✝ M o n s t e r ✝ [ｒｏｙｃｅ]

✦O N E✦

✰Brookfield, New Hampshire - May 7th, 2010✰

Getting out of bed, I sighed deeply. I looked over at the alarm clock, reading five in the morning. Even though I couldn't see myself, I knew my eyes were droopy and hair was a mess. I wiped the crud out my eye and stood from my bed, heading into the bathroom. The rising sun turned the sky pretty shades of yellow and blue, once I was finally dressed. I left my room and walked down the hall in my daughter's room, seeing her sleep peacefully. Her small, chubby arms seemed to be choking the dear life out her Dora the Explorer stuffed doll. I smiled down on her, looking back at the clock. She didn't have to be at school for another three hours, but because of my 9-5, I have to wake her early almost everyday. It's sad, because I can see in her young eyes, just how tired she really is. No child should have to endure the same pain as their parent, but this is our life and until I can find a better job, maybe in a better state, then unfortunately she'll have to feel my pain.

I shook her gently, turning on the lamp on her nightstand. It didn't illuminate the whole room, which was fine with me.

"Victoria......sweetie it's time to wake up."

Her eyes blinked open before she looked up at me. I pushed her soft, wavy hair back out her face before I continued.

"You know daddy has to work today, right?"

She nodded, playing with the strings from my shirt.

"So you're going to have to stay with Mrs. Reid, okay?"

"Yes...."

I kissed her cheek, and helped her out of bed. I washed, clothed and fed her, even if what we had was very little. I was just thankful for Mrs. Reid. She was an older woman, that ran a day care center in town. Normally, her fee is much more than what I can pay for, but I give her what I can and she accepts it. People say it's because she has a slight crush on me, but I doubt that's true. She's only being kindhearted. And for that I'm grateful.

"You got everything?"

"Yessh, daddy...."

I picked my little Victoria up in my arms, carrying her to the car. She wrapped her arms around my neck until I placed her in her car seat. We were lucky enough to have the company give cars to their employees. Otherwise, we'd have to walk everywhere. It wasn't anything too fancy, but I didn't mind. It was able to get us places, and that was all we needed.

"Daddy?"

"Yes sweetie?"

"When is mommy coming back?"

I sighed, running a hand through my wild mane. The sting of such indescribable pain, made me hallucinate and reimagine the fatal incident as I was driving. It was the worst day of my life, and I blame myself.

"Victoria? Remember, how I told you mommy had a secret job to do?"

"Yessh...."

"Well, that's why she's gone. She's on a very important mission, and nobody knows when she'll return."

"...Okay..."

We go through the same routine every week. She asks about her mother, and I lie to her innocent face. I only do it because she's too young to understand death. I do plan on telling her, I just don't know when. What really happened, I haven't really coped with. I knew we shouldn't have moved to a ghost town, but she wouldn't listen to me.

It was a gray day out, the sun was covered by the clouds and nothing was really moving. I had a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach about my wife and her dangerous job. Yes, she was a spy, secret agent, whatever you want to call it. She worked for the government and I was the only one who knew. She was assigned to a station up here in New Hampshire, making us move, and I was okay with that. The first two years was fine, until the day I let her drive to the store. Our little Victoria had gotten sick, and we needed to go to the pharmacy. I insisted I'd go, but Jennifer, my wife, was stubborn.