They let her fall to the ground and shatter like a vase full of flowers. She was left alone to pick up the pieces. Now they are back and she's afraid of being broken again.
"Where is uncle Darren?" Fiona asks as I enter the room with the board game I just spent ten minutes digging out of the messy closet for her.
"Oh, he's at work sweetie." I reply and sit down on the floor next to her, setting the game down on the carpet.
"When will he be home?" She asks, moving closer to me so we can play the game. I open the box and begin the pulling pieces out and setting them up.
I look at the clock to see what time it is. "In about four hours." I figure out how long Darren has left at work.
"So," Fiona looks over at the clock and counts on her fingers. "Five?" She asks, excited that she counted.
"Close. He's home at five." I laugh. "It's one o'clock now. So we have two, three, four, and five." I count on my fingers to show her how to correctly do the math.
Fiona shifts her focus to helping me set up the board game so that we can get started right away.
Fiona rolls the dice and moves her character the number of spaces depicted on the little cube. She counts the boxes very carefully as she moves. I roll and land one space in front of her. Fiona takes the dice again and rolls, moving her character all the way to the finish line.
"What? How did you do that so fast? You are so good at this game!" I exclaim. When playing with a young child, there are no rules except for the child's rules. She doesn't understand the actual rules so she just makes them up as we go along. This particular time, rolling a 6 means you get to go to the end of the board.
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Fiona shrugs. "I just am." She smiles as I compliment her game play. "Let's play again. I'll show you how to win."
"Okay." I smile and help her rest the pieces to the starting spot on the board. I turn my head as I hear my front door creak open. I turn to look at the clock, nothing that only five minutes have passed since I last looked at it.
Is Darren home from work early? I think to myself what the odds are that he is home four hours early. He didn't text me so I doubt the person who just entered my house is him.
"Stay here."I say to Fiona as I stand to investigate. I don't have a good feeling about this. As I walk towards my front door, I look for something to hit the potential robber with. I need to be prepared just in case there is a fight for my life. I need to protect Fiona as well as myself. I stand against the wall, preparing myself to come face to face with whom ever has chosen to break into my house.
Unarmed, I turn the corner, prepared to use my fists and my feet to attack the intruder.
"What the hell?! Get out of my house!" I shout at him as he stands frozen in my hallway. "Chris, what the hell?!" I continue yelling as he continues standing in one spot.
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"I just came here because I wanted to talk." He says, holding his hands up in defense as if that is going to cause me to suddenly let my guard down. He is a stranger coming into my house. Telling me why he is here doesn't make me any less angry with him.
"I don't care why you are here. You just broke into my house." I remind him of how this looks. "You don't know how to use a doorbell? Or how to knock?"
"The door was already open." Chris points to the doorway. "I didn't have to break inside. Also, I knew you wouldn't let me in if I rang."
"I didn't invite you inside or know that you were coming. That's called breaking in. I'm calling the cops." I warn him before reaching for the phone.
"Okay. You've got me there." Chris laughs at my observation, hoping to lighten my mood. "Please don't call the cops. Just let me talk to you. That's all I'm here for. I'll leave after I'm finished."
"How did you even find out where I live?" I ask, my finger hovering over the call button. I want to know. His answer will not change the fact that I am calling the cops but it will provide me some answers at least.
Fiona screams as she runs through the rooms to where Chris and I are standing. She balls her fist up and runs at Chris full speed, slamming her little hand into his groin.
I grab Fiona to stop her from doing any further damage to Chris(though that is something I would really love to see).
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"I hurt the bad guy to protect you!" Fiona laughs when I pull her in for a hug.
"I'm calling the cops and my little body guard here is going to make sure you don't get up and run before they get here to arrest you."
AN: what are your thoughts so far about this story? Do you like it? Let me know please! I love to hear what you guys have to say!
