Female Novel
Chapter 217
217- Routine and rigidity
Over the next week, we all settle into a mostly comfortable routine. We all work during the day, myself and Bellamy on managingthe Shifters and Megan works on finishing her final assignments and planning her future business. Darrien spends most of histime helping Megan or hanging out with Kiara. We’ve decided to wait for the new school year to send her back. Partly becauseshe’s missed so much it just makes more sense that way, and partly because she has been through so much we don’t want torush her. No, her only job right now is just to heal and recover. She still isn’t really talking. Just an occasional word here or there.She hasn't done much this week but we've discovered she enjoys reading and we made plans for a playdate with her and Loganon the weekend that | believe she is looking forward to. Since the work Bellamy and | do each day does vary, the most consistentpart of our routine is the evenings. We all try to have dinner together as a family, the five of us. Then after dinner Kiara will getready for bed and at eight on the dot Bellamy and | go up to say goodnight to her. She is very consistent and seems to enjoyroutine. We didn’t even set her a bedtime, although we probably should have. No, apparently she always went to bed at eightbefore so she just naturally started doing it now.
It's Friday night and about five minutes to eight. Bellamy is on a phone call sosture to him that I’m heading upstairs to ch*ck onKiara and he mouths to me that he will follow in anovelbin
minute. | find Kiara in the bathroom brushing her teeth. She startles as | walk in. She doesthat a lot these days and | can’t say | blame her. In her shock, she whirls around and elbows a
porcelain soap dish off of the counter and onto the floor where it cracks and breaks into two pieces. Her big eyes widen evenmore than usual and she looks horrified. | wave it off.
“No harm done.” | tell her, carefully picking up the pieces and dropping them in a bin. | ch*ck the floor for splinters but it seems tohave broken cleanly. Kiara finishes with her teeth but she still looks tense. She shuffles down the hall to her bedroom, keepingher eyes on the floor. Her room has had a bit of a makeover this last week, we're still working on it but rather than a pretty, butgeneric looking guestroom, it now looks like a girl’s room. There is an increasing amount of pink and purple throughout the roomand already she is building up possessions. Mostly because every adult who enters this house seems to bring back gifts.
Myself included. Still, standing in the doorway something looks off about it. It tak
me a moment to realise what it is. The room is just TOO clean. Too tidy. | mean Kiara doesn’t appear to be a very messy child,but she is still a nine year old girl. There should be some sign of her spending time here. But there isn’t. The bed is perfectlymade, the toys perfectly arranged. It all makes for a bit of a ‘show home’ type feeling. | fight a frown, not wanting
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217- Routine and rigidity
Kiara to think I’m upset with her.
“Into bed sweetheart.” | prompt, pulling back the covers. She scrambles into bed and | gently pull the covers over her. I’m aboutto tuck her in and say goodnight when | see tears running down her cheeks.
“Oh honey, what's wrong?” | ask, ducking my head to see her face better. | didn’t really. expect Kiara to answer me out loud sinceshe still doesn’t do that much, but to my surprise she does.
“I'm sorry. | didn’t mean to break anything.” She sniffles.
“Sweetheart, it’s alright. | know it was an accident. I’m not mad. No one is angry with you!” | grab her hand and squeeze it, tryingto reassure her. She continues to cry and she seems almost scared. Actually scratch that, she is scared. One look around thisroom and | can suddenly see what the issue is. She is scared that if she does something wrong, says something wrong orcauses us any trouble, she is going to be sent away. It breaks my heart that she feels that way and | struggle to find words to tellher.
“This is your home now. We don’t expect you to be perfect all the time. I’m certainly not perfect. None of us are.” | tell her gently.She continues to cry and shakes her head.
“D- daddy told me that my family will always take care of me. Even when | mess up. But | don’t have a family anymore.” Shelowers her tear stained eyes to her lap where she is clutching the blankets. Fluh, it seems like I’ve stumbled onto a pre-existingcase of anxiety. Something from before she was kidnapped. | guess that makes sense, she is a very orderly kid. I’m very carefulwith my next words.
“Did you know that | didn’t have parents growing up?” | start. Kiara’s eyes fly up to mine. |nod slowly.
“| was even younger than you. | never even met my parents. | grew up in group homes. My magic is unusual so they never reallyknew what to do with me. | spent a long time being sad about it. Sometimes even angry. | thought life was unfair because | didn’thave a family like everyone else did. But | realised something recently. | didn’t have a normal family, but | did make myself a newone. | just didn’t realise it at the time. Harry is like my annoying big brother. He also doesn’t have any parents you know? He and| were each other's family when
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we were little. Then when | was older | met Maggie and Logan and they became my family too. Now | have Bellamy and Megan,Darrien, Aaron and all the others. And of course | have you.” | pause and | can see that Kiara looks thoughtful, she is listening soI continue.
“| can't bring back the family | lost.I'm still sad about it sometimes too. |don’t know what life would have beenlike if | got to keep them. But | mademyself a new family and | love themall so, so much. You can do that too. |know it hurts that a arents aregone, and itwilkproBa always hurtatleast a bit. But you can still behappy. You can choose to lovepeople and to make them yourfamily. | can’t replace your mum ordad. But if you let me, | would like tobe part of your family. So would allthe others. We all care about you andwant you to be happy. There’s noneed to hold back. We're not going toget upset and kick you out or stoploving you. I’m sure there will betimes when someone hasn't had theirmorning coffee and they get grumpyand | bet there will be times whenyou get grumpy with us too. But itwon't change anything.” | promiseher. The content is onNovelDrama.Org! Read the latestchapter there!
“There is nothing you could do to
make us send you Yes @ys” Ictetbhier!ras {ace fall an ina small voice
she answers. The content is on
NovelDrama.Org! Read the latest
chapter there!
“But | think there is.” Ne coon En. elxqaorhrbat dt oechapter't ere!
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