Sixty Flashes of Life

Chapter 16

Chapter 16. 

[23:40]

Sitting on the back porch of his two-story building right on the outskirts of his own town; a young, pretty lady alike her father snoozed over the book that Eliot held in his hands.

The book was mainly full of pictures, rarely having any words and sentences, which had happened to hit the spot, as the little girl had rejoiced at every page that was there.

"Honey," a shrill, birdish voice grappled him out of his own slumber, "El, will you put her to sleep?" Then, as if she thought she had been too harsh, she just added, "please?"

He looked at her through a blurry veil that hung over his gaze. It was the same girl – although he would call her a woman now – that he happened to save from suicide on that rainy night five years ago.

They say that time always takes its toll, but he believed that it was not in her case. What if it was like in that movie where Benjamin Button became younger and younger every second? And she just kept getting lovelier and lovelier, and he felt like one day he wouldn't be able to keep up with her vigorous, agile body anymore.

"Would you?" The question took his out of his meditations once again, he made a grimace that reminded an awkward smile. He nodded, and then slightly shook the child by her shoulder, waking her up.

"Well, sweetie," his voice sounded a bit hoarse as if he was getting down with a cold, "your mommy doesn't want us to hang around at night. And daddy doesn't want to get punished by your mommy, you know how she is," he said towards the child and giggled a bit; the girl answered with a short laugh through her sleepy face, although probably just mechanically than enjoying the joke.

"Time to wrap you up in your comfortable bed, my little July," he kissed the child on her forehead and drew himself up. July, her chin propped on the father's shoulders, feet dangling down his body as if she was a small coala bear, moaned a "I luvh yuh" phrase quietly into his ear, which would warm his heart through the rest of that night.

He came closer to his wife and gently handed the child into her hands, bending slightly over to give her a kiss on the cheek, as she was a bit shorter than him.

"Valencia, would you, maybe?" he said it very gently, and with love in his voice, which would have sounded unlike him not so many years ago. He had not believed that he would ever have a family after what he had gone through.

"Daddy, daddy," the child intervened, her voice sounded a bit troublesome, hands stretching out to the father.

"What, sweetie?"

"There monster in room, Im don't wanna sleep," the child babbled and tried to reach out to her knight, who always had protected her.

Eliot laughed slightly at her silliness, but when Valencia pushed him in the ribs with her elbow, he obediently took his daughter in the hands back and promised to look over her while she was falling asleep.

The monster.

He didn't know why the sound of it even caught his attention as children were always afraid of mystic creatures – especially during the night – but it seemed to unlock some forlorn memories of his past, or was it just a delirium?

He came to the conclusion that it certainly had to be, as he put the child to sleep in her bed and looked around the room to double-check that there was no one except of them.

Because of the dark or maybe other reasons, he did not see a dark silhouette with a familiar set of eyes that would stop the blood flow if someone looked into them. The silhouette took its comfortable, favorite place in the corner of the room. Observing everything in His own manner.

If Eliot had seen the silhouette, he would have probably thought that it was the monster July had told him about; but she knew that He was not a monster because He only looked over her sleep while her parents did not.

Not a monster, just a friend.