The Promise Ring

Chapter One

"No! We're not leaving!" Aubrie could hear the cries shredding through the air, tears streaming down her six year old face. Her eyes burned a fiery red, and she could feel her hands quivering furiously, pounding harshly against her mother's legs. Her voice sounded distant, almost broken.

"Baby, I know. But we've gotta help grandma now, okay?" The cries only amplified. "We've talked about this, hun. Come on, we gotta go. Okay?" Kara, her mother, ducked down to her level, gently grabbing Aubrie's hands and stroking the backs of them softly.

"I know its hard, Bri." She offered a sympathetic smile. "We can come visit soon, I promise. Alright?" That hardly helped the toddler in calming down at all, but at least the tears were beginning to dry. Aubrie nodded numbly, nose still running, little heart quaking in her chest.

"See? You're taking it like a champ, isn't that right?" Aubrie nodded again, a determined pout on her trembling lips, and a concentrated furrow between her eyebrows. Kara could tell she was trying her hardest to stop crying. "Look at you acting like such a big girl!" Kara stood up, still clutching onto one of Aubrie's hands, and hefted her up over her shoulders. Despite herself, Aubrie could feel a giggle beginning to form. "Come on, kiddo, we've got a long trip ahead of us."

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It took quite a bit, but eventually everyone had loaded into the car, including Aubrie, Kara, and Michael (Kara's husband and Aubrie's father). The road was bumpy and unpaved, gravel tripping up underneath the well worn tires, but the feeling of uneven road under Aubrie's bright pink Dora The Explorer car seat was somehow soothing. After a mere few minutes, her eyes had slipped shut, and she was dreaming peacefully, the crease in her brow smoothing out. However, the moment was short lived when the back fender of their beat up mini cooper scraped the pitted road below, effectively startling her awake.

Aubrie's bloodshot eyes snapped open, and she immediately sat up in her car seat, and placing both of her tiny, band aid covered, hands on the window. She could feel the tear stains stinging her cheeks, as she pressed her nose up against the glass, looking around frantically to see where they were. She gasped,

"Dad!" She looked to the driver's seat "Dad, dad, dad!" She screamed, kicking the seat directly in front of her until she got his attention. She found Michael's eyes in the rearview mirror, shock painting her miniature features.

"What's wrong, Bri?" Michaels eyebrow quirked up, a confused look settling questioningly on his face.

"The house! We almost passed Hunter's house!" Aubrie balled her hands into tiny fists and banged against the glass window to the right of her, wide eyes watering up with renewed vigor.

"Oh shoot..." Kara muttered under her breath. She reached out a hand to Michael's shoulder, grabbing his attention. "Michael, Hunter's homeschooled, remember? She didn't get to say goodbye to him at school."

"Ah, that's right." Michael flicked his eyes back up to the rearview mirror, sending Aubrie a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, Bri, we'll be sure to stop in on them, 'kay?" Aubrie nodded curtly, eyes trained on the rapidly shifting cityscape, hands finally calming down and stopping their incessant banging on the now fogged up window.

"Alright, where is it again? 2204...?" Michael looked over to Kara, waiting for her to finish off the address so they could stop by to say goodbye to Hunter and his parents.
Kara sighed fondly, "2204 Wilton Crescent." She pulled out her phone, opening up the GPS. After a moment, "Says it'll take about 20 minutes."

"Man they really live uptown, don't they?" Michael muttered to himself, as he took the phone from Kara's hands. She merely shrugged, a simple smile crossing her face,