The Hart Hotel

Chapter Thirteen April 12th, 2005.

Nathaniel moans, "Why..." he draws out looking down at Evelyn, her mouth and cheeks covered with mash.

Evelyn laughs, shrugging at him with a menacing gleam in her eye. It had taken Nathaniel a sleepless night and a full day to get Evelyn smiling and chatting away again. He shivers at the thought of the state she was in yesterday. His stomach churning at the thought of her terrified state. Even now, she still hasn't told him why she was in the closet and what had terrified her so much to get into the trembling state she was in.

"I left you for two minutes!" he exclaims, his head turning to Eric, who is sitting around Evelyn's small bedroom table.

"And you! You could have stopped her," Nathaniel scorns softly, a deep sigh coming from him.

Eric leans back in the small chair, "Was too busy with my own," he answers, waving his fork in a circular motion.

"And you didn't notice your sister putting her dinner all over her face?" he replies.

Eric hums, "Yeah, no I wasn't paying attention".

"Now I have finished my food!" Evelyn beams.

Nathaniel rubs the back of his neck, "You covered your face with your dinner, so you don't have to eat it?".

Evelyn ignores his question, "But Mr panda was hungry!" she shouts in protest, and it was at that point Nathaniel notices the food smudged all around her stuffed panda's mouth.

His sigh grows deeper, "Right young lady," he says sternly.

Evelyn's brows shoot up at his tone, Nathaniel pulls out her chair and waits for Evelyn to get up.

"We got to go clean you up," he announces, putting the chair back under the table.

"Next time you want dinner up here it'll be a no," he says matter-of-factly. Evelyn's heart sinks, "W-Why?" she asks, beginning to get worked up.

"Because you didn't eat your dinner," Nathaniel replies, turning his attention to Eric. "will you take the plates down and wash them please?".

Eric rolls his eyes, "Do I have to?".

"You can stay up an extra hour if you do," Nathaniel's adds, taking hold of Evelyn's hand.

"An hour and a half," he bargains.

"An hour or nothing," Nathaniel answers back, guiding Evelyn out of her bedroom and into the hallway, he walks her to the bathroom door next to Eric's room.

Nathaniel turns his head to see Eric walking out of Evelyn's room, plates in hand, and down the hallway.

"Let's get you all cleaned up," he says warmly, pushing open the bathroom door.

Evelyn begrudgingly shuffles along, as Nathaniel heads straight for the sink, turning the tap on and grabs Evelyn's white face washcloth.

He turns on his heel and grabs hold of her, picking Evelyn up and sitting her on the counter next to the sink. Rubbing soap and hot water onto the cloth, he rings it out and starts to wash the food off of Evelyn's face. A calm quietness nests in the room, Nathaniel puts the cloth under the tap and begins to clean it, glancing at Evelyn's slightly reddened cheeks.

"Would you like to have a picnic soon?" Nathaniel asks lightly.

"A picnic?" Evelyn perks up, sitting up straight.

"When the weather is nice, me, you, Eric and Bonnie," he adds, turning the hot tap off.

Evelyn nods, brushing off the bits of mash on her top. Nathaniel looks up at the mirror above the sink, his reflection tired and run down, a lightness in his eyes. Nathaniel opens the mirror and grabs a small pink toothbrush and toothpaste from out of the cupboard.