“It’s only been a few of months,” I chuckle.
“I know, but yesterday, you were this big.” He feeds me the universal dad line.
“Winter!” someone blurts out.
I pull away from my father’s warm embrace and spot Maika, my baby sister, on the porch. Fidgeting with her floral red dress, she smiles widely. Curly blonde hair flows down her face, covering her hazel eyes and stopping at her shoulders.
“Hey, princess.” I bend down to her level and
open my arms for her. She jumps in excitement and runs to me.
“I missed you.” She wraps her tiny arms around my neck.
“I missed you, too, Mai.”
Soon enough, she breaks away from me, making it clear that she has more important matters to attend to, and runs to the living room where her toys await her.
“When’s Jay coming back?” I glance at my Dad.
“Tonight. He was excited to see you, but his friend just got a new game. You know how it goes.”
“I get it. Priorities and all,” I mock although I’m not surprised. I’m pretty confident there isn’t a single person in this world Jaden loves more than his video games.
“Tell me everything. How was it? How was Florida?” Dad asks, removing his coat. “I’m assuming things went well since these guys loved you so much they followed you home,” he motions to Will and Kendrick.
Will scoffs, and I glare at him. I know what he’s thinking. I’m not sure almost dying a few times qualifies as well.
“Come here, son.” My dad motions to my cousin.
“Hey, Uncle Harry.” Kendrick walks to him for one of those man hugs they always give each other.
That’s when my phone vibrates in my pocket, and I realize that I’m an idiot. I completely forgot about Haze. I haven’t been paying attention to my phone, so wrapped up in my family moment I didn’t think to check if he texted me that he was coming down. I grab my phone in my back pocket, read Haze’s text, and begin to type a quick “Okay,” but I can’t press Send. Because I’m interrupted by a scream.
A high-pitched, little-girl, panicked scream.
Maika comes running into the room the next second, a look of horror on her face.
“Sweetie, what’s wrong?” Worry fills my mother’s voice.
“There’s a…” She stops, out of breath. “There’s someone. I… out of the window.”
It hits me.
Holy fucking shit.
You can see my bedroom window from the living room’s. Not only can you see it, but it’s at a perfect angle. How could I be so stupid?
“What? You saw someone going out the window?” my dad asks, on alert, and Maika nods, still in shock. Events unravel so fast I can barely keep up. Maika tells my dad the intruder’s in the backyard, and my dad tells my mom to call the police. I can’t bring myself to speak, chasing my father as he runs around the house, looking for his first-choice weapon—a baseball bat.
“No, Dad, wait!” I try, but he’s so pumped on adrenaline, he doesn’t look my way.
“If this scumbag thinks he can break into our house and steal from us!”
“Dad, stop, he’s not stealing!”
“Why else would he be escaping out the window? He’s clearly robbing us.”
“Dad, listen to me!” I beg, but he’s already out of the house. Will, Kendrick, and I rush outside, trailing after my infuriated father.