Keep Me Close

Thank You

Erik POV
I woke up to the unusual sight of sunshine coming through the curtains in my room, it was not a feeling I rather enjoyed but was getting used to. It's not like I had a choice. I rolled over in my bed to see it was already 10 in the morning,
"Ugh" I groaned still semi tired. I had been working a lot more and there were many late nights catching up on paper work I had missed while I had been out taking care of Lily and helping her readjust to normal life. Everything seemed to be back to normal, every once in a while I would catch her staring at the now faint burn scars she still has in the mirror. There were many late nights I had heard she crying softly from her room, she would tell me how ugly she felt. I knew how she felt, and she knew I did. Her scars however were only temporary.
I heard voices coming from downstairs and could smell breakfast being made. I stiffly sat up in bad and dressed myself in my usual black suit and then meticulously slicked back my hair,
"Damnit Erik you old bastard." I said pulling a new silver hair in my hair out of my scalp. I looked through my hair again making sure none other were showing, I refused to accept the fact I was getting older. It was not happening. I only told myself that it was the stress of raising a teenager. Yes, thats what it is.
I swiftly left my room buttoning my cuffs as I trotted down the stairs quietly.
"Yes, I leave in two weeks. I shall miss you both terribly." I heard the sweet voice of Noel say from the dinning room table.
"I don't know what we will do without you." I heard Ramin say. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lily looking at the ground. She looked at a loss. It was obvious Noel had been accepted into the ballet academy in Italy. I cleared my throat making my presence known. All of them looking at me as I entered the room.
"Morning Father" Lily muttered. She sounded like she was still in shock from the news of her best friend leaving to go across the ocean. She was definitely proud of her because she saw how hard she had worked, but still lost and sad none the less.
"Morning children" I said pouring myself a cup of coffee. I took a sip while exchanging a glance with Lily, she nodded as if to tell me she was alright. I, however, could see straight through her deceiving eyes.
"Mr Destler I was accepted into the ballet program in Italy, I came over to tell everyone the news." Noel said beaming with pride as she should be.
"Excellent! I knew you would be accepted dear, you are a magnificent dancer." I said smiling at her. Then I noticed Ramin was looking at me strangely. I occurred to me that we hadn't spoken or seen one another since the fire. I still hadn't thanked him for saving my daughters life. The girls continued to speak about the details of the new academy. I looked back at Ramin and nodded my head signaling for him to follow me. He stood from the table excusing himself and followed me to the porch.
I stood admiring the view as her came and stood next to me,
"Quite a view isnt it?" I asked.
"Certainly is sir" he said following my gaze. He had grown a bit in the passed few years, still skinny as ever but stood only a few inches below myself.
"This house is gorgeous Sir, but if you don't mind me saying however, it seems a bit out of character for you to live in a place like this" he said with a smirk referring to the beach with the sunshine beating down. I chuckled at how correct he was.
"You are correct but it makes Lily very happy to live here and-"
"And that's what's most important" he said as if taking the words from my mouth. I nodded in response. We stood there in silence for a few minutes, only the sound of the waves crashing on the shore making a noise. I heard him sigh heavily as I placed my hand on his shoulder with a firm grip making him face me.
"It has occurred to me I haven't gotten the chance to thank you for saving my daughter from the fire that night. I am forever grateful to you. That took a lot of bravery that most young men do not posses" I said with a warm smile. He looked at his feet,
"I couldn't have lived with myself if anything had happened to her. She's my best friend." He said. Inside his eyes I knew he meant it from the bottom of his heart. My daughter was very lucky to have a friends such as him.
We went back into the house and my daughter looked at me lovingly knowing what I had just done. Ramin had returned to his seat and continued to chat away with the girls.
"Lily I shall be home later. If you are feeling up to it we can have a lesson, I don't want you pushing yourself." I said planting a soft kiss on her forehead.
"Yes Father" she said leaning into my torso.
"Noel, congratulations again, and Ramin thank you a million times my boy" I said nodding my head and heading towards the door. The chatter continued after I left.

Lily POV
My two best friends in the world left hours later. We had gone to the beach outside of my house for a bit and had a picnic and had a impromptu swim. Ramin had gone in first after an hour of convincing us to go with him but we refused. He then continued to pretend he was drowning giving me and Noel a heart attack, and diving into go save him only to show us he had tricked us. I hadn't swam in the longest time, Meg had taught me after I had asked her last summer. I hated being so close to the water and not going in. It felt wonderful on my burns. That was the other reason I hadn't been swimming in so long, I feared people seeing my scars. This was different, this was my best friends and I. I hated the idea of us soon being spearhead by a whole ocean, yes I would still have Ramin but Noel was like my sister. I was certainly proud of her but I would miss her terribly.
I had begun drawing myself a bath, to clean myself after spending the whole day in the water. I took off my dress and looked in the mirror. My scars were slowly disappearing, and i was retuning to my old self once again. Once the bath was full I sat down in the warm water and began to hum to myself as i bathed. After washing my hair I laid back in the tub, thinking about going back to school in about a month, this was my first year of high school. The school was much larger and had almost three times the amount of students as my elementary school. After rinsing one mire time I stepped out and looked down only to see my legs were covered in blood...