Hidden In Plain Sight

Her hand wrapped tightly around one of the ends of Sebastian’s tailcoat as she followed him around the house as he did chores. He was carrying linen through the main room when he finally acknowledged her.

“Miss, do you have anything better to do than follow me around?”

“No.”

“Why don’t you go read a book?” he suggested, shifting the sheets in his arms.

“Don’t want to.”

“Then what do you want to do?”

“Play.”

“Then why don’t you go upstairs and play with your toys.”

“No.”

“Then what do you want to play with,” he asked exasperatedly.

“You.”

“I already told you, Miss. I’m very busy cleaning.”

She just stood there unmoving. Sebastian looked from her to the linen still held in his arms, then back again before he let out a sigh and set down the sheets on the table next to them.

“Fine. But only for a bit.”

That was the first time he agreed to played with her

She felt a smile spread across her face as she threw her hands in the air giggling. “Yay!” Sebastian only let out another soft sigh as he crouched down to her level.

“What do you want to play, Miss?”

“Mmmm,” she hummed, pressing her fingers against her mouth as she thought. “Hide and go seek!”

She remembered playing that with her mom. She would always tell her how she could never find her and that one of these days she was going to lose her if she kept hiding this well. She wanted to play that with Sebastian

“Okay then, do you want to hide or seek?”

“Hide!”

Without a pause, Sebastian closed his eyes and started to count as she scampered off to find somewhere to hide. Placing herself under a table, she crouched down to the floor, a small giggle escaping her as she heard Sebastian finish counting.

She felt anxious excitement fill her as the succinct click of Sebastian’s black shoes cut through the quiet of the house. She heard them get louder and softer as he searched. It was only a few seconds before she could see his shoes in front of her hiding spot, and she held her breath. He paused in front of the table for a moment before he dropped down quickly to look at her, one eyebrow raised.

Alicia fell back onto her butt with a squeal.

“You know I can still see you under the table, Miss.”

Alicia only pouted. That had lasted no time at all.

Sebastian looked at her with a pause before finally sighing in resignation.

“Do you want to try again?”

A bright smile spread across her face as she crawled out from under the table with a happy squeal.

Sebastian looked down at her, mouth slightly agape. A few strands of his brown hair were falling into his face, away from their slicked back form. He was frozen in place, half bent over from when he had gone to check on her before he stopped, his wide eyes staring at her in shock.

What? Why was he looking at her like that? Was there something wrong with her? She took a few gaspy breaths, feeling tears well up in her eyes. And why did her face hurt so much - Oh right.

That was the first time her father hit her.

She had asked her Dad when Mommy was coming back again. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Sebastian but-

Sputtering sobs escaped her as she choked on hiccups, fat tears rolling down her cheeks as she cried loudly. She expected a sarcastic comment from Sebastian before he told her to ‘stop this tantrum now’, but instead she felt his arms around her as he picked her up and bounced her gently, probably to get her to stop but she only cried louder, tears blurring her vision.

Her father had gotten really mad, shouting words she didn’t understand, and then he slapped her.

She could feel snot run down her nose as she gasped for air, more sobs forcing their way up her throat. She cried until her tears ran dry and she was left with sporadic hiccups and she was struggling to keep her eyes open, all the energy already sapped out of her. Giving in to sleep, she let her head lull forward onto Sebastian’s chest as her eyes fell shut.