Just a Kid • Book 1

• Chapter 10 •

Third Person's POV

It was dark and four-year-old Rory Queen was having trouble seeing where she was going as she ran as fast as her little legs would take her.

She had to get far away and find a place to hide – somewhere where she wouldn't be found. She was having trouble thinking of what to do until she saw a dim light up ahead. She headed for it and found herself in a room with cupboards above her head and, much more importantly, down at the ground-level.

Rory quickly opened a cupboard and squeezed her small body inside. The space held her easily, but she wished that there weren't so many plastic bottles and other random objects in there poking her and generally making her uncomfortable.

"You can't hide from me, I'm going to catch you!" Rory soon heard a voice call from much closer than she wished.

Footsteps were echoing as the person entered the room. The four-year-old held her breath and squeezed her eyes shut as the footsteps drew close to where she was hiding. Rory hoped her rapid heartbeat wasn't as loud to the person as it was to her. After a few long agonizing moments, the person's footsteps were heard as they started heading out of the room.

Just as Rory allowed herself to relax – starting to breathe again as her shoulders sagged in relief – the cupboard doors swung open, revealing the person had found her making Rory let out a scream.

"Gotcha!" The person exclaimed before starting to laugh as the lights turned on in the room. Sara Lance was crouching down in her father's kitchen in front of the open cupboard underneath the sink which her niece was currently sitting in. Rory's surprised scream morphed into laughter that matched her aunt's.

"Aww, you found me again. How do you keep finding me so quickly?" Rory asked as she climbed out of the cupboard, her laughter starting to die off.

"Magic." Sara answered, widening her eyes playfully as she waved her hands in the air mysteriously.

Rory scrunched her face up skeptically. "You don't know magic."

"Oh, yeah? Then how can I do this...?" Sara reached a hand towards Rory and swiped behind her ear before bringing her hand back to show her niece the coin that had seemingly magically appeared from behind her ear.

Rory's eyes widened in complete shock before she broke out into a grin, her eyes moving to her aunt's face with a sense of wonder in them. "Whoa, you really are magic."

"I told you so. It's in my blood. And you know what?" Sara paused and Rory shook her head. "If it's in my blood, that means it's in yours too."

Rory's eyes widened even further, a childish expression of awe clear on her face. "So I'll be able to be a magician when I grow up?"

"Queenie, you'll be able to be anything you want when you grow up," Sara told her niece, using the nickname that only she used as she placed a loving hand on her shoulder, "but let's not think about that. I don't want you to grow up too fast. For now, let's just play another round of hide-and-seek. It's your turn to seek."

"Okay, Aunt Sara," Rory smiled and kissed her aunt on the cheek before running off to start counting.

Suddenly Rory woke up, taking a moment to readjust back to reality. When she did, she just stared up at the ceiling for a few minutes, needing a few minutes to just think. She thought of the memory that she had been dreaming of and she thought of her aunt and the mixed emotions that came along with her now.