Chapter 1 Part 1- Revised

    “Come on mom just 10 more minutes.” Cyrus whined from under the pillow, “Why do I have to be up this early?” Standing in his doorway, coffee mug in one hand and the other on her hip she lead in to the everyday argument that she had with have with her oldest son.

   “Cy, you don’t get up that's the problem with this little scenario. Let’s go, your sisters need to be woken up too.” Just as the words come out of her mouth she felt Savannah’s arms around her waist.

“Morning mommy…” she says with a wide yawn, “can I have waffles for breakfast?”

   With a last chance glance at Cyrus she replied. “Of course you can have waffles for breakfast. Can you make sure your brother gets out of bed?” The little girls eyes lit up. “I can get him up Mama!” That is all that she needs to take off into a run and with her tiny legs pumping Savannah takes a big leap into the air. While in flight she tucks her knees to her chest in a cannonball position and lands on Cyrus with a grunt. Skye could audibly hear the air being forced out of his lungs.

   “Get off me you little bug! I can’t breathe!” He screams breathlessly as he lurches up grabs the covers from around his head and wraps Savannah in his blanket. “Ewwww…” she screams combined with a giggle, “it smells like feet!”

   A content feeling fills Skye and she turned to walk away. A smile smile graces her features as she's heading downstairs to make waffles. She can see Kyra leaning in her doorway with her arms folded loosely across her chest, the look on her face is not a happy one but without a word she took 2 steps back, retreated into her room and quietly shut the door. Skye's heart breaks at that moment, as tough as Kyra has been through everything Skye didn't think that she would ever be the same.

   She didn't know if she would be able to crack that wall that Kyra had up around her, but everyday she hoped that she could remove one brick at a time so that her oldest daughter could be a kid again and not have to worry about adult things anymore.

   She had to admit it… she checked out of her parental duties for about 2 weeks after she was called to the hospital and had to ID Deacons body at the morgue. Thank god for Anna and Leigh to help her and the kids get through everything. Kyra had stepped up and took charge with Savannah but she needed to realize that she didn’t need to worry anymore and it was OK for her to be normal again, well whatever normal was going to be now.

   She headed downstairs to make the waffles and get the kids off to school before she went to the shop to open... up at least that's what the kids think.

   Downstairs Skye watched her kids’ converse and do their daily run around the house to make sure they had everything they needed for school. Kyra didn’t say anything as usual but at least she mumbled a little when she said goodbye to her mother. With good communication between Skye and Kyra's teacher she knew that Kyra would be a little late getting home because she had an art project she was working on.

   When the last kid was out the door Skye rushed upstairs to take a shower and get ready to go to the bank her real appointment and then meet Anna before they head out to look for some deals to add inventory to the antique store. Odd n Ends was the name of the shop she owned full of rare and also everyday items that they would find around at flea markets and trade shows sometimes though they sell items either charge too little depending on how much we have and how much we want to haggle.

First is the appointment with the bank she's had since Deacon died and she needed an extension on the loan payment so that she could keep the shop open. It’s all they have left as income and without it they were screwed.

   She took the stairs in two’s with the dogs loping up behind her and stopped just short of Kyra’s bedroom door. Above her headboard there is a sketch of Deacon that she drew herself. “That’s one I haven’t seen…” she said to herself as she crossed the room. On Kyra's bed is a sketchbook, she has always been a good artist even at 12 yrs old, but this picture of him was amazing.

   You could see every line on his face, the curves along his jaw were so close to the way he looked that it made her heart ache. She reached across the bed and picked up the book with the thick leather cover. Deacon got it for Kyra for her last birthday and it was the only thing that she would draw in now. When she opened it and thumbed through the pages there were simple pictures drawn, birds, flowers and other natural things and as she turned each page there was a smile on her face and then she came to one that was of all of them together. There was only their heads on the paper, with smiling faces and no bodies but off on far edge of the page is a dark spot in the corner, shaded in by light scribbles and if she looked at it in a certain way it seemed like the scribbled lead lines had a figure in between the them. It throws out a vibe that seemed dark and dismal.

It looked... like it was waiting…