A Friend (or a Dozen) For Life

No One Notices...

This chapter will be the last of the "happy" ones. This story is now rated T.

I'm back!! I decided that I am better than that website! I am NOT going to let them take away what I love. So this story will be updated until we get to the last chapter, and if they want to steal it, they can go ahead and do exactly that.

Thank you to everyone who has voted and commented so far on the story. This chapter takes a turn, and we get into the not-so-fluffy side. This story is officially rated T.

Enjoy! :)

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5 months later – Friday, July 16th, 1998

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*Rosewood Park*

It's been a long day. It's hot, humid, and beginning to cloud up. Wayne has Emily, Alison, and Courtney at the park. The three eight-year-olds are playing on the swing set before they get ready for one of their summer sleepovers.

It's become a ritual for them to build at least one castle when they are here. The first year it was just Emily and Alison, but after that, Courtney quickly became besties with Emily, and started coming along with them to the park.

For the last two summers, Wayne hasn't been able to come home. He missed Emily's years of first and second grade, but he was able to come back for two weeks this summer.

Today is his only second day, and he's looking forward to learning about the second blonde Emily is so fond of.

Today is a 'Daddy and Me (and my bestest friends, Ali and Court) Day', with Wayne at the park with Emily and the two little blondes.

It's also become a ritual that either Wayne or Pam take pictures of the sandcastles the girls build. Emily and the other little girls have made photo albums for him.

They made one of their 1st-grade school plays, birthday parties, vacations, etc., then did the same for second grade.

His daughter and her best friends' lives play before him in each of the pictures in the albums he receives.

"Let's see who can go higher!" Alison shouts from her swing. "I bet I can go higher than anyone in the entire world!"

"Nuh-uh!" Courtney disagrees with her mirror image. "I can go higher! Watch!" She lifts herself into the swing, immediately pumping her legs back and forth.

"I'm going the highest!" Emily shouts, and the girls turn to see her really going the highest.

"Fine. Let's see who can jump the longest!" Alison shouts. "Ready? One, two, three... go!" The girls jump out of the swings, Alison winning this time.

"Come on, Ali! We need to go make our sandcastle." The twins follow the little brunette over to the sandbox where they spend the next 20 minutes or so making their sandcastle.

"Courty, come on!" Emily shouts from the sandbox, several minutes later. "Hurry so Daddy can take the picture." Courtney comes running over to her, her hands full of rocks of twigs.

"Here you go, Emmy!" She hands the rocks to Emily and a couple of the twigs to Alison. "Ali, you can put the flags on top."

"Okay!" Alison happily places three flags in places on the top of the castle. "Now we can help Emmy make a circle of rocks around it to keep the bad people away.

Finally, the girls are finished, and Emily shouts out, "Daddy! You can take the picture now!" to Wayne who comes over to them.

She and Alison stand proudly on either side of the castle they just built. Courtney stands directly behind the castle so it is in front of all three girls.

It's similar to the one they built together the very first time they met, except now it's better, not falling apart as much, and the windows are actually square this time.

Wayne heads over with his camera. "Alright, girls, gather around. How do you feel about ice cream after this?"

"Yes, please!" They cheer, before throwing their arms around one another and grinning.

Emily has her two front teeth missing, having lost those after the others, around her eighth birthday, and Alison has one on top and one on bottom missing. Courtney has one on top and two on the bottom. All three girls have their hair in identical twin French braids.

Wayne snaps a couple of pictures and then places the camera in his pocket.

"Okay, I think it's about time to go. Does anyone need to go to the bathroom before we leave?"

He has to ask because even though this park is only 20 minutes away, there was some kind of activity going on today and the roads will be packed with people leaving said activity.

He also knows that with three 8-year-olds, that extra 10 or 15 minutes could be filled with 'I need to go potty'. Better to ask now than regret it later.

"I do, Daddy." Emily stands and dusts herself off. "Ali, Courty, do you need to go to the bathroom?"

"No," Alison answers. "But we can stay here and pick up the toys! Please, can we, Uncle Wayne? We're big girls now and we can do it."

Wayne glances around the park as he thinks about it. The girls are eight years old and the bathrooms are only on the other side of the park.

He would be able to watch them as the bathrooms are separate for girls and boys, and he wouldn't need to go in with Emily.

"Okay, girls. You can stay here. I'll be watching you two, though, so make sure you stay right here until I get back. Understand?"

"Okay, Uncle Wayne!" Courtney answers as Alison cheers. Wayne helps Emily put her sandals back on, and the two head over to the bathrooms.

Alison and Courtney get to work, emptying out the buckets, and piling the shovels into them.

No one seems to notice the man dressed in black standing at the entrance of the park.
No one seems to notice that this man has a malnourished and vitamin-D deficient little girl with him.
And no one seems to notice that this man has his eye set on two little blonde twin girls, identical to each other.

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Cliffhanger! What do you think is going to happen to Alison and Courtney. Next is part 2 of the diary entries.

Vote/comment, and let me know what you thought! :)