Elsie was not thrilled as she sat in the car on the way to her Aunt Addie and Uncle Connor's house. In fact, she'd thrown a fit when her parents told her that she had to leave the house because Chloe had the chicken pox and she was not allowed to stay with her. She'd screamed and cried and tried to cling to things until her dad had to physically carry her out of the house and down to the car with her crying the entire way. Originally, she'd heard that she was supposed to go and stay with Aunt Ayla and Uncle Jared but apparently tonight they'd already planned a date night and her parents weren't going to cancel that. Instead, she was to spend one night with the Micklesen family before moving over to her aunt and uncle's for the rest of her time away.
She was refusing to talk to her dad who didn't seem inclined to speak with her right now either. Once they arrived she refused to greet her uncle who was the one meeting them at the door, her dad sighing and thanking Uncle Connor for letting her stay the night. She huffed and ran away once she was inside, hiding in the hallway that she knew very well. Of course, the hallway wasn't a good hiding place at all and soon she was being approached by Shane.
"I've never seen you without Chloe before," he commented, as if it was something special.
"Go away Shane. I don't want to see you," she said, crossing her arms tighter around herself.
"My daddy says that Chloe has the chicken pox," Shane continued, clearly unbothered by the fact that Elsie didn't want him around. "Is she covered with chickens?"
"What?" she looked at him and shook her head. "No! She just has itchy dots. I don't mind having itchy dots if I can stay with Chloe."
"How big are the dots? Like... are they pepperoni sized?"
"Go away, Shane!" she was done talking to him about this.
Luckily, Uncle Connor seemed to take pity on her and came to get Shane away. He offered to put on a movie for her but she stubbornly shook her head and said she wanted to stay where she was. She was committed to her sulking too, staying in the hallway until it was dinner time. Of course, it helped that both the dog and the cat came to visit her during the time before dinner.
After dinner her aunt and uncle did manage to get her to watch some cartoons with them until it was bed time. "I'll make up your bed on the couch," Uncle Connor said.
"No!" she exclaimed, sniffling. "I can't sleep in the living room by myself. I've never slept in a living room by myself. I've never slept by myself ever. I always have Chloe." She started to tear up all over again about the absence of her sister. "I want Chloe!"
Her uncle sighed and exchanged a look with her aunt. The two of them put their heads together and started whispering between themselves. Then her aunt disappeared down the hallway as Elsie continued to cry, hugging a cushion against her chest.
A couple of minutes later Addie came back and told her to follow her. She brought her to Kevin's room where the eleven year old was currently making a bed out of blankets on the floor. For a moment she thought she was supposed to sleep on the floor and she was about to burst into tears once more. There seemed to be a sense that such a thing would happen because Kevin looked a little alarmed.
"You can have the bed," he told her. "I'm sleeping on the floor."
She hadn't let go of the cushion and climbed into bed.
"Elsie, honey, come brush your teeth and get into your pajamas," Aunt Addie said her tone soothing.
"No!" she cried, climbing under the covers. "I don't want to!"
Aunt Addie stood there and apparently decided that she was not going to have this fight over one night. "Okay, we'll brush your teeth in the morning. Goodnight Elsie. Goodnight, Kevin. Thanks again."
"You're welcome," Kevin said. "Night mom."
There was silence and Elsie started crying again, hugging the cushion to her. "I want Chloe," she sniffed, wishing desperately that she could be at home with her sister.
"But, she's sick," Kevin replied in that matter of fact tone. "You're here so you don't get sick."
"If Chloe's sick I want to be sick!" she said defiantly. "I will be sick to stay together."
This seemed to thoroughly puzzle Kevin. "But... I don't think Chloe would want you to be sick too. It's not fun being sick."
"It's not fun being apart!" she answered. "I want Chloe right now. I don't want to be here. I don't want to sleep alone here." She started crying again.
There was another silence and then she heard Kevin getting up but she didn't check what he was doing. A minute later he came back in and sat on the bed next to her, pulling the blanket down and revealing that he held Mr. Fluff Fluff in his arms. "I'm sorry that you can't have Chloe here with you. Maybe it'll help to have Mr. Fluff Fluff though."
She blinked through her tears and reached out to take the cat in her arms. He was fluffy and soft, not minding that he was being held by a crying girl. In fact, he just accepted his fate. "He's not Chloe," she said despite that.
"No, he's a cat," Kevin said with a shrug. "But it's the best I can do."
She kept sniffling and hugged the cat, nodding before she settled back into bed with a few tears still trailing down her cheeks. Who knew if she'd be able to sleep at all tonight but she had to admit that having Mr. Fluff Fluff did make it seem better.
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