Safe

Teddy had slipped away and fallen to the floor during the night as the little girl tossed and turned in her sleep. In the morning she reached for him from under the warm blanket and pulled him in a hug at her chest. Just a little bit more and mum would come for the second tine to wake her up. This one was for real.

She slowly opened her eyes to the familiar room littered with toys, crayons and her drawings. Most of the drawings were of Teddy having tea, picking flowers, riding a horse or a bike, going to work or the bank. He already knew how to do all those things so she knew that he’d teach her as well. They had breakfast together with the parents and she made sure he had a comfortable place on the couch before leaving for kindergarden.

In the afternoon, after she got home, it was play time. She told Teddy everything she had done that day with the other children, what they ate, who cried and who broke what toys. That was why Teddy didn’t go with her to kindergarden. Her first day there one of the bigger girls tried to take Teddy away from her and he almost got broken. Home was safe from other children. Teddy had his own schedule anyway, taking karate lessons, going to cooking class, learning how to knit and sow and finding out trade secrets of security experts because his job was to teach her these things and keep her safe. She just always felt sure that nothing bad could happen to her while Teddy was around.

The weekend came and dad took her to see grandma and grandpa. He dropped her off and went back to wait for the workers who had to fix some pipes in the bathroom. She had tea with grandma and Teddy and while he was taking a nap, grandpa showed her a few more notes on the piano. He had been a music teacher and they always practiced when she visited. All four of them had dinner and desert was Teddy’s favorite- cherry pie. Then it was time to go home.

They were only a few houses away when she noticed the red lights flickering outside of her house. There were people going in and out of the house and their neighbors were gathered around their freshly trampled lawn. Those weren’t plumbers that came. They used pipes alright, but made mum and dad’s blood drip from them, rather than water. The little girl clutched her toy to her chest as she felt something inside her wailing with pain, though her brain did not fully understand it. Turns out everything bad could happen at any time.