The Safe House

Chapter 9

I tried to sleep last night, but I just couldn't. I was exhausted so I fell asleep at first, but then I had a nightmare and I didn't want to go to sleep for the rest of the night. I woke up crying. I'm just glad I wasn't screaming. I could have woken everyone up and it probably would have scared Kenna. At eight o'clock, I finally decided to get up and make breakfast.

I decided on eggs and bacon. I saw Kenna at the top of the stairs slowly making her way down. I went to her and walked with her to make sure she didn't fall.

I finished making breakfast and put a lid on it to keep it warm. Then I took Kenna upstairs to get her dressed and ready for the day. She went over to Jason's door and started hitting it. "Shhh! He's sleeping." I told her.

"I want J." Was all she said. You know what? It's 9:30 he should get up anyway. So I picked her up and put my finger to my lips telling her to be quiet. We snuck into his room and I put her on him. She crawled up to his face and yelled, "Get up! Get up! Get up!" He just laid there. Kenna looked at me.

"What's wrong with him?" I asked her. She shrugged. She poked his cheek. He didn't move. So she did it again. Then she whispered in his face "J." Then he grabbed her and started tickling her. He must have heard us come in. She started laughing so loud. They were so cute. It made my heart so happy.

I snuck out of the room without them noticing and went back downstairs. The other boys were up and already eating. Then Kenna and Jason made their way downstairs. I helped Kenna eat some breakfast.

"So, how'd you guys sleep?"

"Pretty good" they all responded. "How'd you sleep last night?" Jason asked. They all stared at me quizzingly.

"Fine." I shrugged. They kept staring. "What?"

"Nothing" they mumbled and kept eating.

"What?" I asked again.

Carter took a deep breath and said, "You have bags under your eyes and you look tired. You're not sleeping."

"I'm fine. I slept fine." I responded

"Fine is not good enough." He replied.

I stayed silent and started to clean up the kitchen. We didn't talk about that again for the rest of the day.

It was now time for Kenna to start getting ready for bed. She wanted me to give her a bath. I looked at Jason. I didn't want to cross a line or piss him off. He nodded to me. I took her upstairs and gave her a bath. I let her play in the water for a while afterward. She loved the water. I put her pajamas on and brushed her hair and her teeth. She picked out a book and I started reading. She fell asleep while I was rocking her. I laid my head back against the headrest. This is the most relaxed I have felt in a while. I closed my eyes and let sleep overtake me.

I felt something on my shoulder and I jerked awake. I was breathing heavily. I thought it was that man coming back to hurt me. Once my eyes adjusted I realized it was Jason trying to wake me up.

"Woah, hey it's just me. Are you okay?" He asked

"Uh, yeah, yeah I'm fine." I said as I got up and laid Kenna in her crib.

I walked out and went to my room as fast as I could. I did not want to talk about it.