Alan Walker (ManxMan) ✔

[5]

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January 2017
25 years old Alan

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There's a saying that nothing is hidden under the sun and that's what is scaring Alan because what if, just what if, the sun isn't just the red hot burning one in the sky but little Ryker and his dad. If they can see through his mask, how many others can too?

It's three am and there's no one awake. It's been two weeks since Alan began working for Dominic Reisz, a man who has too much money to know what to do with it. Little Ryker has been a ball of sunshine even though he sometimes makes Alan want to pull his hair. Over the last couple of weeks, Alan has learnt that there are some days where he has to straighten Ryker's hair because the curls were unruly and just couldn't be styled, Alan also learnt that Ryker was a truly quiet kid with a big love for SpongeBob and Regular Show but sometimes his favorite activity was playing hide and seek without informing anyone. It had caused Alan to have mini heart attacks during his first week there.

Mitchell on the other hand remained a bit of a mystery but one thing Alan is sure of is that the teenager adores his little brother. It is seen with every bag of Haribo, starbursts and other sugary stuff he brings that Mitchell buys for Ryker on his way back from school, in the way he gets up at night to check on Ryker and adjusts the little boy's duvet.

Yes, Alan knows these things but here's the thing. None of the Reisz boys really knew anything about Alan.

It took Alan two weeks to pick up a routine. Get up by five, shower and be ready by five thirty, prepare his small breakfast of bread and boiled egg, he'd finish eating quickly and then made another batch of freshly made toast, eggs and bacons for Dominic, who comes down at six am sharp, never late and never too early. By six thirty, Alan wakes little Ryker and makes sure the younger one was brushing his teeth before he goes to wake Mitchell by knocking really loudly on the door, since he's not allowed in. And it works, since Mitchell is a light sleeper, knocking loudly and yelling his name does the trick (thank you, Lili) and since Ryker has a lot of quiet energy, bathing for him was fun, fast and not something most people would be used to, but Alan isn't most people. He's been babysitting for years and he's got it down to a science. If there's an award for the best of the best nanny, Alan would take first place every single time.

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By five Alan shuffles out of bed, he pauses Legends of Tomorrow and tucks his legs into his slippers before making his way to the bathroom.  He showers and shaves and comes out twenty minutes later feeling a bit lighter. He quickly checks his phone for the weather update, then he pulls on a thick grey turtle neck sweater and sky blue skinny jeans, he walks to the mirror and stares at his reflection, the light flooding from the bathroom helping a bit. His cheeks had sunk in more, his eyes looked dull and the tips of his ears were red and so was his nose. Not wanting to look at himself anymore, he decides it's time to begin the morning.

He quickly checks in on Ryker, making sure the boy was asleep before going down. He switched on the lights as he continued on his way, making the house come to life. The kitchen was cold, so cold it sent a shiver down his back. Alan plugs in the kettle, pulls out a frying pan and heads for the fridge. He pulls out eggs, milk and a bag of chopped vegetables.

One of the things that Alan has learnt about kids over the years is that they do eat their vegetables but the trick is to dice it really small and pour it into the eggs. Alan makes his food first, a boiled egg and three slices of bread which he pressed down with a mug of hot black coffee, no sugar. By five-fifty, he began to make another batch, he fried three eggs with diced green pepper in it, he made toast and fried four slices of bacon, when he was done, he slowly arranged everything into a tray on the kitchen counter. It didn't take long for Alan to hear familiar loud steps and he didn't need to turn back to know who had entered the kitchen, so instead he focuses on washing the pan.