Who is The Man Behind The Mask? (a Cryaotic Love Story)

Chapter 13: "Daddy's Little Girl"

(here's a slightly happy cheery chapter, because from here on out... thing's are only going down hill)
We stay at our -newly expanded- hut for the next few days waiting for the game jump to take us to Outlast, James and Buddy keep watch most of the time while Mark, Bob, and I stay and watch over Squirt and Felix while their wounds heal. Mark refuses to leave my side, we sit by the fire with our backs leaning against the wall until we can no longer keep our eyes open."I just remembered..." dad muttered breaking the silence "your first day of kindergarten"

he smiles "you still needed help getting into chairs"

I laugh under my breath "you were so scared taking me, you slammed on the breaks at nearly every stop sign"

Bob snickers "that was great" he adds

"hey, I was nervous!" he said defensively "my little princess was growing up right before my eyes"

I lean on his shoulder remembering that day smiling

(Eleanor's first day of Kindergarten)

"now don't forget to look both ways when you cross the street!" Mark yells as he frantically drives down the street "and don't talk to strangers!"

"mark calm down!" Wade yells from the back seat "you're going to get me killed!"

"I'm more worried about why Eleanor had to sit in the front!" Bob chimes in sitting next to him

"because I'm a big girl!" I yelled back at him

"and mostly because I forgot to buy her a car seat" Mark murmured before quickly turning panic mode back on "now daddy will be here outside the front door waiting for you okay?"

"okay okay" I place my hand on Mark's arm, making him look at me "I'll be fine daddy"

Mark smiles as we pull into the carpool lane, Wade immediately jumps out yelling "Land!"I jump out as Bob opens the door for me helping me out, a familiar face greets me"Good morning Eleanor" Molly chimes giving me a hug

"Auntie Molly, why are you here?" I ask

"I help out sometimes at your school, they have me out here helping with carpool" Mark suddenly rushes out of the car hugging me tight "don't be scared" he whispers so that only I can hear

"don't let go daddy" I mutter through tears

"I'll never let you go" he reassures as I let go of him taking Molly's hand, I waved goodbye to everyone as I entered the building.(later that day)I sat in my Kindergarten class away from the other kids, they all already knew each other yet I knew no one. Mark wasn't there, my uncles weren't there, my aunts... no one. It was the first time that I felt completely alone...until she showed up"hi" a girl slightly younger than me sat next to me, her small body was covered in a pink frilly dress, her blue eyes sparkled, she was perfect in every way even her blonde pigtails seemed unreal.

"I'm Pewdelia, what's your name?"

"E-eleanor" I muttered

"Eleanor? like THE Eleanor? I thought you die-" she quickly stopped "I mean, wanna play Barbies?"I ignored it, from that day on Pewdelia was my best friend and endured every heart break, every time a boy I liked ended up liking her and she'd always tell them off, then we'd spend the whole weekend eating Ben and Jerry watching chick flicks. I found out when we had just entered middle school that she was actually Felix's little sister, she was given up for adoption when Felix was a teenager and when Felix lost his parents he decided to track his sister down and later found out that she had not been adopted and decided to raise her along side Marzia.

but of course with all those beautiful happy days, there had to be a utterly terrifying ones.

(Eleanor, Age 9)

the school bell rang releasing us from our classes allowing us to go home, I rushed down the hall like I always did smiling from ear to ear knowing that as soon as I pushed past the main doors Mark was always waiting there leaning up against his truck ready to give me the biggest hug...but not that day. I clenched his birthday card that I had made in art class to my chest.I pushed past the doors, not meeting my Dads eyes. I dropped his card as if everything had slowed down, there stood Bob with the saddest expression I had ever seen, even with a fake smile plastered across his face I could see it in his eyes something was horribly wrong.

"Eleanor..." he knelled down beckoning me to come to him, I did so allowing him to place his hand on my shoulder "I need you to be strong, okay?"

"Uncle Bob, where is Daddy?"

"He's in the hospital, he was getting ready to take you to dinner when he collapsed but he's going to be okay-"

I jerked away from him, I pulled the door open of his car hopping in strapping my seat belt on holding back tears.

Bob got in the car, he didn't say anything the whole ride to the hospital. He knew, no one but Mark had to the power to ever convince me that anything would be okay. As we pulled up to the hospital I finally broke the silence

"is someone with him?" I asked

"yeah, Wade and Tom are and your grandparents are on their way"

as soon as he parked I bolted out of the car, I knew this hospital inside out and most of the staff. I ran to Kim at the front desk out of breath

"Miss Kim, my dad Mark is here could you tell me which room?"she smiled "hello beautiful, of course it's room 136 right down that way-"

"thanks" I bolted down the hall as she opened the huge swinging doors, I counted the rooms until I finally got to 136, I swung the door open meeting my dad's eyes.he was already hooked up and in a gown, his eyes opened only slightly.

"Dad..." I muttered feeling as if I might start bawling right here in front of everyone, wade immediately put his finger to his lips

"hey kid" he said walking to me "they got your daddy on some pain machine, they're gonna take him in a little bit to fix him up then he'll be good as new"

"Eleanor..." Mark muttered slowly reaching his hand up towards me, I pushed past Wade running up to Mark hugging him as lightly as possible

"I'm okay sweetie" he muttered in my ear "nothing can ever keep me from my little girl"

at this point every fluid that could possibly come out of my face was, Mark didn't care. With every little bit of strength he had left in him he held me close to him until finally they had to haul him away.

For the next few days I refused to leave his side, when I couldn't be in his room I'd sit outside with my back against the wall coloring in my coloring book until it was okay to go back in. The day they told him he could finally go home Grandma had brought chicken soup for him in a huge pot and he had me sit with him and we ate together and watched cartoon's together.even when he was in such a horrible state, he still did everything he could to spend time with me.

Mark has and always will be the best Dad in the whole world.