(Going back in time)
4 years earlier.
Micah 10
Noah 8
3:30 pm on a slightly chilly day.
Zoey picked up the bouncing boys from school and headed straight to the hospital.
She was going for her six month check-up to make sure that the growing baby was healthy.
On regular days, Juno finished work at 4:00, so he would be meeting them there.
As the boys got in the car, Zoey regretted not bringing them snacks. They were clearly hungry and bouncing with energy that they had been containing all day at school.
She honestly dreaded having to bring them into the hospital on her own while they were like this.
She pulled into the parking lot and turned around as much as she could in her seat. "Okay, now when we go in there, mommy needs you boys to be super responsible big kids. Okay? You have to stay with me, and we'll have to sit in the waiting room. You can't run around."
Noah nodded responsibly.
"Micah." Zoey said.
Micah turned to his mom. He hadn't been listening. "Huh?"
"I need you to behave in there." Zoey sighed tiredly.
Micah nodded.
Zoey held Noah's hand as they walked into the building. They went through reception and were admitted.
Then, they started heading toward obstetrics.
Micah was supposed to be following behind, but his curiosity got the best of him. He saw the long escalator that went to the upper floor. He was just going to go up it once and then come back down.
"Micah. Stay beside me." Zoey said.
Micah walked beside her for a while, letting himself naturally lag behind so she wouldn't notice.
Then he booked it toward the escalators, riding it excitedly.
Zoey briefly looked over her shoulder to scold Micah for lagging behind again, but he wasn't even there.
She was overcome with sheer terror. She immediately panicked, turning and running back down the corridor, looking in every direction for her child. "MICAH!" She yelled out.
"Mommy?!" Noah whimpered as he got pulled in every direction Zoey looked. She held onto him with a painfully tight grip.
What if someone had taken Micah? By now, it would be too late for her to find him. It would be so easy for someone walking by to swipe a child. She started trying to remember the face of everyone she had passed, but her mind was blank.
Finally, they had run back to the main area. She looked around carefully, trying to spot him.
"Mommy, there!" Noah pointed.
Zoey looked up, and sure enough, there was Micah, riding down the escalator excitedly.
Her blood boiled. So much so that she felt she needed to sit down or she would faint.
She purposefully made her way to the bottom of the escalator.
Micah spotted her. She looked so angry. He tried to turn and run back up the escalator, but it was too difficult.
"MICAH! GET DOWN HERE." She called forcefully.
Micah gulped, letting the escalator bring him down to her.
YOU ARE READING
Our Family
General Fiction*Sequel* What would it be like to be the patriarch of a family of eight boys? Christopher knows all too well. His parents were out of the picture at a young age, and since then, he's been in charge of the family. He's raised his brothers as if they...
