Empty Handed

Seven

The next morning three people sat at the stools. Well two. The mother was at the stove making pancakes for everyone. And she meant everyone.

They heard a slight noise and all heads looked up to see a slightly fearful thirteen year old standing there. Hee brown eyes empty. She looked lost almost. She almost looked as if she were asking for permission to enter into the kitchen. The first one to speak was Paige, who nodded and gave the girl a warm smile. She opened her arms.

"Come here, Haybug." She says gently. But the curly haired girl looks to her sister and her mother as if to ask 'can I'?

And at that point it had hit Annie Katie pretty hard. Did they mess her up so bad that she was afraid to do anything wrong? God the look on Hayley's face made them feel so aware just how bad Hayley felt. But really they were the ones who deserved to hold the guilt.

"Hayley, you don't need to ask us. You're Hayley Noelle, remember? You don't need our permission." Annie says quietly, looking down. Her eyes traveled to her sister, but the girl only nodded quickly and walked softly to Paige and climbed onto the stool.

Paige pulled the stool closer to her own and she wrapped her arms protectively around the child whom slightly relaxed in the girl's arms.

Meanwhile Annie had felt like throwing up. She regretted not listening to her little sister for basically for five years. She felt so incredibly guilty and she didn't know how to help her little sister. Because she had one of the most important jobs, being a big sister. But Annie had blown that and now the girl who knew her most was silent and hurting.

The mother, Katie put the done pancakes onto a plate while she thought. How was she going to clean up her mess? She hated seeing her once bright little Haybug now curled up silently into her older cousin. She knew she had messed up terribly, and she regretted ever smacking her child like that. She could see the light bruise appearing onto the girl's cheek and that made everything even worse. She had to reconnect with her daughter. Katie knew just how close and unbreakable the father/daughter relationship Hayley had with Billy, and she wanted that back. She had been so blind to Hayley's sadness and so aware of Annie's growing success. She felt like she was cleaning up a flood with a sand bucket. Part of her realized her daughter may never love her the same, and the woman had to realize that it was fair enough. Christ, how would Katie had felt if her own mother had almost completely forgot about her ever since she was nine?

Katie plates the food and sets it down in front of each of the girls. Quietly, Annie eats deciding to keep herself quiet. A plate is set down in front of Hayley, but she decides agaisnt eating it.

"C'mon bug, you gotta eat. I bet you're hungry." Paige says softly, tucking Hayley's hair behind her ear. The girl shakes her head and leans into the older woman.

"I know Hay. Just sit up for me, okay?" Paige asks gently. The girl nods and adjusts herself so she sitting agaisnt the older girl's chest. "Alright sweet girl, eat some food and then we're gonna some place to talk, even if you don't want to talk back, I'm okay with that bug." Paige says, offering the girl the fork. But as she expected, the thirteen year old shakes her head and turns away from the utensil.

"Okay fine, you don't have feed yourself. I'll do it if that's what it'll take to get you to eat." Paige finally says, out of other ideas. She stabs a piece of yhe breakfast slightly coated in syrup and holds it up to Hayley as if she were a small child.

"Eat Hayley, okay? We really need you to eat." Katie says softly. Hayley looks up for a split second, barely meeting her mother's eyes before shifting her eyes back down to the fork. Finally her fingers take a hold of the fork and lets herself eat the pancake. Paige sighs and runs her fingers through her hair. God this was worse than she thought.

How the hell would they fix this?