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“It will only be for a few hours.” Michael’s father told him this when he left for work, promising just a quick shift and he’d be home. ‘Yeah right…’ Michael knew that was too good to be true, so he and his siblings were left to fend for themselves for the night, which left him in charge, of course. He sighed, pulling the blanket that covered his body up further. Nothing was interesting on TV…
He was channel-surfing until all of a sudden he felt a tap on his shoulder quickly followed by the giggling of his little sister. He turned to look towards her, but no Elizabeth was in sight.
“What’s up, Liz?” Michael couldn’t keep himself from smiling a little at his sister’s antics.
“Shhh I’m hiding! Evan and I are playing hide-and-seek! Don’t tell him I’m here!” Elizabeth half-whispered through her giggles.
“Well, he’s gonna find you if you keep making noise like that!” Michael smirked and looked over at Elizabeth, who was crouching behind the side of the couch. He had to admit, it was a good hiding spot–Elizabeth was tiny enough to not be seen from the hallway if Evan walked in. You could see her from the front door, of course, but Evan wasn’t going to be coming that way. As Michael heard Evan’s footsteps, he pulled off the blanket and threw it over Elizabeth, who again, giggled in response.
Evan walked into the room from the hallway, plushie in hand. His arms were wrapped around it, holding it in a tight hug. Michael could hear him mumbling to himself as he looked around the room timidly for Elizabeth. As Michael watched Evan look around, it became clear that Elizabeth was the one who wanted to play hide-and-seek–not him. Suddenly, a small giggle came from the hiding place. Evan smiled and made his way to the giggling body under the haphazardly thrown blanket.
“I-I found you..” mumbled Evan, slowly pulling the blanket off of his big sister. Elizabeth jumped up and threw her arms around him, surprising him in the process.
“You found me! I knew this would be fun!” Elizabeth jumped up and down, taking Evan, who didn’t seem to like all the excitement, up and down with her, “What do we do now? I’m bored! Mikey, I’m bored!”
Michael sighed and leaned his head back onto the arm of the couch. “I don’t know, Liz, why don’t you guys go play with some toys or something?”
Elizabeth let go of Evan and stomped her foot on the ground, startling her little brother. “But we already did that! I don’t wanna play dolls again! Can’t we do something more fun?!” Elizabeth whined, crossing her arms as she huffed and wailed.
“Fine, but I’m not telling you what to do! You find something fun and then I’ll consider it.” Michael stared her down as Elizabeth continued to whine and complain, getting closer and closer to screaming. Just as it seemed like she would throw herself on the floor, Evan mumbled something soft that stopped Elizabeth from her tantrum. Both Michael and Elizabeth looked at him, and he shyly looked down, hugging his plush friend closer to him as he hesitated before speaking.
“Um….we could make a pillow fort…” Evan half-whispered, averting his gaze even more to the point where the pair could barely see his face.
Elizabeth gasped, a sparkle filled her eyes and she grabbed Michael’s arm, “Mikey! Let’s make a pillow fort please, please, please, pleaaaaaassseee?”
This time, Evan looked up and nodded, still hugging his stuffed friend tight to his chest. He seemed interested, even if he wasn’t as outwardly expressive as Elizabeth was. Michael sighed, “Fineeee.” He clicked off the TV and hoisted himself up from his comfy spot on the couch. Elizabeth shrieked with glee and pulled Evan away to their rooms to grab more pillows and blankets.
Michael retrieved the blanket he had thrown over Lizzy earlier and took all of the pillows off of the sofa. Just as he began arranging things, Liz came running back into the room, almost tripping over the blankets and throw pillows she was carrying. He chuckled as she looked up at him with a surprised expression that soon gave way to a big smile. Not soon after Evan came in carrying a big pillow and Elizabeth’s Baby plush.
With that, it was time to get to work! They stacked pillows and blankets to make a comfy fort that seemed like it could fit all of them together. Once everything was set, the three siblings climbed inside, and Mike switched on a small flashlight that illuminated them with a soft glow.
“Miiiikey!” Elizabeth’s joy was evident in the bright smile she was wearing the whole time they had been making the fort, “will you tell us a story?”
He sighed, reaching a hand out to ruffle her hair.
“Sure thing, Liz” he couldn’t help but smile at her too as he racked his brain for a story he could tell…then it struck him!
“Okay, okay. Get comfortable.” Michael watched as Elizabeth and Evan laid down and snuggled into their blankets, holding their plushies tight to their chest and looking up at him expectantly.
“Once upon a time, there was a magical kingdom. A place where all of our stuffed friends came to life!” Mike smiled as his siblings faces lit up with joy.
“And in this kingdom, there were three brave friends: a Teddy, a Clown, and a mischievous little Fox.”
Elizabeth hugged her Baby plushie tighter and Evan made Fredbear’s paw do a little wave.
“One day, the king of the kingdom sent them on a quest to find a magical crystal that would unite their kingdom.”
Elizabeth yawned and Evan’s eyes were beginning to droop.
“When they had almost reached the cave where the magical crystal was held, they started to fight about who would bring the crystal back. The Fox insisted he was the most suitable, but the Clown and Teddy wanted to both bring it back together!”
Evan had one arm around Fredbear and one thumb in his mouth. Lizzy was half awake and trying to force her eyes open to keep listening.
“Eventually they settled on working together, and Fox realized that he needed their teamwork to be happy…” Michael looked down and realized that his two little siblings were sound asleep.
“And that’s…the end..” Michael couldn’t help but feel a bittersweet emotion in his chest. Despite everything going on in their lives, he knew that they could stay together. Just the three of them. Even if father wasn’t always kind…maybe it could just be the three of them against the world..
Mike clicked off the flashlight that illuminated the small fort, and closed his eyes as well. As he drifted off into sleep, he hoped that tomorrow would be a good day.