Teenage Baby

Chapter 25

Chapter 25:

Whoever was walking up was still at the bottom of the stairs. So Aaron had a chance.

He quietly closed the door again, then turned and sprinted towards the crib. At first sight, he thought he was doomed when he realized that there was no way he'd be able to climb up without a proper boost, but a flash of wood from the corner of his eyes brought some hope into the equation.

The rocking chair.

Quickly, he climbed onto it, shaky hands gripping the armrest.

His heart thumped, each beat extending to slam against his ribcage as the chair beneath him swayed back and forth. He reached for the top of the railing of his crib and held onto it tightly, all his strength poured down into that fateful grasp. Then, he stepped onto the armrest and let his legs swing toward the crib. He hoisted himself up, his feet pushing against the bars for support, until he was on top of railing, and for once he was glad he was so thin and light.

Aaron dropped down onto the mattress and relaxed when he realized he'd gotten back safely, but his breath hitched as the intimidating sound of feet pattering against the floor grew dangerously closer.

One final cautious look around made Aaron notice that the chair was still swaying, an indication to the captor that he'd been messing with it. He extended his arm through two bars of the crib then gripped the curved leg of the chair, forcing it to stop swaying so violently. Aaron held it down until he felt that the person was now standing so close to the room, the wooden door the only separator between them. He let go and watched it stay in place just as the door clicked, then it inched open and the captor finally walked in.

Mommy.

"Baby? Why aren't you sleeping?"

Aaron felt a bubbling horror in his gut, but he strained with all his strength to ignore it and focus on answering instead. But before he even spoke, he could sense how his words were about to waver and blow his cover up if Mommy hadn't done so already. Aaron gathered himself, quickly putting up an innocent face.

"I'm thirsty, Mommy," Aaron said. "But no one came to give me water. Did you forget me, Mommy?"

Mommy's eyes widened, and she shook her head frantically. "No, baby, of course not. We didn't forget you. Call for us when you need something next time, yeah?"

Aaron couldn't believe she bought that lie-not that he wasn't happy, but it felt so surreal for an aware captor like her to fall for it so easily. But then, just when he thought he'd gotten out of trouble safely, Daddy came into the room, crashing all the relief over Aaron's head like a pile of bricks.

"What's wrong, baby? Everything okay?"

Mommy looked back at Daddy with a faint sense of annoyance in her eyes. She could handle her baby alone. "Yeah, everything's fine," she said. "Aaron's just thirsty, he couldn't sleep."

Daddy suddenly had an apprehensive expression on, eyes drifting past Aaron where he'd been looking. His frown was calculating. Aaron hoped he wasn't gradually coming to a conclusion.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, baby. Call us when you need something. Don't keep yourself thirsty." Daddy reached down and picked Aaron up, holding him close to him. His face read soft and welcoming again, and Aaron almost thought that he'd passed Daddy's guards too, but that was until the captor continued, doling out words that had Aaron's spine chilling to a frozen spike in his back:

"And baby, I'm serious. Call us next time, don't try to get out of the crib on your own."

Daddy's arms tightened momentarily around Aaron like a gentle threat. Aaron squirmed inconspicuously at the uncomfortable pressure suddenly pressing onto him, but then Daddy loosened his grip again. Aaron had no idea what that implied: if Daddy knew that he'd tried to get out or if he were simply warning him about ever trying to.