Keeper

Chapter 17

"Where are Wander's parents?"

It was nighttime and Sylvia had put Wander down for bed. The only thing was, Wander, didn't want to go to sleep. He wanted to stay up with Peepers and Sylvia. It was the second time after when they went to the park that Wander fought against bedtime. Sylvia was exhausted by the time Peepers had asked his question.

"Jail." Sylvia came in with red and white striped pajamas. "They killed Wander's older sister."

"And you've been taking care of Wander for how long now?" Peepers asked.

"Almost two weeks by September 2nd," Sylvia answered and started to clean the dishes. "You don't have any sleeping problems, do you?"

"No ma'am," Peepers answered, but to Sylvia, he didn't look like he was telling the truth.

"Peepers, it's okay if you want one of the lamps to stay on," Sylvia told the teenager.

"No, no, it's not that! It's just I...I just like to have noise going on in the background while I sleep." Peepers quickly corrected her. "I know it's weird but..."

"No, it's okay, it's okay. Do you want the T.V on?" Peepers nodded his head. "Okay, let me just see what's on the T.V then."

Peepers eventually had Sylvia stop on a channel that was playing reruns of old 1990s teen shows and a few early 2000s teen shows. Sylvia went back to the kitchen and finished washing the dishes. She turned the kitchen lights off. Sylvia turned back to Peepers who was busy watching his show.

"Night Peepers."

Night..." Peepers stopped when he didn't know her name.

"Sylvia."

"Night Sylvia."

X X X

A loud boom woke Sylvia up. She picked Wander up and ran out of the room and into the living room. Peepers was already looking out the left front window and Sylvia ran over and looked out too. She didn't see anything.

"We need to go." Peepers turned to face the only adult that was with him right now.

"Why? W-What's wrong?" Peepers didn't answer. "Peepers?"

"It's Keina Anderson, she found us," Peepers answered.

Sylvia's heart stopped upon hearing that name. "N-No, she's dead. Paris..."

And once Sylvia realized that she was lied to, the next thing Wander and Peepers knew the right table lamp was in pieces on the wooden floor. "God fucking damn it!"

"S-Sylvia?" Peepers asked.

Sylvia only grabbed Peepers's right hand and lead him out of the house. She didn't stop running until all three of them were out of the forest. By the time she let go, there were red marks on Peepers's wrist from how tight Sylvia had been holding onto it.

"How...how do you know Keina?" Sylvia asked.

"We were stopping for gas and the next thing I know is Lord Hater is telling me and the other Watchdogs to run." Peepers started to explain. "Read more about her when I was in the Binglebopolopolis Library."

"So was Hater there?" Sylvia asked. "People were screaming his name when Wander and I were there."

Peepers shook his head and Sylvia sighed. "Well come on, we're going to be walking until we reach the next city."

As they walked, Sylvia quickly realized she had forgotten something back at the house. Wander's carrier.

"God damn it!"