Rinse [manxman]

Chapter One

Intelligence could never rinse the shattered.

It was something I knew. I knew it from common sense, and I also knew it from the oh-so generous sources that told me all those years ago. No amount of magical knowledge or information on all the other realms in existence could ever provide a remedy for the gashes in my mind.

Thought made me sick. Nightmares were a plague. It was all a burden that I would never be able to rid myself of. My best friend could allow me to wallow in his company, I could play with his children for hours on end, but nothing stopped the lonely, horrific hours that I spent holed up in my head.

Ever since Dakota, my best friend, left to take command of his unit in the recent war, it had only gotten worse. I didn't spend as much time alone, but I felt alone. Without him, not a single person in the world knew about the nightmares. No one could take me out of my head. That isolation would have killed me if I didn't have his three children to look after.
With that thought, I glanced at the cream-colored ceiling, frowning as I heard little footsteps streaking across the hallway. They knew better than to be running around after their bedtime...

I sighed and pushed a hand through my black hair as I heaved myself off the sofa. The stairs creaked softly under my weight as I went up, peering down the dark corridor with a brow cocked. I knew I had heard one of them. Slight mental instability or not, there was nothing wrong with my hearing.

A soft gasp came from the left. A shadow ran for the second door on the right. I waited a moment before walking into the room and flipping on the light. I crossed my arms over my chest and raised a brow, giving the wildest of the trio a stern look as he burrowed under his blankets, pretending to be asleep.

He had his eyes squeezed shut and his little mouth pursed into a firm line. His brown bangs flopped into his eyes. Panicked bursts of breath were the only sounds in the room.

"Farley," I drawled, staring at him, trying to keep a small smirk from my lips. It was so typical of him. "Come on, I heard you."

He didn't budge.

I sighed and flipped the light off. "Okay, I guess he's asleep," I said, walking in place and making it gradually softer to get him to think I had left the room.

His eyes snapped open.

I flipped the light back on, and he grunted, burying his face into his pillow. I propped my hands on my hips.

"What were you doing up?"

"I wasn't!"

"Come on, I heard you. Just tell me."

Farley huffed and peeked back at me with deep, green eyes. "Nothin'."

I nodded skeptically. "And I bet when Sophia wakes up in the morning, she'll still have her bear, right?" Farley stealing his sisters' things had become common over the last week. We had had a talk about it a few days ago, but it seemed that he had not retained what I'd said.

He bit his lip and scooted farther under the covers.

"Farley." I pulled back his blanket and saw his sister's teddy bear sitting there. "Do you remember when we talked about this the other day?"

His lower lip jutted out as he looked away. "Yes."

"Remember how we talked about how you would feel if someone took your things?" I took his plush dinosaur from his side. "How would you feel if someone took Rex?"

He sat up, reaching for the dinosaur. "No!"

"You would be upset, wouldn't you?"

Farley nodded.