Chapter 9
807 Words
**Samantha**
I was playing hide and seek with Eva. She was getting the biggest thrill out of this simple game. I almost felt like she didn’t get to play very often, and I couldn’t help but wonder why.
Some of the places she hid in this house were very obvious, but I pretended not to see her. Like now, I knew she was hiding up here by the bedrooms behind a potted palm.
“Hmmm, wow, Eva really is great at hiding. Where can she be?” I said out loud.
I heard her giggling, but I wasn’t about to turn around and let her know that I saw her. I noticed one of the bedroom doors was slightly ajar, so I decided to pretend to check in there before finally catching her behind the plant.
“Hmm, is she in there, I wonder?” I said as I went to the door to open it.
As soon as I opened the door, I found not only Aiden but Braxton in the room too. I wasn’t expecting either of them to be here.
Both of them were staring at me like I had two heads.
“Oh, I am so sorry. I was looking for Eva. We were playing hide and seek, and the door was slightly ajar, so I thought she hid in here,” I told the two brothers.
“Um, yeah, try behind the plant,” Aiden grumbled.
“Yeah, okay. I will, thanks,” I mumbled.
They were staring at me like they wanted to eat me alive. This is too weird.
“Sam, wait,” Braxton called out as I turned to leave.
I turned back around. “Yeah?” I asked him.
Both were silent, not saying anything to me.
Finally, Braxton spoke up, “Are you comfortable here?” he asked.
Comfortable? I just came here a few hours ago. This is very weird.
“I’m okay,” I replied and turned around to get Eva.
I closed the door behind me and went over to the potted palm. “Is that Eva I see? Hmmm, it looks like it might be her?”
Eva giggled and ran out from behind the plant, saying, “It’s me!”
I bent down, squatting to her height. “Well, you are the hide and seek champ,” I told her.
Eva gave me a huge hug, which really shocked me.
When she pulled back from the hug, I smiled at her and said, “Let’s get a snack, how about that?”
Eva nodded her head and then looked up to say, “Aiden, I’m the champ! I hide very well.”
“I heard that,” he said from behind me.
“We are getting a snack. Want to come?” Eva asked her brother.
“Love to, squirt, but I actually have to go see Dad about business stuff. Next time, okay?” he replied.
“Okay, come on, Sam,” Eva said, pulling my arm and causing me to spring up.
I turned my head to see both of the twins watching us from the room. As Eva and I walked away from them, I felt this weird longing, like I wanted them to come with us.
This is so strange; why am I thinking like this? I’m not attracted to those guys, am I? I just literally met them.
We went into the kitchen, and I grabbed an apple while looking for a cutting board and a knife. After opening a few cabinets, I finally found what I needed.
Eva was sitting in a chair at the table in the kitchen, watching me cut up her apple. As I was doing this, I decided to ask her a question.
“Eva, how come you can’t go outside?”
She shrugged her little shoulders and said, “Because of rogues.”
Rogues? I had heard of rogue pirates in stories I read. Did this family believe in that stuff? Maybe I misheard her.
“Rogues?” I asked her.
She nodded and said, “They are bad. Daddy thinks they will kidnap me.” She sighed.
Did something happen to her that made her think some pirate was going to kidnap her? I know children make things up to cope with trauma.
Wait, if she isn’t allowed to go outside, another thought came to me.
“Do you have any friends, Eva?” I asked.
“Yes, I have you and my brothers as my friends,” she replied.
I brought the apple over to her and set it down in front of her. She smiled and said, “Can you do the milk trick again?”
I was about to get up and get a glass when I heard Braxton ask, “Milk trick? What is that?”
- Writer
