DAY ONE [declan rice]

THREE

Anna's POV
2nd February 2021

I wake up in my mums bed but shes not there.

My heart starts to beat too fast so I take a deep breath and go and find her.

I hear her in the bathroom and a sense of relief hits me.

My biggest fear is waking up and being able to find her but when I do shes passed away somewhere or fell downstairs because she can't stand up for long amounts of time.

I make sure that she's safely in her bed before heading downstairs to fill her water bottle and get her some food for the day.

A career comes to check on her in the middle of the day but until then I need to make sure that she has everything she needs.

When people find out I'm 22 and that I'm taking care of myself and my mum, and that I have been since I was 16, they are shocked at how fast I grew up but I didn't have a choice.

I had to grow up quickly otherwise my mum wouldn't have anyone to look after her, we both wouldn't.

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I have just got to Dec's house and I see his car.

I can't later today, hoping that I would be able to avoid him until later but he's still here.

I walk in the house to find Dec trying to feed Theo breakfast in the kitchen but he's not having any of it.

When Dec sees me, a look of relief appears on his face and I roll my eyes.

I put my things down and go to the kitchen to help him.

"Hey." I ignore Dec and feed Theo his breakfast. "Thank you." I look at him but don't respond.

I still very mad at him but I still came here today because Theo still needs someone to look after him.

"I need to go, I'm already late but I'll see you later yeah?" I nod my head in response and show him a little smile.

I hear the door close and release a breath I didn't know I was holding in.

"What do you wanna do today buddy?" I pick him up and take me to the living room where his nursery where his changing table is because I need the wipes since his breakfast went all over his face.

"PARK!" I laugh and get him changed in sketching suitable for the park since he's still in his pyjamas.

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Me and Theo are on our way to the park and he's very excited.

When we get there he is jumping out of pram but he's buckled in so he can't go anywhere.

I laugh and unbuckle him, as soon as I do he runs to the park and is on the slide.

I find a bench to sit on whilst he's playing.

A little while later I hear him shouting for me.
"Mama!" I look for him and find him by the swings.

I get up and walk over to the swings and pick him up so I can put him in a swing.

Once he's in the swing he tries to move himself by kicking his legs but she doesn't have much power in his little legs.

I push him and he laughs as the wind hits him in the face and his hair moves with the wind.

Once he's tired out from the park, we take a walk through the park and Theo is loving the trees.

He runs over to a very green and full tree and pulls a few leaves off the branches.

He comes back over to me and throws the leaves at me, when he does he giggles.

I love his laugh, it means that he's happy and that's all I want for him.

He does this multiple times for awhile before we go home.

Dec's POV

Anna hasn't spoke to me since last night. To be honest I'm surprised she showed up this morning I thought I would have to bring him with me.

I'm currently on my way back from training and I want to apologise but I know she won't accept it so I don't see a point.

A call comes through on my phone and it's an unknown number so I reluctantly accept it.

Me: Hello?
Unknown: Hi, is this Declan Rice?
Me: Yeah it is.
Unknown: Great! You know my daughter Anna?
Me: Yes, she nannies my little boy when I'm working, is she ok?
Unknown: Yeah she's fine, however you Mr Rice need to sort yourself out. My daughter came home crying because she was lied to last night.

My heart breaks knowing that I made her cry last night, that definitely wasn't my intention.

Unknown: I need to make sure that when I die, which will be soon because I'm sick, I need to know that my baby girl is going be ok without me and has lots of people to support her.
Me: I understand. I will go home and apologise right now.
Unknown: Good. It was nice talking to you Declan.
Me: You too, I hope your going to be ok.

She hangs up the phone and realisation hits me.

Anna will be without her mum soon and all she will have is me and Theo because she didn't have many friends in high school and the ones she did have, left her and she doesn't have much time to make new friends since she's always with me or her mum.

I get home and find Anna sitting on the couch whilst Theo is playing on his play mat with his toys.

"I'm home!" I announce and Theo comes running to me.

"DADDYYYY!!!" When he gets to me I pick him up and swing around then pull him to my chest and cuddle him.

I sit on the couch next to Anna with Theo cuddled on my chest and the room is silent.

It's silent until she breaks it by telling me that she's going to go home.

"Ok, I'll walk you out." I place Theo on my hip and follow her to the front door. "Thank you for coming today even when your mad at me."

She nods her head a whispers a 'goodbye' before getting into her car and going home.

She was probably expecting an apology but I didn't give her one because I'm going to make an apology breakfast tomorrow.

Hopefully she'll forgive me.

Fingers crossed.