The Sadian Chronicles: Book 3: Deeds of the Unforgiven

The Eyes of a Stranger: Part 1

Chapter Four: The Eyes of a Stranger

The morning after the nightmare Marianna got up early. She was more afraid of going back to sleep than getting up and making breakfast knowing that once Reese awakened he would be up all day. She tried repeatedly to make him take naps in the early afternoon, but he would never sleep. She didn't want to take a chance of having another nightmare and scaring her son. He may have been intuitive but he was still so young, and it was her job to protect him, not the other way around.

She even tried to get him not to eat meat, and it had worked for a while until he took a bit of one of Ty's hamburgers while she wasn't looking, and since that day he was kid that loved burgers. He was strong-willed and stubborn just like his mother, and she had to allow him to make his own choices. She only feared he would grow even more headstrong as he got older.

She set boundaries as much as she could, but Reese was smart even for his age He would somehow discover things on his own. By the age of three he was reading and during story time many times he would insist on reading the bedtime story. Soon enough he would start to yawn and then she would take over and before the book was finished he would be asleep.

It was only half passed seven when Marianna heard Reese emerge from his bedroom. He was still in his stars and planets pajamas and his hair was a mess.

"Hungry, Momma," Reese said as he entered the kitchen.

"Did you wash your hands?" she asked him.

"Yes, Momma, see," he said and held up his palms.

"Okay, they're clean." Marianna smiled and then touched the top of his head. "Well, you did such a great job with those hands you could have brushed your hair."

"Why, Momma, just get messy again," he said and sat down. She made him up a plate of his favorite breakfast food and placed it in front of him.

As she poured him a glass of milk Reese called up to her. "Don't forget chocolate."

"Alright, but you should get used to the taste of white milk."

"White milk yucky," he said.

She just laughed to herself because it was the same exact thing she thought when she was a kid.

After breakfast she had promised Reese a day in the park, and even though she was exhausted she never failed to keep her promises to him. She had left him once and when she came back she promised that never again would she ever leave him or break another promise to him.