The Sanderson's

Chapter 5.

"What's wrong Mr. Snuffles?"

The metal of the cage creaked as she opened it and pet the small mammal. Sage had fed him this morning.. He had water, what else could he need? The cage was clean too.

"I think you need a bath!" Elle yelped as the hamster crawled up into her hand. She wrapped her hands around the animal and walked towards the bathroom, setting it in the tub while she ran the water in the sink. Once she decided the sink was filled enough, she touched the water and then walked over to the bathtub and picked up Mr. Snuffles.

She slowly put the hamster in the water, who squeaked and tried his best to get out. Elle pet his head and whispered to him, "It's okay, you're just going to get clean." She spoke softly and put her hand under the hamster so he could stand and hopefully calm down some.

Elle used a little hand soap and rubbed it through his fur, then with her other hand, gently cupped some water and dumped it over his back and continued to do so until all the soap rinsed.

She then wrapped him up in a small hand towel and pet his head, before draining the sink and walking back to her sister's room, where she put him back into his cage and watched as he shook out his fur.

Ellie quickly left the room and went back into her room, where she was meant to be napping before her older sister came home.

. . .

Bryanna closed her eyes and sighed. When she reopened her eyes, she stood up from the couch and sighed once more. "Alright, baby, you can move away from my bladder. Thanks." She spoke softly and rested her hand on her bump that seemed to get larger over night.

"Mama?" She heard a voice that made her stop in her tracks.

She turned around quickly and spotted Dakota walking down rhe stairs, "Yes, Kota?" She asked softly and leaned down to her level when the little girl walked up to her. 

"Mommy, I had a scary dream." She said quietly, with tears in her eyes.

"Awe, sweetie.." Bryanna whispered and pulled her into her arms, "Hey, it's okay, nothing will ever happen to you because Mama and Daddy are here. Nothing will ever hurt you, my love." She said softly as the little girl wrapped her arms around her neck.  Dakota sniffled, but nodded and Bryanna swooped her up into her arms. She set her on her bump and sighed, "Well, we only have twenty more minutes until we get sister. . . Do you want to play a card game with Mommy?"

"Okay." Dakota nodded and held on to her mother was they walked back into the living room.

Bryanna set Dakota down on the floor and then sat down across from her, after putting a pillow behind her back. She grabbed the card game go fish off of the end table and opened the box.

"Fishies!" She grinned and wiped at her eyes.

"Okay..." Bryanna said and passed out the seven cards to Dakota and herself, then spread the rest of the deck across the floor in between them. "You go first." She said softly.

"Mama, do you have a three?" Dakota asked as she looked up from her cards.

"Go fish, princess."

. . .

After reaching the house, Sage immediately darted for the stairs to go visit her hamster - her normal routine. She'd take her hamster out for a little while, play and feed him a snack and then she'd settle down to do her homework. Then later, her very few chores.

After a few minutes Sage came down the stairs, with a pout. She walked over to her mother and sat at the dining room table next to her. "I guess I'll do my homework first. Snuffles is napping." She huffed and took her backpack off, setting it on the table.

She opened up her backpack and pulled out her homework folder and got started.