She rubbed her hands together and pondered over her life. At the rate danger lurked in every direction she took, it wasn't going to be long before she lost her head. She couldn't always expect Salem to come running for her so what happens the day she had to stand on her own two feet and fight?
She was clueless.
His hulking frame appeared on the doorway, alomg with him came the comparatively tiny figure of Kayla who walked around looking half asleep like something you would see in a zombie apocalypse.
"You could've let her rest, tomorrow is still another day to eat" she tried to reason with the giant male.
"Yes, I could've but I didn't so here we are" so he was back to being mean and sarcastic. She furrowed her brows seeing the evil glint in his eyes.
He had ulterior motive or something not so good planned for them.
She raced her mind trying to figure out what it could be . . . the food? No, they were all going to share the same meal so what could be making his eyes shine so evily?
"Isn't this wonderful? Having a meal like this"
Kayla being his die-hard fan just giggled innocently which was axactly the reaction he had anticipated to get.
"Have you guys thought about what you want to do?"
He suddenly became serious, reminding her of a kaleidoscope.
Finally!
She finally figured why she was intrigued and puzzled by his ever changing moods. He resembled a kaleidoscope being rotated in a circular motion.
"What smart idea have you conjured up Hannah" Kayla asked her sibling after observing her with piqued interest.
"Nothing important Kayla, let me bring the food so we can eat" she said quickly when she found Salem's interest to have qued with Kayla's for her answer.
They both looked unsatisfied with her elusive answer but her sibling knew no one got an answer once Hannah steers the conversation in a different direction so she let it go knowing its a story that will be heard one day when one least expects it.
She made her signature wide toothy grin.
If she wasn't ready to talk openly with him about what she was thinking then his whole mission would have to be postponed for another day . . . Hopefully that day comes sooner than later because he was running thin on patience.
"You are only expecting your parents to show up, right? No other sibling or extended family?"
"Hannah was reluctant to make friends with anyone of her peers and so ahe automatically became my best friend and we are stuck together for life" Kayla said proudly.
"No acquaintances? Nobody showed interest in your beautiful smile little squirrel?" he asked teasing the child.
She seemed to consider the possibility but then she pouted and said "but wasn't Hannah supposed to find that someone before me?"
Ah! There was his answer . . .
He grinned thoughtfully at the little chatterbox and ruffled her hair "who told you that? What if I like you? Would that mean I have to like your sibling first to take you?" he decided to prod on the child's head to find the clues he needed, knowing full well the older sibling was too modest to provide.
"But I thought you already liked Hannah"
That was damn blunt and he hadn't expected the child to know such finer details of adult stuff. He subtly avoided looking at Hannah knowing that she was looking directly at him from the way her hair had whipped around swiftly after the child's ignorant words which really were innocent with no harm intended.
She had noticed!
Hannah was horrified from the revelation. She was utterly speechless! How could she have been so negligent? She was always careful to protect tge child's innocence but it seemed that she had somehow slipped and exposed the child to an adult world. How could she ever make this right? What would mama say when she finds out that she gad faild to protect her younger sibling's innocence. When did she become this . . . this person!
She was utterly lost for words.
"Who said I liked Hannah?"
Okay, maybe . . . just maybe that came out wrong and he was sure because of the crestfallen look on the female's face with the little rascal scrunching her nose as if she smelled something unpleasant. He hadn't meant to phrase it like that but now it was out there so he might as well just own it.
"I see it from the way you look at her"
Wahh!¥$&€£
Did she just say that!?
Hannah let out a sigh of relief from knowing she wasn't the reason her little sibling's innocence was being stained but what did she mean by that?
"Kayla . . . you are not supposed to say or talk about such things" she scolded the child who suddenly shrinked like a plastic ball near a flame.
"How exactly do I look at Kayla"
God no!
He didn't just ask that question but he was curious and once again thrown off the rails by the child's unguarded tongue. He just simply couldn't help himself. Surprisingly though, this got Kayla excited as if it was something she had been waiting a looong time to get off her chest so she just dived right in.
"Because it's the same way papa looks at mama before they go to their bedroom"
She smiled again, her eyes wide open, as big as saucers and she seemed very pleased with herself. She was still oblivious to her older sibling's growing turmoil and it fed from her not so innocent words. Hannah wished for the closest vacant grave so she could burry herself and never come out again.
"Your meal is getting cold Kayla, won't you eat tonight?" Hannah tried to steer the conversation again, " We need to retire to bed early"
The little girl looked lost for a moment before she seemed to recover a certain thought that settled her and just like that, the conversation returned to a normal one. The two siblings went to sleep in their designated room while Salem remained behind to reminisce.
At least she knew what he wanted and with his curiosity out of the way about her marital status, he made his way to also lay down for the night