The Ghost Of You

Chapter Eleven

Riley 

I didn't know what to do, what to say. Piper was here, after 5 years.. 
She was chasing after James and I can guarantee she did not anticipate to see me here. 
From what James had told me, I hurt her. I hurt everyone when I left, but Piper particularly.. 
And that I hated

"Mum, who was that lady with Dad?" Harrison asked as we sat in the living room colouring. I had silently persuaded James to take Piper for a walk hopefully to explain things a little bit. The last thing I wanted to do was explain it all in front of the kids  
Harrison knew something wasn't right when James showed up out of the blue and being the curious little man he is, he's already started to ask questions 
I didn't need to fuel that at the moment

"That's your Dad's little sister, her name is Piper" I explained brushing his hair out of his face
"Is she my Auntie too? Like Auntie Tee?" He asked and I nodded
"You have Auntie Tee, Auntie Piper and then you also have an Auntie Emily" I said making him look at me with a smile

"Who's Auntie Emily?" He asked 
"She's my older sister" I smiled. I really wish this didn't have to be how things where, I wish Harrison had the chance to meet all of his family
They would have loved to watch him grow up, they would have adored Sienna

Before he could question anything else, there was a noise by the front door before it opened revealing James followed shortly by Piper. She took one look at me again and her breath hitched. 
I couldn't believe how much she had grown up. When I had left she was 17 years old, just starting her journey with A-Troupe.
Now here she was standing in front of me, 22 years old. She wasn't a teenager anymore, she was grown up

"Hey buddy how about you and I go and colour in your room and leave the girls to talk" James offered making Harrison look at me cautiously
"Mum?" He asked and I nodded allowing him to grab his things and follow James back towards his room 

I turned to Piper to see her looking down, had this been any ordinary time we would be smothering each other in a tight hug. We wouldn't have been even 24 hours apart before we were hugging like we hadn't seen each other for 5 years 

But this was different..
Piper had mourned me, she had convinced herself I was gone and I was never coming back

"Did you want to come outside with me?" I offered hoping that the cold air would allow us both to settle slightly, she nodded before following me over to the fire escape

"You're really alive?" she asked, her breath hitching multiple times through out the course of her sentence
"I can't justify what happened Piper, I wish I could. I wish I could tell you that this was all a plan and I was going to come back eventually" I explained
"But until James showed up a week ago.." I started before Piper sighed
"you never had the intention of coming back" She whispered and I nodded
"I still don't, I have the kids that I need to protect and I can't do that back with everyone" I said 

"Why not Riley? James told me that someone was threatening you but who?" She asked softly
This was the secret I had been holding to my grave. I told myself I would never tell anyone, I told myself he would be nothing but a distant memory and as long as I kept my end of the deal he couldn't and wouldn't touch me 

"Piper" I whispered

"You were - you are a sister to me Riley. We buried you. I thought you were gone, I thought I had lost you" She cried
"You really are the glue that held us all together, I think we all can now see how much we took that for granted now" She whispered before looking at me 
"I'm really sorry, I really hope you know that" I whispered making Piper nod

"Please" Piper whispered making me look over at her
"Please don't leave again Riley. Please don't do it" She continued making me raise my brows
"We need you.. I need you" She said, her eyes brimming with fresh tears making my heart break even more 
"Please" she continued to plead 

"We can figure something out okay. Nobody will touch you, or the kids" She panicked
"Just let us in, let us help you" Piper said making me turn to see James stood by the window looking over at me as if asking if everything was okay 

Everything was far from okay 

This was a long story and it was one I couldn't share, not yet, not ever.. 

--

Later that night, everyone had gone to bed. James was asleep on the sofa in the living room seeing as Piper had now taken the pull out sofa in Sienna's room while Sienna stayed in her travel cot in my room
I couldn't sleep, I had tried everything to shut off but none of it was working
Everything was playing through in my mind 

Riley you're home is back with all of us, with your friends, your family

If you really cared about any of us, you owe us that much

Why can't we keep him? He makes you happy, he loves Sienna and he is my Dad

I'll go with Dad then.

He never gave up on you Riley, I'm not surprised he found you

You never had the intention of coming back..

I couldn't lie to any of them, I don't plan on coming back. The sooner I can get James to go back with Piper, the better for everyone involved
The kids and I can go back to how we were
Back to when they didn't know we existed, back to when nobody knew anything, back when I was a ghost 

Moving over to Sienna's cot I could see her laid there with her back in the air while she sucked her thumb keeping herself soothed as she slept.
I headed over to Harrison's room to see him in a similar position, he laid in his bed with his dark brown hair covering his face. He had his Zebra tucked firmly underneath his arm while he fiddled with the label at the bottom of it 

Sucking her thumb was Sienna's comfort 
Fiddling with labels was Harrison's 

I'm supposed to protect them, I'm supposed to be the one person to never heart them but I'm afraid we are on a one way path that will only end up with all of us getting hurt 
The one thing I tried to protect them from..

And I let them walk straight into it..