HIDDEN IN THE FLAMES ; afton kids

chapter 3

By the time we realised we were hungry, lunch was long gone.

My siblings and I headed out of the exhibit we were at - which if my memory serves me correct was the Funtime Foxy one - and started retracing our steps back to the food area we had found earlier.

Elizabeth still seemed to be disappointed off of the events earlier. After a minute of sitting down, she began to tap two of her fingers on the table in an unfocused manor.

I couldn't blame her though. If I wasn't able to see the one thing I had came too, I would be heavily disappointed too. Especially if my father had made it for me.

There was already quite a long queue of people getting stuff to eat. The dinner was packed with children, teens and adults everywhere. I couldn't imagine that many people in this part of Utah weren't in this building right now, even if that most likely wasn't the case.

We waited at the table for moments at a time before the queue was, eventually, short enough for Micheal to join without any issue.

He lightly pushed the dark, slightly overgrown hair out of the way of his eyes and turned towards Elizabeth and I, asking us what we wanted.

We both chose our respective meals and Michael went up to order them, leaving me and Elizabeth at the table, barely within eyesight.

"Evan," Lizzy whined. "Why couldn't I go see Circus Baby! I really really really really really wanted to go see her."

I stopped looking in her direction. It hurt to see her upset. She never usually looked bothered over most stuff. Elizabeth was always quite the forgiving kid, so seeing her look so disappointed with something out of her control bothered me on a new level.

"I don't know." I replied, receiving a look that seemed that upset that even now all these years later I can picture it in my mind.

"Daddy knew I wanted to go see her," Elizabeth continued. "He even let the other kids go see her!"

"She can make balloons, dance and sing! Oh why couldn't daddy just let me see her. Just for this once. I only needed a couple seconds."

Given what Elizabeth said, it was clear it would of taken her more than a couple of seconds to for fill her dream.

That being said, I still felt guilty that she couldn't. The one thing she had came here for; she deserved to see her just once.

Micheal was still in the queue waiting to be served. I believe he was either third or fourth when I noticed Lizzy's tears slow down.

She has stopped crying.

She had a plan.

I didn't know why, but a wave of panic spread through me.

I knew father was strict on his rules. If he put something in place for you to follow, you were expected to follow it.

That applied to everyone. His staff and workers, fellow business owners, reporters and even us, his own children, were kind of just expected to play this extra long game of follow the leader with him.

Yet Elizabeth, being the cheery, cheeky, partly oblivious child she was, would push her limits.

Even if it resultsd in her crying half the time.

I felt myself freeze up. I couldn't let her disobey father. He had given us dircet instructions. Who where we to break them?

However it seemed Elizabeth had made her mind up about whether or not she was going to see Cirvud Baby.

In my defence, how could i stop her? Her motive was relatable, it was only going to be a short visit and I didn't even know what her plan was so how was I going to stop it?

I looked away from Lizzy's puffy red, yet dry eyes and over to Micheal, who was now in the process of ordering, holding two bottles of water and a soda while he waited for the meals.

Whatever Lizzy had in mind, it ibviously did have something to do with distracting Micheal.

Besides, as nice as he was, even we knew he wouldn't go too far when it came to disrespecting father.

Seconds later, Micheal cane over with all out meals and drinks. The meal boxes were all stacked on top of eachother and the drinks were all tucked under his arm.

He placed them all on the table. I said my thanks and removed my focus from him and back onto Elizabeth. I needed to know what she was planning so I could stop her.

Even in the memories, this moment happened so much quicker than I expected, with Elizabeth 'accidently' spilling her drink all over herself.

Micheal, who was still standing up at this point, looked over at Lizzy and the water covered area. It wasn't just Lizzy's favourite pink shirt covered in water, but the brand new tables. The water was so close to her food as well.

"Want me to go get you a tissue, Lizzy?" Micheal asked as she nodded.

That's when it all clicked for me.

She wanted Micheal a good distance away from us.

You see, the counter with the tissues on it was on the opposite side to the dining room, and faced the opposite way from the direction to Circus Baby's attraction.

For a young child, it was a reasonable plan.

As soon as Micheal was mere steps off the table, Elizabeth legged it from our table and towards the door.

For a few seconds, I sat there torn. Should I run after her? If so - should I tell Micheal?

Panic overwhelmed me. I know it's not a good excuse but it's a reason. The reason I didn't tell Micheal.

My main goal was to chase down Elizabeth, mostly because she didn't seem to care if I followed her knowing damn well that I didn't have the balls to snitch.

So I simply just pushed my seat back.

Taking a deep breath, I ran out of the dining area and after my little sister.

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