym… past the slide. Running between the swings, his arm got caught. His cry was a strangled scream as he fought against the hold. He didn’t see a chain, he saw razor-sharp talons curled into claws. Not feeling the tear of his skin, he ripped his arm free, setting both swings swaying in his wake as he ran. He had no destination in mind, wasn’t thinking of anything but putting as much distance between himself and the stuff of his nightmares.

Blake ran until he could run no further. Tears streamed down his face at the unfairness of it all as he looked toward the sky and screamed, “I tried! I swear I tried!” Stumbling, he didn’t bother trying to break his fall. Flashes of memory flooded through him as he rolled down a hill, never feeling the scratch of branches as he crashed through them. When he came to a stop, he curled up as tightly as he could.

The annoyed chatter of a squirrel became the sounds of sirens and garbled orders being shouted by so many that none were clear. The smell of the earth beneath his cheek was exchanged with the smell of smoke, of ash… of death. The tearsrunning over his lips tasted not of salt, but of the copper of spilled blood.

But those were not the things that haunted him. What had broken his soul was the last thing he’d seen that night. A vision that had seared itself into his consciousness so deeply he’d never forget. An image that had destroyed the one thing that had kept him…

Kept him digging through lifeless arms and legs.

Kept him muttering they were safe, that he’d help them even though not a single voice answered.

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