Paying the Price

Chapter 59: Oakley

Oliver is the dumbest person I know.

Actually, maybe it's me.

How? How could I not notice Oliver going behind my back to get punished?

Since he was nine? That's five years that he has been hiding this from me.

How did I not see the scaring on his back?

I didn't sleep that night. I couldn't.

I didn't deserve it.

Between what happened to the twins and their nanny and now this with Oliver. I felt like the worst brother in the whole world.

Not to mention Janae sneaking out to take MY punishment.

My siblings keep getting hurt right under my nose.

I got out of bed and headed over to the girl's room. I needed to see them.

To see that they hadn't pulled some stunt again.

I cracked open the door as quietly as I could in hopes of not waking them up.

Thankfully both of them were in there asleep however they were both in Janae's bed which was a bit odd.

I come to check on them often in the middle of the night however I hadn't seen them sleeping together in a while.

And being that they were in Janae's bed made me think something was wrong with June and she had come over here.

I walked over to Janae's bed to get a closer look at the two of them, trying to be very careful to not wake the two of them (June specifically) up.

I put my hand on June's head. Maybe she felt sick and came over to Janae?

She didn't feel warm.

Maybe she just felt clingy? Out of all of my siblings, June was definitely the one who craved physical touch and being near us the most.

She was also the most anxious and got nervous very easily. Maybe Janae sneaking out to visit father in the middle of the night had made her worry too.

I gently kissed both of their heads and then went back to my room.

It had to be at least 3 in the morning, but I was still restless.

The twins! I needed to go check on them.

I got up again and made my way upstairs to them.

I gently opened their door and peeked my head in.

Owen was in my old bed and he looked adorable.

I was so very thankful that we found them. I knew that I needed to find their brother but honestly, I didn't want to see them go and I wasn't sure that he deserved to have them. Not after he left them with those horrible monsters.

I turned to look at Jenifer and was met with her little eyes peaking at me.

When we made eye contact she quickly shut her eyes and pretended to be asleep.

"It's okay Jenifer, I saw you."

She pulled down her covers a little bit. "I'm sorry."

"No need to be sorry sweetheart. I'm awake too aren't I?"

She shook her head yes.

"Come here," I said and then picked her up along with her blanket.

She layed her head on my shoulder and I carried her over to the rocking chair in the corner of the room.