Marlows' Promise (MC)

(33)

I was comfortably dreaming in Mars arms when I felt a slight shake. I groaned as I tried pushing the person responsible away, but the shaking turned into a poke. With a heavy sigh I rolled over and opened my eye's.

" Colby what's wrong?" The boy stood over me with a worried expression covering his face.

He hesitated before opening his mouth." Can you take me to a book store?"

" A book store?" I asked, surprised at the words that came out of is mouth." Do you even know what time it Colby?"

He leaned forward over me to catch a glimpse of the clock on the other side of Mars. " It's seven in the morning".

I glanced back and forth between Colby and the covers nestled in my hands, debating on whether or not to tell him to wait until later. It was super early in the morning and there was also the possibility that not many book stores were open right now. 

" Alright just let me get dressed and we'll leave in a few minutes."

Apparently there were a select few book stores open by eight in the morning. A quaint little place by the name of ' Lore's Books' welcomed us in a little after eight. The smell of book and some sort of fall candle floated through the air as we browsed through the aisles in search of the perfect book.

" Excuse me ma'am," Colby called to the older woman behind the counter, catching her attention." Where are the books about animals?"

She pointed two aisles down as she answered him," Right over there sweetheart. Let me know if you need any help finding anything else."

I nodded a thanks in her direction for chasing off after Colby. He zoomed through the next two aisles leaving me in his wake. Although the distance was short between the aisles, I found myself panting, gasping for a breath from being forced to move so fast this early.

When I finally caught up to him, Colby was crouched down towards the bottom shelf skimming through several books. I stumped down to his level to try and see whether or not I could spot which animals he was interested in.

" Am I allowed to get a few books," He asked before glancing up at me with wide eye's.

" How'd you learn how to read Colby?" Seeing as he wasn't very old and more than likely to have never attended a school, it was strange to me that he wanted a book. 

He hesitated at first, stopping the first few sounds from escaping his mouth. I urged him to go on, hoping it would give him some confidence. " One of the women they had around taught me when she could. After awhile she stopped coming around though and I haven't had any books since then".

I nodded in reply to keep him from saying any more. The pained expression he wore when I had first met him surfaced with the memory I made him relive, so I stopped pushing. Colby would eventually have to relive the memories he had buried deep inside but right now he needed to heal. He needed to be a little kid and enjoy his life without being forced into things.

" So what books are you getting? I really like dolphins and jellyfish if I do say so myself".

The change in topic seemed to ease his mind a little. " I think lions and elephants are really cool! I've always wanted to go see them in real life."

"Well maybe soon we can go to a zoo and let you see them. I'm sure we'll have to do some extreme convincing to Mars though," I said which earned me a small smile in response. That one smile seemed to make the worry lines on his face disappear and for once Colby looked his age.

" How about we go let the nice lady up front scan these so we can go and start convincing Mars?"

Colby nodded his head furiously as he took the hand I held out for him and let me lead him towards the counter. The older woman was quick to scan the books and soon after we were on our way back to the car.

" I think ice-cream would help convince Mars to take us to the zoo," Colby pipped up as I started driving. I hid the smile that was threatening to spill over behind my sleeve. As he started to open up more, his behavior was more childlike and he became a thousand times cuter.

" Sounds good to me", I hummed in response, scanning up ahead for a McDonald's.

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