Chapter 1



I woke up early that morning to the sound of my child yelling in my ear. I opened my eyes and saw Gabriel yanking on my bed sheets and him yelling, “Get up! Get up!” I finally rubbed my eyes and sat up. I looked over to where Kyle was supposed to be, but of course it was empty.



Gabriel released the sheets and backed away from the bed. I got up and threw the covers off of me. I headed into the kitchen to see Kyle standing and making coffee.



“Good morning honey,” he said with a grin his eyes on the coffee maker.



“Good morning,” I replied smiling. I went up to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Where’s Susie?”



“She’s still sleeping,” he said pouring the coffee into two mugs. “I wouldn’t dare wake her up this early in the morning.”



I looked at the clock hanging on the wall. It was 6:30. I groaned and looked at Gabriel. He just shrugged, grinning. I sighed and dumped two packets of sugar into the coffee mug and stirred. Gabriel sat on one of the dining room chairs and ate his peanut butter toast, the crust off.



“Did you make me toast?” I asked smiling up at Kyle.



“Yep, it’s right over on the table,” he pointed over to my favorite spot.



“Thank you,” I said and picked up my coffee mug and headed over to the table. Gabriel had peanut butter all over his face and hands. He was still in Kindergarten so, it was explainable. I still had to teach him otherwise, though.



I laughed at him and Gabriel giggled, licking the peanut butter off his fingers. I picked up a piece of toast and bit into it. “Can you get me a paper napkin?” I asked Kyle as he was making himself some toast.



“Is it Gabriel, again?” he asked looking over the half wall dividing the kitchen from the dining room.



“Yep,” I said looking at Gabriel accusingly. He just giggled and got more peanut butter all over himself. I swear I wouldn’t know what to do without Kyle there.



Kyle brought over some paper towels and started cleaning off Gabriel’s face. Gabriel protested with some cries and finally gave up, leaving Kyle just to peacefully clean up his face. Gabriel left the table leaving half a piece of toast which Kyle usually ate after he was finished with his. He was really frugal.



After I finished eating, I cleaned up my area and put my plate on the counter. I sighed and looked up at the clock again. It was a little later, 7:05.



“Should I wake up Susie?” I asked Kyle. He looked up from his toast.



“Sure,” he said looking up at the clock. “But I would warn you, she hates this time.” I laughed and walked into Susie’s room. She was peacefully lying in her light, oak wood crib. Her mattress sheets were white with pink and purple butterflies. The butterflies looked so real that it seemed like they would fly away, but to be truthful that would scare little Susie and we do not want that, now do we? Above the crib was a mobile with butterflies that would spin around and play,” Somewhere Over the Rainbow”.



The walls in the room were purple and the floor was laminate. She had a changing table that matched exactly what the crib was. She had a toy bin that held all of her toy ponies and stuffed animals, except one battered down white bunny lying in the crib next to Susie. Susie was a one year old and was already starting to walk and speak to us. Her first word I remember very clearly. It was Gabriel. It was very sweet, but Gabriel didn’t seem to care much.



I gently picked up Susie and held her in my arms. I rocked her slowly and carefully. She opened her eyes anyway and looked up at me. After a silent moment, she started to cry, good thing I had a pacifier in my open hand and I put it in her mouth. She sucked on it and looked up at me with those big brown eyes.



Susie had fairly long hair, so I usually put that up into a ponytail or pigtails. She had light skin and always looked good in pink or purple. She was wearing pink footsie pajamas with yellow hearts all over it. She was adorable. I held her up to my chest so that she would be looking over my shoulder. I lightly patted her back and tilted my head to the side and kissed her head. Her hair was soft and black.



I headed over to the changing table and took off her pajamas. I slipped on a light purple dress and put yellow socks on her small, delicate feet. I brushed and separated her hair down the middle. I held one of the sides and put a yellow band around that one and then on the other. After tightening the bands and Susie crying a protest, I held her up to examine her pigtails. She looked fine so, I held her to my chest again and patted her back gently as I heard her faint breathing. The feel of her breath against my bare neck reminded me of a cool breeze.



Gabriel opened the door to her room a crack and peered inside. I looked over at him and put my pointer finger to my lips, a silent message to him. He sighed and closed the door quietly. I could hear his footsteps in the hallway and faint voices in the distance. I hummed a lullaby to Susie and she soon fell asleep again.



I carried her out of the room and headed down the hallway to see Gabriel and Kyle watching the morning news. I sat down next to them carefully, not to wake up Susie. Gabriel was stretched across most of the couch, causing me to be scrunched up on the edge.



“What’s so interesting with the news lately, boys?” I asked cradling Susie in my arms and brushing loose hair out of her eyes.



“Nothing much,” Kyle said sighing, “Just a bunch of bull like always.” Gabriel giggled, swinging his legs that made the couch move slightly. “They’re just talking about secret bases and investigations. They think they’re hiding things from us,” Kyle continued shrugging.



“What in the world would they be hiding from us?” I asked disbelievingly. Kyle just shrugged and changed the channel to, The Soup.



Susie opened her eyes and looked up at me, batting her eyelashes. I cradled her close to me and kissed her forehead. Behind her pacifier, it seemed as if she was smiling, faintly. Her hands were close to her chest and her legs were hanging limply against me. Gabriel sat up from the couch and headed off to his own room, bored.



Susie and I sat in silence while Kyle was laughing his a** off. I guess The Soup was just that funny. I kept scolding him because Susie was trying to sleep, but he couldn’t help it. I sighed and walked into the kitchen with Susie to feed her.



I sat her in her high chair and got out the cereal, Cheerios. I poured it into one of her pink baby bowls and brought it over to her. She took it eagerly and started putting them in her mouth. Most of the food ended up on the floor, anyways.



Gabriel came out and into the dining room with his notepad and markers. He sat down on one of the chairs and drew. I couldn’t really tell what, though, but it looked somewhat like a dog. I sat down across from him and watched until Susie started to kick her feet. My translation to that is, “I need out! I’m done! Get me out!”



I picked her up and out of the high chair and carried her over to her play area, a large area in the living room. She started playing with her favorite toy, her fisher price: little people farm. She was so cute when she played. If things made noise when she touched it, she would jump up and down, giggling.



After cleaning up the Cheerio mess she had made, I headed out into the living room and sat down next to Kyle. He put his arm around my back and our heads touched lightly. Gabriel was still lingering in the kitchen, drawing who-knows-what.



The Soup was over so Kyle was flipping through channels that no one would watch, like fishing and soap operas. Kyle ended up finding something, so we watched that for a little while, until I heard what sounded like a huge book dropping to the floor.



“Gabriel?” I asked worriedly.



“Yeah, Mommy?” he asked.



“Did you drop anything, like a big book?” I asked, worrying about what it was he could have dropped.



“No,” Gabriel said and continued drawing, “But what was that big noise, Mommy?”



“I don’t know, sweetie,” I said shaking my head. “I don’t know.” Kyle looked at me and I looked back at him. Kyle just shrugged and I sighed. Susie kept on playing with her farm and giggling when ever a noise came on, like a cow or horse.



Then, I heard another big noise like the first. Susie started to cry and Kyle went and picked her up. He hummed a lullaby to her, “Rock-a-Bye Baby”.



“What the h*** was that?” Kyle asked in an angry whisper.



“How am I supposed to know?” I whispered back.



Gabriel made his way to the living room with his notepad and markers. He looked scared.



“Mommy?” he asked his voice quavering.



“Yes?” I replied.



“I’m scared,” he said. He started to whimper a bit so I held out my arms and he went into them. I held him close.



“I’m going to check it out,” Kyle said. All I did was shake my head and hold Gabriel closer. “I’ll be fine I’m just going to go out on to the porch,” he said reassuringly. “I’ll be fine. Here, take Susie.”
Gabriel went out of my arms and sat next to me. Kyle handed over Susie and headed towards the door. I put my arm around Gabriel and pulled him close to me. Susie was crying. Gabriel was whimpering. And then, we heard the sound of the door open, and then close.