She would persevere

Chapter 14

Right now, I'm savage
Tell me I'm a crazy
Ah, ah-ooh, everything is predictable
It's worse than death

It was 5.30 am when I woke up with a start. Nightmares weren't new to me, but they had lessened over the years. But after the attack I had suffered and the hospitalisation, they had come back a little more.

I was currently snuggled up with Kiel. I woke up a few hours ago and sought him out. Luckily I still knew which room was his and when I entered he didn't ask questions. He just hugged me close to him in his sleep.

When he stayed at the apartment in Miami, it had been a recurring thing. Instead of waking up in Aubrey or maman's bed. I had woken up in Kiel's.
Maman had explained to him why I did that and for some reason I had not been able to stop it over the years.

I would often wake up in one of their beds more than my own.
Not that they seemed to mind at all.
Especially not Aubrey. She had officially dubbed me softer than her pillow.

Getting out of Kiel's bed, I softly made it to the hallway. Walking towards the main staircase, I saw a light on from under one of the doors. It was Teddy's.
I wondered if he still slept with a nightlight, but after softly creaking open the door, I could see him already wide awake with very small eyes. He had been crying.
Knocking on the door softly, I made him aware of my presence.
"Hey buddy. You're up early, are you okay?" I asked him softly.
He didn't react but stared at me like a cat from a tree.
Crutching down next to his bed, I looked up at him. "You hungry? I was thinking of making some early breakfast. You want some?" He started to hiccup and then nodded his head.

I picked him up from his bed before he could contest it and carried him on my hip, while going down the stairs.

"Let's clean your face up first, okay?" He didn't react. If he had just woken up, he would still be slightly out of it. Getting a soft towel and wetting it, I cleaned his face from the tear streaks and nose boogers.
"Do you know what you want to eat, buddy?" He still did not react to me.
"Would you like Pancakes or waffles? Oh, we also have stuff for bagels. Would you like some bagels?"
He nodded his head to that and I smiled. After giving him some water to drink I started on the eggs and prepared the bagels in the oven.
I got out some cream cheese, Avocado and smoked salmon.

Teddy sat there on the chair and watched me. "You wanna help?" He looked up at me as if I asked him if he wanted to have a million bucks. He fervently nodded his head.
I handed him both halves of the avocado and asked him to scoop it out of its shell.
I turned to the coffee machine that I had put on earlier and poured myself some coffee. Putting on the radio to let some music come through, Teddy and I had some fun time in the kitchen together.

After breakfast we started making some cupcakes together. I think Teddy really likes the attention I give him. My guess would be that he has been deprived of it for so long, because of Adaline. And the attention he had gotten was mostly negative attention. We were jamming to the beat of OneRepublic.

Teddy was completely covered in cupcake mix sporting a huge smile on his face, tongue out while he concentrated on mixing everything. I simply danced around him while singing very off key. We were being watched. By both Genevieve and my father. They were smiling at us.
With our backs towards them, I took out my phone and gestured to Teddy to take a selfie with the craziest faces.
"Do you mind if I send this picture to my sister?" He immediately looked at me like I was insane.

I simply laughed at the notion. "I don't mean meanie Adaline. I mean Aubrey. She is maman's daughter and we grew up together. Here I'll show you a picture of her."

"She's pretty." He whispered and blushed furiously.
"Ooh. Does someone have a little crush?" "No!"
"You can't hide it from me Teddy!" I yelled out and attacked him with tickles, making him laugh out loud.