Shadows of Dawn

Chapter 3

I awoke with the sun hitting my face at the worst possible angle. I groan not wanting to get up out of my bed. Soon my bedroom door opens quietly and Leo walks in. He comes over to my side of the bed and starts poking my cheeks and forehead.

"Are you awake?" he mumbles as he climbs on top of me and plops down.

I sigh. "Yes. How long have you been up?"

"I woke up a few hours ago. Sawyer says that I wake up too early," he says as I start playing with his hair.

I let out a breathy laugh. "Well, why don't you go downstairs and play for a while and I'll be right down to make you breakfast. How does that sound?" I offer.

"Yeah," he cheers as he takes off downstairs.

'Alright time to get up' I think to myself as I roll out of my bed. 

I walk over to my bathroom and start to brush my teeth and wash my face. Looking at myself in the mirror I notice how tired I look, but I don't care at this point. I make my way downstairs and into the living room where I find Sawyer and Leo playing Jenga. Sawyer was taking out a piece from the bottom row and the whole tower came down. Leo cheers in victory while Sawyer glares at him. Sawyer looks over towards the stairs as I reach the bottom and gives me a small smile.

"It's about time you wake up. I thought you were dead..... Not that I would mind that," he says, mumbling the last part.

'Oh shut up, will you?' I reply through the mind link.

I walk through the door to the kitchen. The kitchen is my favorite part of the pack house because of how nice it is. When you walk in it has a sliding barn door. The granite counter tops matching the grey cabinets and the steel appliances. There's a big island in the middle of the kitchen with the sink in the middle and has bar stools at the other end. On the side, there is a little bit of shelving where we put all our cooking books. There is a window right in front of the dining table and then a door that leads to the backyard.

"Okay Leo, what do you want for breakfast?" I ask.

"Pancakes!!" He exclaimed. I nod and start pulling out all the ingredients for the pancakes. 

I pour half the bag of pancake mix into a bowl, add some water, and start mixing until it gets to the right consistency. Sawyer gets a pan for the pancakes, places it on the stove, and turns it on. I pour some of the mixture onto the pan, making two little puddles of pancake batter. I watch as if bubbles on the top, indicating that it is ready to be flipped. I grab the spatula and slide it under the pancake, being careful not to drop it, and quickly flip it over. I repeat that until I have enough for Leo, Sawyer, and I.

I get the syrup from one of the cabinets and plate the pancakes, giving one plate to each of us. I sit down on one of the bar stools with Leo on my right and Sawyer on my left. Pouring some syrup on my stake of pancakes, I feel Sawyer nudge my leg. I look over to him, but he's looking down at his plate.

'Hey, bud you okay?' Worry lacing his thought. 

I look over to him to find he's already looking at me. I give him a reassuring smile and nod mouthing "I'm okay". He smiles and goes back to eating his food as do I.

Leo is being particularly quiet so I look over to him and see that he's already eaten his plate of pancakes.

He looks over to me and smiles. "Thank you," he tries to say but is muffled because he still has food in his mouth.

"You're welcome, but don't talk with food in your mouth okay?" I call to him as he was already heading to his room to play. I sigh as I finish our pancakes, then getting up to wash my plate. As I'm washing the dishes, Sawyer comes and helps me by drying them.