The Spirit Guardians Book 1: Enlightened

Chapter 22

But Irene and Miguel did not return. For an hour or so, everyone sat nervously by the window, awaiting the return of the young couple.

Elijah had finally fallen asleep in Cassie's arms, but she was unsure what she would do when he woke and began screaming for his parents again. After nearly two hours of pacing back and forth, Lillian finally emerged from her bedroom to suggest they send out a search party.

Conny volunteered to go with her, only to be rejected by Marc who claimed that it would be too dangerous to go out now that it was dark. He did accompany Lillian to Cherie's, leaving Cassie and Conny in charge of Elijah.

It was ten o'clock now, and no one had returned. Cassie decided she could at least try to sleep. She handed Elijah to Conny and dragged the crib into her room, guessing she could watch him for the night.

When she finally did set him down in his crib, he began to wail again, and finally, after a bottle of formula and a clean diaper, he settled down.

Cassie kept waiting with the door open, but it was nearing eleven now, and by that time, she was too tired to stay awake any longer. She flung herself onto her bed and buried her head in the pillow before slowly drifting to sleep.

...

The sound of Elijah's whimpers woke Cassie the following morning. Her eyes opened, and as she slowly sat up, she realized the rest of the house was quiet. Nothing moved or creaked. She wiped her eyes, wishing to go back to bed, but Elijah was growing louder.

"Hush," she whispered. She drew the curtains back, finding a hazy day. Her clock read six thirty in the morning. The sun had just barely risen, and with the large amount of fog and gray, she could barely tell it was sunrise.

Elijah grew louder, and she moved to his crib, picking him up. She sat down on the rocking chair, trying to soothe him, but she remembered hearing Irene mention he'd just barely been able to sleep through the night nowadays.

Even if he grew quieter, she knew he was hungry. And judging by his smell, she realized a new diaper was needed too.

Cassie changed his diaper, though he still seemed unhappy. She grabbed him and walked outside of her room, praying Irene and Miguel were eating breakfast in the kitchen, but the room was as empty as the night before.

She groaned and headed to the kitchen, rummaging through the small amount of baby food they had. She finally stumbled upon some applesauce and grabbed his small sippy cup, placing a tiny bit of water in it.

Elijah sat in his highchair, excitedly waiting for Cassie to feed him.

Babies are a lot of work, she thought. She desperately wanted to wake the others and ask for assistance, but she knew they had stayed up later than her. They deserved all the rest they could get.

Elijah slammed his hands down on the table as Cassie scooped a spoonful of applesauce from a bowl. She slowly fed it to him and grinned as he licked it up.

"Thank goodness you're not a picky eater," she sighed in relief, giving him another spoonful.

Elijah licked his lips, reaching for the cup. She helped him take a few sips of water before setting it back down. The applesauce was gone not too much later, and she prayed that he'd go down for a nap soon.

He seemed in high-spirits though and lifted his arms. She carried him downstairs, finding some toys for him to play with. The infant crawled around, giggling and laughing as he knocked down plastic blocks.

She smiled, even if she was tired and craved more sleep. She knew there would probably be not much sleeping tonight though as she handed him another block. He giggled and tossed it at her, nearly hitting her face.