Teenage Baby

Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

Daddy ambled to the nursery, his arms wrapped around his baby's frail body. Even though Aaron was dangerously sleepy, he was able to keep his eyes open, wide and alert.

"Don't you want to sleep, baby?" Daddy said as he walked around the room, each step light and dainty. He bounced Aaron slightly as he swayed around, desperately wishing he'd actually fall asleep at one point. He hated drugging his baby, but he had no other choice if he'd refuse to cooperate. "Come on, love, close your eyes."

Aaron didn't want to sleep; he didn't want to give them the privilege of his absence. He tried not to think about it, but the fact that they could literally do anything to him in his sleep was terrifying. But he could pretend if it'd shut that psycho up.

Daddy patted his his baby's back multiple times, but that only made Aaron uncomfortable, half repressed whimpers tearing his throat even though he tried hard to stop himself. So Daddy stopped patting and just held him instead, disappointed that his baby was only getting more agitated, his body tensing conspicuously between his arms. He wanted him to relax as much as possible so that he could fall asleep on his own, but that turned out difficult.

"Oh baby, you've got to sleep," Daddy said. "Otherwise, I'll have to force you, and I really don't want to."

Aaron's head shot up at Daddy's threat, his heart pounding fast as speculations whirled around his mind. He quickly leant his head on Daddy's shoulder, pretending to succumb, but right then Mommy came into the room.

"Maybe he'll sleep if I read him a bedtime story," Mommy said, swaying the book in her hand with an ebullient flourish. Aaron groaned when he realized that he brought that to himself with his own hands. If he had just pretended to sleep faster, he wouldn't have put himself in the dread of Mommy reading him a story, much like an infant.

Daddy walked with his baby to the crib and placed him in, tucking him underneath the covers and forcing the pacifier to settle pointlessly between his teeth. Mommy sat on the rocking chair beside the crib and began reading the book.

Aaron didn't focus on the plot, or on what she was saying, but he was aware of how her mellow voice caressed his eardrums like velvet. He'd noticed since the beginning that she owned a distinctively calming voice, but now that its vibrations were the only things gracing the silence and creeping up to his ears, it became much more vivid-impossible not to notice.

Aaron couldn't help but watch the way her lips moved and words eased out through the small part, her tone so soft edged that it almost lulled him to sleep; each second became harder and harder for him to maintain himself awake. His eyelids occasionally dropped down, but then they would shoot open in alarm again, revealing along exhausted eyes that pleaded for just a minute of rest.

The bright lights dimmed down to a faint ray, and foreign knuckles brushed lightly across his cheek, stroking for a little longer before retreating. He felt like he was standing right at the edge of a cliff, wavering as he stared down at enticing darkness, a part of him wanting to be thrown down, and another fighting against it aimlessly. Just minutes later, his energy bar drained completely and exhaustion beat his will to stay awake, pulling him straight down into the pit of slumber.

Daddy sighed contently, fingers brushing through his own hair. "He must've been exhausted to sleep without a drug. If only Leo was so easy his first time."

*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Despite the discomfort of the pull-up rubbing against his thighs, Aaron ran as fast as he could, the rumply terrain scraping the bottom of his bare feet with each step. His chest was heaving, harsh and ragged gasps for air tearing his lungs apart as he breathed. There was a throbbing pain in his shins, a solid twinge that pounded and expanded potently, making him long for a pause, but he couldn't give in. At least not at that point.