"Time is the enemy of man, a man does well by killing his time" Adousa S.Mabtali

Chapter 2: Intruders Beware

Sitting at the antique kitchen table a thirteen-year-old girl and her two dads enjoyed each other's company.

That thirteen-year-old girl was me "obviously" and it was a day to remember, the same as the relic of a table that looked out of place in the remodeled manor, I called home.

Manor, Prison, Haunted house, Home is where the heart is, or whatever. A normal day, well, a rather normal day. Papa cooks breakfast almost every morning. Father tells him to "let the cook do her job." And Papa is hesitant as always saying that "he didn't want me to get used to such a luxury" when we all knew he loved feeding me whenever he could get a chance.

I was his "pig in a blanket", his words, not mine. If I didn't burn so many calories running around the estate, they would have had an actual pig for a daughter. Praise the genetics of the two handsomest men I've ever laid my pretty little eyes on.

Mike, my dad's longest-working male assistant, was sitting at the table with his computer in hand typing away, occasionally giving my dad information on up-and-coming scheduled events when he could. Mike is an average-looking white guy, I think. Not too tall, not too short, and he's always wearing business casual with his rather unappealing-looking glasses, might I add. Didn't talk to him much.

Some people just make you nervous no matter how long you've been around them. He was funny at times, and he didn't have a problem playing games with me now and then when he was on break. I don't know why since I did my best not to bother him. Never looking him in the eyes anything to avoid the mess that was floating around his vicinity.

I was good at not disturbing him as he was not disturbing my parent's breakfast, lunch, dinner, or anything in between. The guy could win a medal for always knowing the right moment to not bud in.

'Boy, do I miss those days? Damn, the pandemic!!!'

Now back to the story. I was thirteen years old, and it had been three years since the incident that caused my parents to seclude me from children my age, and two years since the start of the pandemic that would still be a pain in someone's ass to this day 'excuse my language.'

Breakfast could be a war believe it or not. Especially with two grown men flirting at the table. My parents and their antics could make anyone even partially sane want to roll over and play dead. I never knew how they did it always coming up with something new to make my ears want to fall off, If I didn't know any better, you would think that Mike and the other assistants found it cute- So maybe two of them actually found the lovebirds bearable but the rest were definitely in it for the paycheck because in Fathers words, "Money could move mountains when it needed".

Enough money could make a man eat vomit. 'Sorry, Papa.'

I thought about pleading to be excused, but after thirty minutes of randomly chiming into my parents' conversation, I never truly dared to save myself from the soap opera that was the two playmates sitting across from me. I was in no rush, so I calmed myself down. Being together with my parents was worth it. Sooner or later, I'd finish up my breakfast and hug my dad's, giving them both a kiss on the cheek. I ran along waving as quickly as possible to Mike hoping he wouldn't pay me and my overly long hair any attention.

Adventure was calling and I was ready to answer.

Navigating effortlessly through the kitchen doors to find the hallway. My mind adjusted to the fast transition from white Porcelain floors to thick hardwood, I ignored the colors invading my eyes as I took off running through the manor for my room.

Thinking about what I had to put up with 'every single day' suddenly, a burst of anger was on the edge of my throat. I wanted to scream and shout but "I was getting too old to throw temper tantrums." Not my words. 'Why did I have to put up with this?' I stopped to take a couple deep breaths for a few minutes like I was taught. Noticing that my feet almost crossed a border of no return I slowed and continued till I got to my room. It was there I handled business that shouldn't be spoken of as a lady, "Idiot" Ignore that... After washing up and going over my routine for the second half of daily hygiene it was time to dress up and sneak out again.

A girl could only be cooped up for so long. Besides I'm pretty sure Father knows that I sneak out. It was time for me to break free. 'Nope, don't sing it,' It wasn't the time to think about Musicals. I dressed myself. Putting on whatever it was, I asked Paula to order for me online. After that I tip-toed on the hardwood floors back down the stairs making sure not to lose my temper or focus on anything specifically, not even the door that would lead to a world that I for the most part had only read about.

Getting to the Kitchen backdoor ignoring paintings, vases, faces, the counter tops, and the living room which three Men currently resided in for who knows how long I tried for my escape choosing the kitchen entryway. 'Wait, did I say 'Faces?' Trying my best to creep along and ignore my latest delusion of grandeur.

"Where are you off too, little lady?" Papa asked, having finished fooling around with Father in the dining room.

Papa's alluring southern accent called for any attention in a given room. Standing behind me he giggled, staring at the back of my head. We had already made eye contact seconds ago, only he had never stopped staring deep into my brown hazel-green eyes. I could imagine his eyes burning holes through the back of my head.

"I, I, I" stuttering like a two-year-old with her hands caught in a cookie jar. Tears were ready to stream down my eyes for what I felt was a betrayal.

Papa walked up to me at a speed most visible while I stood there in the kitchen frozen like a deer in headlights, bending his knee for he was a six-foot giant compared to me. Putting his right index finger to my lips gently he whispered "My smart little Eden Eve, you can do no wrong. Now fix your face." If it was anybody else maybe I would've exploded in rage or turned into a puddle depending on the day, but those words dried my eyes like a dam to a river.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Papa continued giggling in what anyone else would describe as temptation itself, but I knew better this was the sound of care from a man who could soothe a beast. Finally deciding that the situation was no longer funny he stopped laughing. He didn't care the slightest bit about calling unwanted attention. A singer and more who could throw his voice at will, a real talent he'd taken the time to pass down to me.

Then he said "You sure have odd tastes for a teenage girl. Do you have your phone?" I nodded up and down looking at him in the white specks swirling from his eyes. He stopped staring at me like I was the only thing in the world that mattered and reached for the door. "I love you, Eden, my job is to keep you safe even..." he sighed. "You know what, I've changed my mind, don't go too far, and be careful."

'Woah, did Papa just let me go, Scott free? He did, didn't he?' I could see the freshly cut lawn and the couple of trees that lined the property. It was all for me. It had been so long since I had the chance to feel anything outside of my cage, but I had to keep calm.

That inner voice of mine was whispering "Don't be an idiot." Sadly, I heard it from my right, and against my better will I looked over only to find the relic of a kitchen table. Getting the burning feeling that Papa was testing me I moved forward slowly making my way outside unsure of my decision now that he had given me his approval.

"It is approval. Right?" I asked myself.

"Yes" came in reply with a Will of its own.

So, I carried on facing Papa like we were playing a game of "Red light, Green light. One foot after the other making my way to the goal I could hear my breathing increase as he looked at me with curiosity with his expensive white pajamas of silk and fluffy house slippers.

'Weird, why isn't Papa dressed? Adena, come back to the mission at hand.’ I begged, closing my eyes and picking up the pace I walked out of the backdoor putting Papa in the rear.

Getting a glimpse of fresh air. I opened my eyes, catching the white, yellow, and orange specks with little hints of green flowing in the wind. I wanted to turn my head and look behind me, but I already had an image of the man standing in the doorway watching my every step.

"Congratulations." Papa said, rolling his eyes. "Don't go past go," Papa was unamused about my escape. I laughed nervously, stuck at the doorway.

'Wait a minute.' Feeling lightheaded this was a big thing for me, that we both knew about to turn my head using every last brain cell not to run free.

Papa spoke up "One more thing, this, stays between us. Two more things. Is your phone charged and what do we say about strangers?"

I smiled looking down, panicking a bit. 'What if I messed this up from the start?' Looking through my yellow mini-smiley face backpack that held my phone and essentials I rummaged, pulling out my phone to tell him the time. "Two o'clock, June the twenty-fifth," remembering that the bar was on the right side of the phone I read aloud "One hundred percent." My mood brightened because I was so close to running away.

"Eden," Papa spoke resolutely in a low voice expecting a ready response.

"Stranger Danger," I replied.

Papa sighed and then hummed, making me wonder what song he had playing in his head, but he wouldn't say even if I asked. knowing this, I kept walking away feeling his eyes on my back. I watched the white specks blowing in front of me from my rear. The white specks could serve as proof. 'Would I trust myself as Father told me to?' I would, I did. I do... I trust myself.

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#POV_ ELIJAH

What a life I live! Sometimes it's even beyond me. A delicious homemade breakfast after waking up to a Man who loves me more than anything, even his work. We've come so far Elijah isn't the life we dreamed of but the life we never could've imagined and so much more.

I admire his work ethic, I admire his dedication to me and the respect that comes with how he shows it, I admire his wishes to see us happy and thriving, I admire his dedication to our daughter. Our daughter, my daughter.

Never did I expect to have a child. There was a point when life seemed like a pit, an abyss, every aspect consuming, constantly taking everything, I put out with no return. I had just been smiling my way through with my perfectly white teeth and finely combed hair.

A handsome son of- A Charmer. 'I'm the Charmer, who charmed himself. A talent to be able to take away the worries even if just for a moment, to be able to completely nullify your own.

'Elijah the Charmer, Elijah the whisperer, Elijah the snake, Elijah the survivor.' I hope she doesn't take too much after me. "I pray to God she doesn't take after me" And that's hilarious in itself. No one will answer, no one ever did, and no one ever does that's not how the world works you dealt a hand, and you deal with it. Simple as that, so I won't pray and bring shame to my loins name. I won't have him be ashamed of me nor give him a reason to ever be. I won't. No, I can't. I am thankful though, for the hand I was dealt. Not the greatest at times, but surely not the worst. Not all curses, turn out to be miracles, not all talents can be seen as gifts, and rarely do we receive gifts.

'Thank you, for my gifts a miracle in herself. My sanctuary in the Night. The rib of my own, that didn't fail or cripple me when I needed her most but Fead me in turn.'

Watching from the window there she went.

"Eat up little pig you've got a big day ahead of you."

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"I'm like a bird, I'll only fly away, I don't know where my soul is, I don't know where my home is!" I sang not having a care in the world for the loveliest day in Chicago it would be. 'The sun was shining, the grass was green, not a cloud in the blue sky not enough to ruin my day, not enough to rue the sun's gleam.' I cringed momentarily, nothing and no one was stopping me from finding adventure and living my own life in the big wide world. Maybe I'm being a bit overdramatic it's just Chicago.

"Chicagooooo Chicagooooo!"I am victorious! Skipping across the fine pavement paying enough attention not to step on the grass and the layers of dark murky green specks. It hit me, 'Why the heck did I want to come outside so much?'

What the heck is there to do out here? I don't know anybody. People you meet on the internet don’t count, "What was the reason?" I asked myself. Slightly whining for a minute, I decided to find something to do, anything of interest.

Ten minutes went by, twenty minutes went by, thirty minutes went by, an hour went out the door and I was sick and tired of walking and running around the place without getting myself dirty. The acres of land were making me sick and tired. I used to enjoy playing on the swings at the private playground behind the estate, but it bored me as a kid just as it did now if it didn't make me too nauseous.

'What time is it?' Yup, the world feces won't give me a break neither will the voices that have their own little will mostly words of do's and don'ts the occasional "idiot" now and then.

I wonder how things would've turned out if Papa allowed me to be medicated. Father would probably have more than a few unamused words to say "Sharp mind sharper body" like some wise dark shaman.

"Yeah, I'm hungry," I said looking back at the estate in the far-off distance.