Premature Metamorphosis

Chapter 3

Upon waking the next morning and leaving her nice warm bed with a big stretch and long yawn, Evelyn had very nearly forgotten about what had happened the previous night.

Key word being nearly.

Because as she left her room to go downstairs and make some breakfast, she was stopped when the door hit against something on the floor, stopping her in her tracks.

Just so happened that that something on the floor was Hunter, curled up asleep just outside the room, face smooshed a little against his arm which he'd been using to cushion his head from the carpet and a little red cardinal plush squished tightly in a hug.

He must have woken up in the night, Evelyn assumed, and had come and laid out here instead. Her heart ached a bit as she wondered why he hadn't just come and woken her up again? Sure, she'd been pretty exhausted and would most likely have been half asleep the whole time but if something was wrong or even if he just couldn't get back to sleep, then she would have rather he told her than slept out here all on his own!

She knelt down on the carpet — and God, why was that already becoming difficult! — and placed a gentle hand on the boy's back, rubbing up and down to wake him as carefully as she could.

After a few seconds, he shifted slightly and began rubbing his eyes with his scrunched-up fists. When he looked up at her, she could already see his eyelids starting to droop again, trying to drag him back to sleep.

"Good morning sleepyhead." She whispered with a soft smile that only brightened as she watched him lean eagerly into the hand against his back.

He lifted Flapjack up to her too so she gave the bird an affectionate pat on the head which seemed to satisfy him.

Stretching his stiff limbs from sleeping out on the floor, he climbed up into her lap to wrap his arms around her and hug her. It was times like this that Evelyn was so glad she'd decided to have a kid. In the past, she'd scoffed at the question, brushing it off with an eye roll, sure that she could never possibly want any kids, that they were too much work for her and she didn't want to live with her whole life revolving around some whiny little child. She was now very glad she'd changed her mind. She'd very happily dedicate every waking moment to loving Hunter now that he was in her life. Her son was worth it all.

She hugged him back, cradling him in her arms like a delicate trinket and rubbing her thumbs against the side of his arm. "Did you sleep out here last night?"

With slight hesitation, he gave her a small nod, burying his face even further into her shirt, trying to escape the question but Evelyn still pushed.

"Why?"

All he could offer up was a meagre shrug.

She clearly wasn't going to get very much more out of him at the moment, especially while he was still so sleepy, so she shifted her priorities to food (her favourite go-to) and scooped him up as she got to her feet.

"Let's go get some breakfast, you want some pancakes?" She offered.

He nodded, this time accompanied by a small hum, (see, pancakes could solve any problem) so she carried him down the stairs to the kitchen.

Making pancakes one-handed with a clingy six-year-old glued to her side, refusing to let go, was not the easiest task in the world but with the obligatory superpowers that came with being a mother, she somehow managed to serve them up some pancakes as well as a portion for Caleb for when he woke up.

With breakfast now sorted, she tried to sit Hunter down at the table but that only caused him to whine and cling on to her even tighter.

"Don't you want to sit?" She tried to encourage him.