Forever and Ever (Ryan x Goldy)

Chapter 18 - Goldy

      I blinked furiously, trying to clear my eyes. The sun was shining right into my eyes. Although, I suppose that would be a few of the downsides to living on the top floor of a treehouse. But hey, I love my life. I pulled out my phone. A text message was lingering on the notifications screen. It was from Ryan. My heart started to go into overdrive, until I read it. "Going to be late to daycare today. Stay safe! ❤️ - Ryan." I instinctively blushed, realizing he had added a heart to the message. Quickly, I ran to my closet and threw in some clothes. Finally, I realized something. I opened the secret door in the back of my closet, where I stored a page from my diary. It was the page that I wrote about Ryan. I had always left I️t there, halfway between throwing it in the fire and giving it to Ryan to show how I felt. Finally, I shoved them into my back pocket and raced downstairs for breakfast.

    "Hey Dad!" I exclaimed. My dad glanced up from his newspaper. "Hey, Sweetie," He said. "I'm going to go to the daycare early, ok?" I asked. "Sure, have fun!" He replied. I grinned at him. "See ya!" I exclaimed, and dashed down the steps.

     A couple minutes later, I arrived at the daycare. I threw open the doors to see Tina standing there. "Hey, wanna play hide and seek with the rest of the daycare kids?" She offered. "Yes!" I cheered. "Cookie's It," Tina warned. I grinned. "Sounds good!" I told her. "Okay! Goldy's playing, guys!" Tina shouted up. "Got it!" Cookie called down. "Let's do this!" UnicornMann hollered. I grinned. I took off toward the Gallery upstairs. "12.. 11... 10..." I heard from the next room. I held my breath. "3.. 2... 1..." I crossed my fingers. "0! Ready or not, here I come!" I closed my eyes and listened for Cookie's footsteps. They thudded off... upstairs. I smiled. Suddenly, I heard feet rhyming through the Gallery. But Cookie went upstairs!  I thought. Turns out it was just Derp, running through the Gallery to find a hiding spot. He waved at me and exited with a whisper of "gOoD lUCk, gOldZ!" I sent him a grin. "You too, Derp!" I said quietly.

     I abruptly fell silent when I heard footsteps coming into the Gallery. I couldn't tell if they were Cookie's, but they didn't sound like hers. Someone sniffed the air. Probably Tina, then. The person ducked behind the wall I was standing behind. It was Tina, I was right. I sent her a smile, which she returned hesitantly. "What's up?" I whispered. Tina bit her lip, like she was trying not to give in to emotion. Uh oh. Bad news. "What is it?" I whispered urgently. Tina hesitated. "It's Ryan..." she began. "Ryan?" I asked bewildered. Was she still angry at me because of Ryan and I? Tina obviously noticed the look on my face because she said: "It's not that... it's just... Ryan never arrived at the daycare this morning. It's way later than any time he's ever been late. Something's happened to him." And then my whole world came crashing down around me.