That night we danced until our feet ached. We fell on top of each other laughing till our sides hurt. And at the very end we climbed up on the roof and fell asleep under the starry sea. Our first night here I was surprised to see, that the sky in hell is like looking up under the carribean sea. The water was really clear so you could see the sky, but just like the sea above the world, you can still see the fish and sharks swimming above you.
The next morning, I woke up in Casey's arms. My face was cuddled in his chest and his arms held me close to his body.
"Case, Case wake up." I shook him by pushing on his chest.
"Not yet moma. I just need 5 more minutes. Then school." He squeezed me closer and I laughed at his words.
"Casey, your daughter is going to want to see you today. After all, she did just turn 10." And just like that his eyes shot open and he jumped up." Careful! We're still on the roof!" I grabbed him by the arm and pulled him towards me.
"Annie's turned 10!?" His eyes were rapidly changing colour in between different shades of reds, blacks, grays and orange. "Shit! Shit! Shit!!" He jumped down off the roof by going off the branch of a nearby tree.
"Casey wait up!" I struggled to follow after him but catch up to him in the cabin.
"Lizzie I can't! I can't do it! I can't go back!" He paces back and forth while ripping and pulling at his hair.
"What are you talking about? Why can't you?" I try to ease his tension by rubbing shoulders, but he pushes my hand away and begins pacing again.
"I can't go home. Im not a good father. I not a good fiancé. Hell, Im not even a good son!" He slammed himself down on the couch and rubbed his face. "What am I going to do?"
"Come home. I get if there is stuff we need to work on and talk about. But I told you yesterday, I'm not living without you. I get that we each have things that we need to figure out. And trust me, there's a lot of shit that we are going to need to tell each other, but for now let's go see our daughter. She misses you. I miss you.let's just go home." An unwarranted silence sets in one the room.
"You called her 'our' daughter." I looked down at Casey who was simply smiling down at the floor. "Are you sure she still wants to see me?" He looks up with ash purple eyes signaling his desperation.
"Of course. You're her father and she will always love you."
3 hours later Casey and I walked through the door of the castle.
"Mommy! DADDY! " Annie screamed as soon as she saw us. She ran up to Casey who picked her up and squeezed her. "Daddy- cant- breathe!"
"No baby doll, I can breathe perfectly fine now that I'm home with you!" He laughed and very slightly loosened his crib on poor Ann. He then walked over to me with her in his arms so she could kiss me on the cheek.
"I missed you mommy. Why did you and daddy leave me here by myself? Aren't we a family?" She looked at me with blue eyes and cocked her head to one side.
"Of course we are baby. Daddy just needed a little trip. And mommy had to go bring him back home." I stroked the top of her head and Casey kissed her forehead.
"You have raccoon eyes. Did you not sleep well?" Casey ran a finger under her right eye and she yawned really loudly.
"Yeah. Im just a little bit sleepy. Its okay." Annie rubbed her eyes again and yawned.
"Yeah, I'm going to take her to bed. Say good night to Mommy."
"Buonanotte." Said a very sleepy headed Annie. Casey brought her back to her room and I went back to my research work.
