Re-Arranged

Chapter Five

"Look, the whole point of Hide-and-Seek is to not show your face! What are you not getting?"

"Ha ha. Ben angry!"

"Angry Ben!"

"Excuse me, Aunt Kelly! Be an adult!"

"Ho ho. Says the kid always playacting as an adult."

"As a kid, I get free pass to do anything."

"Where's Pae?"

"What?"

Three voices asking the same question in a loud tone frightened Maisley and she ran to hide behind the couch. She peeped around the edge surreptitiously and stared wide-eyed, until Kelly and Darian managed to coax her out from behind it.

"Pae is not here," Maisley eventually said, playing with her fingers. She glanced up at the two of them, cautious, before looking away again.

"What... what do you mean Pae's not here? We're playing Hide-and-Seek, right? She must be hiding..." Darian had been gesturing around while talking when his gaze landed on the open front door, the words catching cold in his throat. He heard a couple of gasps beside him and he knew the answer had registered to the others too.

The next moment seemed like a long, stretched out spring of instructions flying everywhere. Ben was asked to keep Maisley company, Kelly called for help while she and Darian grabbed their phones, wallets and bike key before heading outside.

Kelly operated her phone while she and he split to the left and the right respectively and looked around the house.

"Hello? Kel? What's up?"

Two littler voices yelling over each other nearly made it impossible to hear Allison's voice, but she made no attempt to quiet them down.

"Um, Al? Bad timing? Really need you here right now! I'd call someone else if they could reach our place soon, but –"

"Oh, crisis! Be right there, hon!"

She heard her yell for her husband once before the call died down, her two sons still arguing in the background.

"Al's coming over!" Kelly yelled out, straining her voice as high as it could get.

"Great! Oh, hey! Found Paige!"

"Wait, what?"

Darian's voice sounded so faint, she was not sure she heard it right. She doubled over and raced to the other side of the house, crossing the closed garage. She nearly ran into him as he walked through the narrow space of grass and grinned at her with relief, a sleeping Paige in his arms.

"She had fallen asleep right there." He nodded over his shoulder. "She must have found the front door open and walked here and there to hide, fell asleep while waiting."

Kelly pressed a hand to her chest and shut her eyes tight. "Goodness, that scared me."

"Here." Darian handed Paige over to her. The little girl stirred in her sleep while changing shoulders but did not wake, her aunt using one palm to shade her head from the sun. He glanced over her shoulder and raised his hand in greeting. Kelly knew who it was without turning.

"What disaster befell you two?" were the first words out of Allison's mouth once she was close enough to whisper the question.

"Oh, we lost one baby and had a tiny panic attack." Darian shrugged his shoulders as he held the door open for both of them.

"Lost? Lost? For real?" She blinked in disbelief and stared from one to the other, waiting for either to answer.

He did after a long intake of breath. "Want anything to drink or eat while I narrate?"