Shennan stood at the front door that night. She wanted to leave. Wanted to so badly. To ease all the pain and nightmares. Wanted to sacrifice herself and not Stefani. But when she got to the door she did what she shouldn't have. She turned around.
But Mykah stood there, watching her preparing to leave.
She would've left right then, she should've. And she would have, if he hadn't have let her see him shed that single tear.
He didn't say anything. Just stood there and watched her.
She couldn't leave after seeing him cry. Knowing that she caused it. She just couldn't. Dropping her suitcase, she ran to him.
Grabbing him up into a hug she whispered hoarsely, "You knew."
"Yeah." He whispered back quietly. "I knew."
She sat him down on the ground. Her arm still draped around his shoulders. "C'mon." She said as she picked her suitcase back up. "Let's go to bed."
"Can I sleep with you?" He asked as they walked up the stairs.
Shennan looked down at him. "Yeah, you can." She gave him a stern look, "But this is the last night. Okay?"
Mykah raised his head and looked up at her. He gave her a short nod. "Okay."
When they walked into her room Mykah looked at her expectantly and Shennan nodded her head slowly. Carefully, she started to put her stuff back into the drawers and into the closet. When she was done Mykah was smiling happily at her.
Smiling back, Shennan lay in her bed and he went to lie beside her too. She kissed his forehead and rolled over onto her side to face the other way.
"I'm glad you're staying." Mykah whispered.
"Me too." She replied softly.
"Me three." Stefani said as they all started to drift off to sleep.
"Happy Birthday." Mr. Launders said to his daughters as they walked down into the kitchen.
They both just shrugged their shoulders and sat down at the table awaiting their breakfast. Mrs. Launders started putting fresh fruit into six bowls. Everyone waited for Ryan before they began to eat.
Ryan was shocked when he saw all of his family sitting at the table. He blinked a few times to make sure he wasn't seeing illusions. That he was imagining the whole scene in his mind. He saw Shennan, Stefani, and Mykah. All sitting at the table waiting on him so that they could eat breakfast.
Picking at her food Stefani thought about what was happening. The nightmares persisted and they seemed to have only gotten worse. She looked over at Shennan and she was picking at her food too. So was Mykah. Sighing softly to herself she stood up. Shennan and Mykah followed her lead and left the room.
"Okay, who's leaving?" Stefani asked as they sat down in the living room.
Isaac and Taylor were sitting at the table looking at each other. "So who do you think left?" Taylor asked as he twirled his spoon around in his now soggy cereal.
He shrugged. "I don't know." Him and Taylor knew that either Shennan or Stefani had left last night. The thing is, they didn't know which one yet.
"What time are we allowed to go over?" Taylor asked absentmindedly.
Mackie walked in before Isaac could answer. He looked as sad as and depressed about as much as Taylor and Isaac felt.
"What's wrong Mackie?" Isaac asked as he picked him up and sat him on his lap.
Mackie's lower lip trembled slightly. "Mykah's gone."
Isaac gave Taylor a questioning look.
"Why do you think that Mykah is gone?" Taylor asked slowly as he stopped playing with his breakfast.
"Because he said he wasn't going to let Shennan or Stef leave. So he was taking their place instead." He said near tears.
Isaac hugged Mackie. "Hey, hey." He said smiling a little. "I can almost guarantee ya that Mykah is still here."
Mackie looked up at Isaac hopefully. "Really?" He asked.
Taylor nodded his head. "I'm almost positive that he's still here. In fact I bet he's not going anywhere for a while." He reassured his little brother.
Clapping his hands excitedly Mackie climbed off of Isaac's lap and ran for the back door. The tears and sadness now forgotten.
Once he opened the back door, he started screaming Mykah's name.
Isaac and Taylor smiled as they watched Mackie take off across the back yard to find him. Then they looked at each other and nodded.
Taylor emptied his bowl of soured food into the trashcan and placed his bowl in the sink. "Let's go." He said as they walked to the back door.
Mykah's ears perked up at the sound of Mackie's voice drifting through the house.
Shennan and Stefani were still talking about who was leaving and who was staying when Mykah just ran off without a word.
They followed after him to see what was going on. When they were outside they walked up on a precious moment.
Mykah and Mackie were hugging each other tightly calling each other brother.
Shennan looked at Stefani cautiously. "I wanna stay and fight." She murmured fiercely.
Stefani smiled weakly and nodded in agreement. "So do I." She replied softer than Shennan had.
They each walked up to Mykah and Mackie and joined in on the hug. Soon Isaac and Taylor had shown up.
"Hey, don't forget us now." Isaac joked.
Shennan smiled at him. She released her hold in the group hug and slung a careless arm around his shoulders. "We're all staying." She announced.
Isaac returned her smile and kissed her cheek softly. "Good. You belong here." He looked around the small group. "You all do."
Taylor looked at Stefani. She smiled and wrapped her arms around him. "Are all of you really staying?" He asked unsure.
She nodded slowly.
"Even you?" He questioned. He wanted to make sure he knew who was staying and who wasn't.
Stefani smiled and nodded again. "We are all staying. We've decided to try and fight whatever it is that's happening to us." She said softly before he kissed her out of sheer happiness.
"By the way." Isaac said as they all were looking back at Mykah and Mackie who were now playing in the sandbox like they usually did. "Happy birthday to you both."
Shennan nodded. "It is happy, isn't it?" She asked to no one in particular.
Stefani smiled up at Taylor. "The best I've had so far."
Taylor smiled down at her and kissed her again. "I'm enjoying it so far too."
