When We Slumber

11 | What Happened?

The following day I left the twins with Liyla and went to work. Miss Molly interrupted my meeting with a phone call that couldn't wait. It was Liyla, who had taken the twins to the park. Shaunae suffered an anxiety attack. I rushed home immediately, not even bothering to inform my clients of the emergency. I supposed When they notice I had left Miss Molly would've covered for me and apologized.

Liyla's door flew open the moment my car stopped at the gate. Shaun came rushing to me. His eyes were swollen and red, and his body shook like a leaf as I pulled him into my embrace. 

He sniffled, pulled away, and wiped the remaining teardrops from his eyes. "She's going to split us up."

I pulled him back into a hug before kissing his temple. "I won't let that happen, Shaun," I whispered. 

Shaun looked up, boring holes into me, and asked, with every color drained from his face, "You promise?"

I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. If I said yes, I'd be bound to keeping that promise, and I knew very well that I was fooling myself thinking I could keep them. I could try to adopt them, but I'm a single working man, a busy one who would be surely denied the chance.  If I said no, I'd be breaking a promise I had already made to them.  So instead of answering, I kissed his temple again and led him into the house. "Let's go get your sister."

Shaunae sat on the couch in one corner of the living room. Her feet were pulled up to her chest and she held a blanket around her shoulders. 

I could hear her quiet sniffles. I could hear her chanting under her breath but I couldn't decipher the words. "Shaunae, I'm here." I hurried to the couch and knelt before her. "What happened, princess?" 

She looked up at me, and instead of spitting out her words, she burst into tears. She couldn't say anything. She trembled in my arms as I pulled her into a hug. Her chest vibrated against mine as her heart hammered inside her. 

"Hey, uncle Lucas is here," I told her. "I won't let anyone take you." 

"Promise?" 

There it was again, the same question Shaun had asked me. I didn't want to promise them, but I also didn't want to leave them worried. "I promise." 

"I'm sorry, Lucas, I don't know what happened," Liyla said, walking into the living room. 

"Well, something must've happened to trigger her off." I didn't want to sound as upset as I truly was, but knowing the twins could've run away instead of allowing her to take them back home made my blood boil. "Who did you talk to at the park?"

Liyla raked her fingers through her hair then rested both hands on her hip and sighed. "No one. There was only a handful of people there, anyway."

"And you didn't see anything? Who were they playing with? Were you even watching them?"

"I don't know, okay." Liyla sat on the couch next to Shaunae. We were playing and I threw the ball for them to catch. My boss walked up to me and I introduced them to him. That's when it happened." She raked her fingers through her hair again and buried her face into her palms. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare them. I didn't know she had social anxiety." 

"It's okay, I told her. "I'll take them home and thanks for watching them."

"Can we go now, uncle Lucas?" Shaun asked from the same position in the doorway he'd been since I arrived.

"Yes," I answered. "Come on, princess." I held shaunae's hand and we walked toward the doorway after she gave the blanket back to Liyla. It was then, I noticed something in the corner behind the door. At first, I wasn't sure, but then I saw what was beside it, "Wait, is that my shoes?" I let go of Shauna's hand and went to pick up the sock beside the shoes. It was mine indeed. Timothy had bought it for my birthday two years ago. It was red with a blue bottom. "Where did you get this?" I turned to Liyla, who looked as dumbfounded as me.

"Uhm..." She scratched her head. "I found it in my bedroom when I was cleaning." 

"It couldn't have been in your bedroom, Liyla," I said, with lowered eyebrows. "It's my work shoes that I wear all the time."

"Well, that's where I found it and I can't explain how it got there, so please, just take it." 

 "I'll see you later," I said, before following the kids outside. When we reached the house I ushered them to shower and ordered Italian for dinner. I picked out Megamind for us to watch and chat with Timothy on the phone. He still didn't like that I was letting them stay with me, but he cared enough to ask how they were doing and promised to bring back gifts for them when he was coming. One thing I loved about him was he was a giver. No matter how tough he pretended to be, he'd always end up giving the most priceless gifts, the ones you can't buy with money. And when he did buy something, it was always the perfect gift. He was good at giving the thing you really wanted, something that you'd need. 

As It relates to my shoes. I found myself thinking about it before I could fall asleep. I couldn't fathom how it ended up In Liyla's bedroom, but I told myself I wouldn't think too much about it and just be glad that I found it. When I finally fell asleep, I was awakened by screams I had gotten so used to and I rushed downstairs to check on the twins. 

When I opened the door, they lept from the bed into my arms and held onto me as if their lives depended on it. "We don't want to split up, Uncle Lucas. Please, don't make us split up," They cried.

I let out a troubled sigh and held them just as tight as they held me. My hands unknowingly soothed them with gentle backrubs and soon I felt them falling out of the hug as they were falling back asleep. "Let's get you two back to bed," I said while hauling them back onto their bed. from the foot of the bed, I crawled between them and pulled them, onto my chest so their heads rested there. When I heard their soft snores filling the room, I kissed their foreheads and let their music put me to sleep.