Excavate

Stay Down

"Alright sweetheart, this is it. Time to say goodbye- oomph!" A little boy collided with her legs, wrapping his arms around them and burying his face between her knees. She reached her hand down and patted the tawny curls atop his head.

"Mommy, don' go! I don' wanna go ta school!" His voice was muffled by her slacks and Sharon gave a rueful smile, similar to the other parents dropping their children off for the first day of Kindergarten. The intense nerves and hastiness that raised the hair on the back of her neck were most likely not a shared experience, she mused.

"Riley, baby..." She crooned, voice gentle enough to get him to look up at her with wide, wet, brown eyes. "It's time for you to be a big boy. Remember the backpack and lunchbox we got you because you because you are so big now?" The little boy sniffled before untangling his arms from her legs and steeling his eyes at the Captain America themed lunch box gripped tightly in his little fingers. She had to get him to let go.

Her little boy looked around at the other pairs of parents and children. Some children ran toward the classroom with excitement, leaving proud parents asking each other where the time had gone. Others were experiencing similar difficult goodbyes with tears and little hands clinging to whatever garments they could find to avoid being left behind.

Sad eyes looked back up at her. "Mommy, I wanna stay with you." He'd lost the hysteric note in his voice and was whispering now, just as he did when he told her a secret for her ears only. Sharon's heart clenched painfully, sending waves through her chest and down into her stomach.

The temptation to give into her son's wishes, to pick him up and take him away, to take him with her... it squeezed her insides and her voice caught in her constricted throat. But the minute wiggle in her lower abdomen, highlighted with flashes of screaming, shattering glass, and a fist like a vice grip on her upper arm doused her like a bucket of ice water.

Leaving was her option. If she wanted to keep herself and the young life growing inside of her safe, leaving was her only choice. Riley would survive without her. Keith had never been angry or abusive toward their son. She had to trust that he would be okay. Taking him simply was not an option for her family... her new family. They needed a fresh start away from the monstrous presence of her ex-fiance, and Keith had guaranteed that if she took their son, he would hunt them both down and take them back by any means necessary.

A bell echoed against the brick school structure, precipitating the final goodbyes of parents and children. Teachers could be heard ushering the Kindergarteners into their new classrooms.
The time had come to leave. To say goodbye.

"Ri, baby... it's time for you to go be a big boy. Can you do that for your mommy?" She knelt down and cupped his cheek in her hand, wiping a tear with her thumb. Riley righted his posture and sniffled, nodding, though the tears did not cease.

"That's my boy." She kissed his forehead and each freckled cheek, taking in each and every feature and hoping to imprint it on her memory. "Go on baby, your teacher is waiting. I love you Riley." The lump in her throat felt close to bursting and Sharon lost the fight against the tears stinging her own eyes.

Riley looked back at his teacher, who waited expectantly as he was the last child left outside the classroom before bringing her back in for a quick, tight hug.

"I love you Mommy." He said hurriedly before turning and running toward the teacher, Captain America's shield bouncing up and down with each step on a backpack that dwarfed him.

The teacher welcomed him warmly, guiding him into the classroom as Sharon stared through her tears, watching intently until she couldn't see her son any longer.