Closer 2

191.

Elise blinked her eyes open when she was lifted out of her bed, looking confused around the dark room.

"Shh, don't cry, don't cry," uncle Ray said softly, but his tone of voice didn't make her feel any better. He sounded stressed and scared, and it made her stressed and scared.

"Sleepies?" Elise asked softly, rubbing her eyes. It was dark out so why was uncle waking her.

"Yeah, you can sleep some more, princess, but you gotta go sleep at home instead," Ray explained, getting her stuff quickly, including Sharkie.

"Noooo..." was all Elise could think of to respond with, placing her arms round uncle's neck to hug him. "Whyyy?"

"Because... Because baba and daddy missed you so much, princess, and... and because uncle has to take auntie to go see a doctor," Ray explained softly. "Come on, can you walk yourself to the car so I can carry your brothers?"

Elise just couldn't help the tears popping out, but she nodded still and uncle put her down on the floor. She was still in her pajamas, but uncle got down on his knees to help her put on some socks and shoes before picking up Bee and Ai from their cribs.

She followed uncle into the living room where two men she didn't know were helping auntie onto a weird bed with wheels. She had seen one like it before, when she went to get ice cream by herself in the hospital. The two men were dressed just like the man and the woman who had taken her brother away a long time ago.

"Oh fuck fuck fuck SHIT," auntie exclaimed, followed by some scary sounds while she hunched over, holding her stomach. Elise jumped from how sudden and loud it had been, and she looked to uncle to see what her reaction should be to this. It sounded like auntie was hurting!

Uncle didn't look like he was too happy about it either. He looked worried and scared, just like Elise felt. She looked at auntie for a bit while uncle got his shoes on, thinking auntie looked scared too. After a bit, auntie exhaled shakily while a tear ran down her cheek.

"Auntie?" Elise asked quietly, and May looked up at her. She even tried a little smile, though it was obvious even to Elise that she was in a lot of pain.

"It's okay, Li-Li. Uncle's gonna drive you home and these nice men are gonna take care of me until he gets back to me," auntie explained with a strained voice. "Auntie's just got a tummy ache."

"Ouchie?" Elise asked quietly, and auntie nodded. Just then, the men began rolling the bed with auntie on it out to the front door.

"Yeah, ouchie," May nodded, struggling to keep it together. She was terrified, and wasn't able to hide it from Elise.

"Come, Li-Li, let's go say bye-bye to auntie by the ambulance," Ray said, holding the door open so that the ambulance personnel could go out first. Elise ran after them with Sharkie on her arm, not wanting to let auntie out of sight.

"Auntie?" Elise asked again as they all got into the elevator. She didn't get a reply, just a whimper from auntie this time. She looked up at uncle, but uncle was also focused on auntie.

"It's gonna be okay, May mine. I'll be there before you know it, okay? Don't be scared, you're in good hands," Ray whispered, though it was obvious he was scared too. "I love you."

The elevator dinged and they got out on the ground floor, the two men going out ahead of them with auntie May in the bed. Elise ran after them with uncle Ray right behind.

They brought auntie to an ambulance Elise recognized because of the toy ambulance they had in daycare. It made sense that they were taking auntie to the hospital. That's where you could go if you were hurt, and it made sense that auntie was hurt when she had ouchies and was scared. She didn't want auntie to be scared, though, and Elise only knew of one thing to make someone less scared.

"Auntie!" she called out just as they opened the back doors of the ambulance to put May inside, running over before Ray had any chance of stopping her.

"It's okay, Li-Li, go with uncle," May began to say, but Elise interrupted her.

"Take Sharkie so no more scared," Elise insisted, tiptoeing up to place him onto May's lap. "Sharkie safe."

"Nono Li-Li, you need Sharkie yourself..."

"No! Sharkie safe, no scared," Elise insisted before she could even finish the sentence, getting a bit of help from a friendly ambulance man to put the shark on the bed. "No scared anymore, auntie."

"Okay, Li-Li, thank you. Auntie loves you okay?" May said quietly, carefully taking the shark in her arms as she was wheeled into the ambulance. A few minutes later, they drove off, leaving Ray, Elise, Ai and Bee behind.