Chapter 29:

One week.

It had been one full week.

Seven complete torturous days of continuous acting. Aaron hadn't messed up once; he'd stuck to his plan, not once rebelling against them and instead only fooling them with large innocent eyes and tricking smiles. He'd stepped over his pride when it had towered like a devil by his shoulder and begged him to stop the act, to lash out at the captors, yell and fight. But he hadn't let that side of him empower.

As the days had progressed, he found himself growing boiling frustration in his chest. But just like he'd been acting like he loved them, he managed to act like he was breathing fine; like the air he exhaled did not carry along the burning fire of anger swarming in his chest. Like his soul wasn't aching with each passing second he spent with them. It was driving him crazy—the amount of brewing emotion he had to keep tame and contained inside of him. Because as it turned out, acting like he was content about the situation and that he loved them, was much, much worse than just being obedient.

But all this was going to end; all the humiliation was going to end, and it was the only idea that kept him sane and grounded. Without the possibility of escape, Aaron knew he would've lost it long ago.

And now it all paid off.

He was escaping today.

It all was going to end at night; just some hours away.

He'd decided the day before that it was time; he'd figured everything out and he'd gained enough trust during the full week of precise acting.

Now, it was still early morning and he was still soundly asleep on his bare stomach, one arm beneath the pillow and the other over it just by his head.

But he wasn't in his crib. He was on Mommy and Daddy's bed, between them. He'd demanded to sleep beside them just so he'd keep them awake. Exhaust them so they wouldn't wake up on him when he'd escape. But he put it out as: I'm scared, Mommy. I wanna sleep beside you, please?

She'd agreed. Aaron hadn't let them sleep properly. He made Mommy stroke his back for hours and Daddy play with his hair because "it helped him sleep" as he'd innocently explained. When he felt they were drowsing off, he'd kicked them so they'd wake up again and he'd demanded them to continue. And they did.

When he'd finally let them and himself sleep, he'd woken up quite sweaty and hot sometime during the night (probably just his touch aversion kicking in), so he'd kicked away the quilt and taken off his sweater and kept himself with the sweatpants, leaving his bare back on display.

Now, Mommy woke up before Aaron. She leant her head against the headboard and watched him in his sleep beside her. She hadn't taken it as a habit for the heck of it; she just enjoyed watching him in the calmest state he could be in. There was always a fear of losing her baby looming over her love to him, and watching him assured her of his presence, that he wouldn't just disappear.

And as her eyes traced the edges and contours of his slim back, dipping with its gentle slope, she realized that some of the bruises that had taken up most of the space in large livid patches of black and blue were fading away. They weren't as prominent as they'd been before, and now the pink scars that stood out against his skin and the small burn marks were stealing the spot light. She wished they'd fade away too as she reached her hand to them; she wished they weren't really there. She wished those jagged edges that her fingertips gently smoothed over were just some crispy, dried paints she could wipe off.

She cringed slightly when she went over his protruding shoulder blade, and the movement roused Aaron from his sleep. He stirred slightly then opened his eyes, taking in the captor right in front of him. It didn't surprise him anymore. He'd woken up to her by his side more than once, and he'd realized that she just liked to do that. Creepiness was in her blood or something. Aaron slowly sat up, smiling.

He smiled because he knew he was finally escaping this hellhole if everything went according to plan. He smiled because she and the rest of the captors had no idea what was coming. How making them stay awake at night was only the beginning. Today, the plan was to make them as tired and exhausted as possible so they'd sleep longer and deeper. Then he'd take the chance and escape with Leo. Hopefully.

"Good morning, baby."

"Good morning, Mommy."

His first attempt began at breakfast.

When Daddy woke up and took him down to the kitchen, Aaron remained silent in his seat. A bowl of cereal was on his tray. Just as Mommy sat down on her chair beside him, he pretended to reach for her and purposely knocked down the bowl until it fell to the ground with the clatter of plastic against tiles. The milk spread out.

Mommy gave him a look, but Aaron quickly pouted, looking at his lap. "I'm sorry, Mommy," he said. "I wanted to hug you. Don't be angry, I'll clean it."

"God, no, baby. I'll clean it, don't worry. It's alright." Mommy kissed the top of his head assuringly then cleaned the mess. It took her barely a minute to fix another bowl of cereal then plop herself down on the chair again, immediately scooping a spoonful and nearing it to his lips. But Aaron decided he wasn't going to be easy today, so he refused to open his mouth, shrugging as she swayed it again before his face. "Come on, baby."

"But I don't feel like eating, Mommy. I wanna move and play. I don't wanna sit."

"You're so energetic today, baby, and you haven't even eaten anything yet." Mommy laughed when she realized that he was in one of his playful moods. And she knew that he was going to be difficult to deal with, yet she couldn't help but enjoy seeing him so happy, so jovial and lively. "I have a feeling you're going to be a handful today, baby."

You have no idea, Aaron thought.

Aaron didn't let breakfast pass easily; he whined, huffed and pouted petulantly before accepting any spoonful, and Mommy had to sit quite a while with him until he finished his food.

When breakfast was done, she took him to the living room and settled down on the couch right by his side as she turned on the TV. Aaron began with leaning against her side, but then he slowly progressed until he was trying to climb onto her lap.

At first, Mommy frowned as she watched him. But then she realized what he wanted. That was when she quickly allowed him to curl up on her lap sideways, his head against her shoulder and his feet propped on the couch beside her.

She held him to her chest, kissing his temple as she watched him sit so calmly on her lap; it made her feel like a true mother, and she craved that feeling—she craved that bond she'd grown with him over the past week. He was behaving so much better with her, snuggling against her and seeking her for comfort when he was upset. She felt like he was more than halfway through the process of accepting her as his mother. She felt like he saw her as a mom just like she saw him as a son, and that meant everything to her.

Daddy soon joined them. He caught Aaron's ankles and lifted them, then plopped down in their place beside Mommy, putting his feet on his lap instead. Daddy, too, had noticed Aaron's progress throughout the week; he'd become much more acceptant, much more comfortable around all of them. He loved that his baby was now demanding attention from them; he wanted to be held and he wanted to be taken care of. And he deserved the love for all what he'd been through with his father.

He smiled at Aaron, absently massaging the bottom of his foot as he focused back on the flashing screen before them. Aaron had no idea what they were thinking, or if they really were falling for the act he'd killed himself just to maintain implicitly the past week. He hoped that those content looks from them and approving smiles meant they really were happy about the gradual shift in his behavior.

Still, Aaron kinda felt bad for them. If they—hopefully—really fell for his acting, it meant that they believed that he loved them back. It meant that they believed the bond he'd built with them. They didn't know that the bond was made of nothing but dusty ashes brushed beside each other precariously. They didn't know that it never really existed. As much as he hated them, he felt a vague sense of pity.

They were going to be crushed when they'd realize it had been all a lie.

Oh, well.

They stayed like that for a while, and Mommy slowly began fidgeting. Her legs felt slightly numb beneath him. It wasn't about Aaron's weight, because he was skinny and light to her, but it was more about the time he remained there on her lap. She didn't want to push him off; she just wanted to stand and walk around for a second so her legs would loosen.

"Baby, sit on the couch a little. Give me a second," she said, gently pushing his waist off her. "My legs are numb."

"No, Mommy. I don't want to sit on the couch. I want to sit on your lap." Aaron curled his arms around her neck and clung to her, refusing to move the slightest bit. His nose nudged against the crook of her neck where he'd pressed his face, and from there he spoke with a slightly muffled voice: "Please, let me stay here."

He pulled away from her neck and looked at her earnestly with his eyes filled with wordless pleas that easily played with her emotions. She couldn't say no to him. She couldn't refuse his wants. So she just overlooked the numbness and held him to her chest again.

They kept watching TV for quite a while, until Aaron didn't want to anymore, and by then Mommy had grown significantly tired and her legs had withered with the numbness. But this was Aaron, her baby, and she'd do anything for him. So it didn't matter.

When they were done watching TV, the captors put Aaron and Leo in the playroom to play a little. Daddy sat on the beanbag, but Aaron quickly crawled over to him and held his wrist, tugging at it.

"What is it, baby?" Daddy asked as he slowly pulled himself off the beanbag. He followed Aaron to the table where he and Leo had been coloring, and it was then he realized that he wanted him to sit with them. So he did. He settled down cross-legged beside them and watched as they continued.

Aaron gave Daddy a coloring book, open and ready on a page, then handed him crayons. "You have to color too, Daddy."

"Baby, you color, I'll just watch—"

Aaron stared. He repeated, almost sternly, "I said, color, Daddy. Please."

Daddy looked hesitant, but as he watched the hope glowing in Aaron's eyes, he couldn't disagree. His father had already failed him so many times before, and he didn't want to do it to him.

Daddy was quite tall, and his broad shoulders towered way above the mini-table in front of him, making him hunch forwards uncomfortably as he played along for his baby and colored.

Aaron looked at Daddy's page, grimacing as he shook his head and shuffled closer. "No, Daddy. You're not using nice colors."

He pushed himself onto the captor's lap, from there reaching to the table and proceeding to color Daddy's one with colors of his choice. When he finished, Daddy partly expected him to crawl off his lap, but Aaron relaxed back against his chest instead, grey eyes skimming the fully colored drawing. And he stayed there, purposely trying to make Daddy tired, or at least try to.

Except that Daddy didn't really mind Aaron's weight on his lap. For him, Aaron weighed nothing more than a feather, and he could balance him on one arm all day long without feeling the slightest fatigue.

The only thing that did begin to bother him was the fact that he was sitting up straight with nothing to support his back. His shoulders and mid-back began complaining for something they could rest against, now throbbing with dull pain. And as Aaron remained there on his lap, refusing to move away, the slight discomfort expanded, and suddenly Daddy really wanted to lean back against something.

"Baby, how about we go sit on the beanbag? I'm a little tired of sitting this way."

"You're tired of me, Daddy?" Aaron twisted his torso, looking back at Daddy with pleading eyes.

"No, baby. I'm not tired of you. I can keep you on my lap for as long as you want," Daddy assured as he leant forward and kissed Aaron's head. "It's just that my back hurts a little because I can't lean back on anything. Is it okay if we move to the wall or something?"

"No. I want to color. And I want to stay on your lap. Is it okay, Daddy?"

A sigh. "Of course it's okay, baby," Daddy said. "Anything you want happens." Then he smiled down at Aaron, every ounce of his affection spilling through the secure he grip he had around his waist. Aaron found it foreign; he'd grown up with zero fatherly love, so to realize this was how he should've been treated felt... odd. Weird. Too bad he'd already lost his childhood. Aaron turned towards the table again, and he felt Daddy gently kiss the back of his head. "How can I say no to my baby boy?"

They stayed like that for a while, until Lou came in. That was when Daddy had to gently seat Aaron on the rug and pull himself to his feet, wincing at the discomfort of sitting with his back and shoulders painfully rigid and still all that time.

Aaron heard every grunt Daddy emitted as he stood and his tight muscles finally relaxed and contracted freely—a reaction that had Aaron silently glad that his attempt hadn't gone vain and that he'd managed to make him at least slightly tired.

Lou stayed with the boys until it was time for lunch.

As Lou came to pick him up, Aaron remembered that he needed to make him tired too, but oddly, the guilt came in its strongest form when he thought of doing it to Lou—the only captor who had allowed him to breathe during all the suffocating time he had to act within, the only one to unknowingly allow him to deflate some of the pressure of having to keep up with the perfect attitude and behavior. With Lou, he could mess up and he wouldn't be worried about it.

There wasn't anything Aaron could really do to Lou at that moment, so he just allowed him to take him and Leo to the kitchen. The boys were put in their high chairs, and soon enough the captors put a plate of spaghetti on their trays. Aaron watched the red sauce that was splattered on top with purpose in his eyes, carefully taking in the mess he could make with those.

Mommy wanted to feed Aaron, and she'd been doing it most of the time. After the fight, the captors seemed to Aaron like they were trying to cooperate a little more; they'd sit in indecisiveness over who'd do a certain thing for Aaron a lot longer than they should for something like that, until they'd finally come to a common agreement. And Aaron was trying as much as possible to equate between everyone; he no longer showed that he'd rather be around Lou and instead acted like he wanted them all equally, just so the dreadful tension that had led to the fight wouldn't somehow ignite again. And it was working. They all seemed peaceful.

Aaron reached for a few strings of spaghetti and picked them up, the sauce that soaked them now splattering across his fingers messily as he brought them to his mouth.

Mommy tutted, although she couldn't stop the fond smile that found her mouth as she watched the red sauce smudge his little pink lips and dapple across his fingers. "No, baby. Don't do that. I have a fork."

She curled some around the fork and neared it to his mouth, and as Aaron accepted it, his hand covertly reached forwards and gripped her hair, the sauce on his fingers now spreading onto her soft strands.

Mommy gasped as soon as she felt the warm sloppy sauce on her hair, and she jerked back in her seat, quickly yet gently tugging Aaron's hand off. "No, baby. Why did you do that?" She let out a breath of annoyance through her nose, her eyes silently chiding him for that playful grin that sat resolutely upon his lips. "Now I need to to go shower even though I just did. That's a lot of sauce."

"Sorry, Mommy. I wanted to dye your hair red," Aaron said.

Mommy couldn't even maintain the annoyed attitude, breaking out into a hearty little chuckle at his excuse. She caught the twinkles that shined regretfully in his eyes, yet he still had on a small amused grin. As much as she didn't like the idea of food in her hair, she couldn't get too mad when her baby was being so adorable and hyper; she loved the mood he was in—he was so smiley and excited. Carefree.

"It's okay, baby." She sighed, then moved to clean some of the sauce off.

Aaron knew he couldn't stop there; he almost hated himself for acting so bratty, but he needed them to be tired so they'd sleep properly. It could at least lessen chances of them waking up to him. So he decided to go further.

"Hey, Leo," Aaron called, and Leo looked at him. Daddy was busy blowing softly onto the hot food curled around the fork.

Aaron gestured him closer, and Leo leant over the armrest of the chair curiously, looking at him through wide, questioning eyes. Aaron leant over his armrest too, from there extending his arm until he caught Leo's head and purposely smudged his hair with the sauce on his fingers, pretending to whisper something into his ear. But like Mommy, Leo immediately flinched and pulled back and brought a disbelieving finger to touch the sauce in his hair. He frowned.

"My hair, Aar," Leo whined, trying desperately to clean them off. "Don't want my hair to be dirty."

Daddy immediately noticed, and he twisted in his seat to bring a napkin, quickly cleaning them off Leo's hair. The large chunks were gone, but his hair needed to be washed clearly. "Yeah, you definitely need a bath now," the captor said. "You were going to have one anyway."

Aaron didn't know if he should be impressed or surprised by the fact that Leo apparently cared about his hygiene; he hadn't expected him to really care about food in his hair.

And because causing Leo a bath wasn't fair, Aaron soaked his hand in sauce again then slowly brought it up to his head, his stomach already contracting around the contents queasily because he knew what he was about to himself. He squinted. Preparation. Then, he quickly wiped his hand along his own head before he'd change his mind, cringing as the warm sauce squished into his hair, warm against his scalp.

Aaron finally looked up. "I think I need a bath too, Daddy."

Daddy looked at Aaron, taking in the saucy red across his dark hair. "Two baths." He sighed. "That's going to be... a lot of work."

The statement alone made Aaron feel that everything paid off. At least it really was tiring for him.

Fifteen minutes later, Aaron found himself in the bathtub, with the warm waters that reached up to his chest gently rippling towards him as Daddy dropped bath-toys inside. His damp, dark hair fell flat to his forehead, the water Daddy had poured over his head weighing them heavily against it.

In the past week, he'd had several baths, but he still couldn't get over how humiliating they were; he was a teen, fully capable of showering all alone, yet here he was, sitting in a tub and waiting for someone to wash him.

How royal, Aaron thought.

Daddy watched as tiny droplets dripped onto his baby's shoulders from the ends of his wet hair, then drifted down and glistened like crystals. The glistening sheen of the water covering his skin somehow accentuated the soft freckles sprinkled across his shoulders; they stood out among the droplets.

Aaron brought his hand up and threaded his fingers through the hair stuck to his forehead, brushing them aside as he turned to look at Daddy with mischief in his eyes.

Aaron allowed Daddy to wash his hair easily, only messing around a little; he didn't stay completely still and pretended to lean away as he played with the toys. He didn't go too far, and Daddy was able to reach for his head even as he moved.

Daddy rinsed the shampoo out of his hair, and it was then Aaron decided to start messing further. He splashed him purposely, the burst of water flying over to soak the front of Daddy's sweater, soddening the cottony fabric with a large damp spot.

"I'm sorry, Daddy. I was playing," Aaron said, raising the plastic boat for him to see. "I didn't mean to splash you."

Daddy heaved in a breath, but then it left out of his mouth in a fond chuckle. "It's alright baby. Now stay still."

He brought out body gel, firstly beginning with Aaron's neck and shoulders. He found it slightly difficult, because his baby was quite hyper and was moving and leaning away as he messed with the toys. Daddy didn't want to tell him to stop playing with them, not when he finally started interacting with the things they'd gotten for him.

So instead, and as Aaron scooted further towards the other side of the tub, Daddy had to bend forward to get a reach of his neck, hunching his shoulders slightly over the edge. But when he came to wash his back, Aaron kept leaning forwards and he couldn't do it properly, the washcloth constantly slipping off.

"Baby, stop moving. Let Daddy wash your back."

Aaron shrugged one shoulder nonchalantly. "My back is here. Wash it. I'm not stopping you."

"Yes you are, baby. You're moving too much. Stay still." Daddy grasped the joint between Aaron's arm and shoulder, easily holding him down in place to wash his back without any trouble. Aaron didn't protest against his grip. Not when he could clearly feel the familiar warning through the pressure of his strong fingers against his skin.

But he still wanted to mess. The punishments didn't scare him anymore. As long as he could make them tired, he didn't mind anything.

"Daddy? Where's the dolphin? I want the dolphin."

Daddy peeked down the tub, briefly letting his eyes skim the toys before whispering, "One second," and turning to the cabinets. Aaron splashed some soapy water out of the tub, making them all spill across the floor in a large, puddle.

Daddy turned around once he heard the splash, frowning as he took in the water that danced across the porcelain tiles, spreading and streaming out, yet he disregarded it and knelt back in front of the tub. "Okay, that was really naughty of you. Definitely going for a fifteen-minute timeout after this."

Not too bad, Aaron thought. "Sorry, Daddy."

Daddy continued bathing him. Just as he finished, he pulled back, sighed and said, "Okay, done—"

"Again."

Daddy frowned. "What?"

Aaron wanted this to end but also didn't want this to end because baths were exhausting for the captor and he needed that. He forced each word out: "Wash my back again, Daddy. I like it."

"But baby, Leo's still—"

"Please?"

Daddy knew Aaron suffered with back pain, and he knew the warm water helped. So he couldn't say no. "Whatever you want, baby. Whatever you want."

By the end of it, Daddy's hair was sticking to his forehead just like Aaron's and his sweater was clinging to his abdomen with damp heaviness. What were fifteen minutes of timeout prolonged to twenty, but Aaron didn't really mind as long as Daddy looked tired.

Daddy had suffered to keep up with how hyper Aaron was being and with how he wanted to involve him too with the water. As he'd washed his back again, Aaron had splashed him countless times. He'd get mad, only he loved seeing his baby playful like that. He gave in at one point and played along despite the exhaustion.

Soon, the bath was done and in just some minutes Aaron was standing with a pull-up and pants, his upper body bare as Daddy had accidentally dropped his hoodie onto ground and picked it up only for it to be soaked with the water Aaron had splashed around.

The captor quickly went to fetch another, and in the meantime, Aaron hastened to open the cabinet and pull out the injection, and to his luck, he'd found its cap too—so now, it was safer to hide in his clothes. He tucked it in safely, patting around to make sure the captor wouldn't feel it.

Daddy came back and put on the new hoodie, then stood from where he'd been kneeling in front of Aaron, his shoulders lifting and dropping in sync with a deep breath. "And there's still Leo's bath... that's some work. And I have to shower too."

Aaron looked at him uncertainly. "Leo doesn't like baths?"

"Opposite. He loves them. Once he gets in the water, I can barely get him out. He loves playing in the water."

It didn't sound to Aaron as Daddy complaining about his duties; it sounded more like someone who was quite tired at that point and was mentally going over how much work he still had. Still, Aaron heard the weariness in the breath Daddy had let out. Exhaustion.

Aaron was taken to the naughty corner and left there to stand for the assigned twenty minutes. And even the punishment Aaron took advantage of; after the time had passed, he demanded to be held all the time because he was sad and wanted reassurance, whining every time Mommy even tried to set him down off her lap. He clung to her, refused to move away.

When Daddy came back from Leo's bath, Aaron left Mommy and made him carry him around as he rested his head on his shoulder, pretending to be apologetic about the mess he'd done in the bath.

Soon enough both captors were generally tired from all the work they'd had to do throughout all the day; it wasn't just about Aaron clinging to them and being playful, it was a combination of their daily houses duties, to cleaning the messes, and handling both their boys being energetic and rowdy.

And to top it off, both Mommy and Daddy were getting really sleepy since Aaron hadn't let them sleep properly. They didn't mind that their baby had wanted to sleep beside them, but they were aware that the early drowsiness they were feeling was the aftermath.

Then it was all down to make Lou tired too. Aaron didn't really worry too much about him waking up to him. Sometime in the past week, he'd come to know that Lou was a deep sleeper, and that when he did sleep, he wouldn't let anyone disturb him:

"Where's Lou? He still didn't wake up?" Mommy had asked once when Lou hadn't come down to breakfast. "I hope he didn't oversleep. We'll need explosions to wake him up. Too much of a sleepyhead."

Aaron decided he still needed to make him at least partly tired. "Can you give me a piggyback ride?" Aaron asked as Lou extended his arm to pick up. Lou quirked an eyebrow. "I mean, you always put me on your hip. It's boring. Can I try a piggyback for once?"

"You just want to feel tall like me," Lou said. "Come, if that's what you want."

He let Aaron hop onto his back. Maybe it was because now his arm wasn't there to support him, but Lou could clearly feel all of Aaron's weight on him. And it was nothing. The way Aaron was so light worried him to an extent. His baby needed to gain more weight.

Lou walked around with Aaron, taking him to the playroom where he'd wanted to go. There, Aaron explained that he wanted stuffed animals to take to his crib, and he picked the dice in which he'd hidden the key and another random panda just so it wouldn't be suspicious. He stuffed the injection inside, then asked Lou to take him to he nursery, where he dropped the toys into his crib.

Lou walked a little more with him, but then stopped and gestured him to hop off. "Baby, how about you get off now? I'm a little tired."

"But you always carry me on your hip, and you're never tired. What's the difference now?"

"I'm not tired of you, baby. It's just that my back hurts a little because I just finished working out, and I was drawing. Sitting for so long really is exhausting. So if you don't mind, let's put you down."

"Not an excuse. My back usually hurts and I can handle it." Aaron smiled when Lou shook his head and chuckled. "Alright. I'll get off." He hopped down his back, watching as Lou turned to him and ruffled his hair.

*_*_*_*

The hours and minutes crawled by as slowly as possible, painful and torturous as Aaron maintained each second acting and still holding onto the mischievous attitude. He refused to cooperate properly, mostly insisting on being held and sitting on someone's lap.

None of the captors complained about how energetic and playful he was that day, and instead all they did was handle his attitude perfectly; they encouraged him to be happy, never shaming him for the hyper mood. Even if it were hard to keep up with him, they loved him way beyond yelling at him for simply being energetic.

What was a weak orange tint through the sky gradually turned into a dominating dark shade that dimmed the bright light into tiny, starry spots scattered above. Aaron sat on Mommy's lap on the rocking chair in the nursery, his chin hooked over her shoulder as he peeked through the slightly open curtains of the window outside. The blazing stars flickered, shining against his eyes like they were winking at him. Maybe because they knew he was escaping soon, and they were encouraging him. But maybe because they knew he was going to fail, and they were mocking him.

The reality of what was ahead of Aaron slowly began sinking properly. In just a few hours, he'd be escaping. He'd be trying to escape. It terrified him as a first thought. He was terrified of how things could go wrong, of what could happen if he'd get caught.

But he swallowed past the thick wooly unease that clogged up his throat, desperately trying to ignore the tense nerves that knotted deep in his gut. His ears were filled with the sound of his mind going over the plan, briefly checking up what he had to do, and so the story Mommy was reading for him passed by his hearing pointlessly. He even found it annoying; as calming as her voice was, it was nothing to him at that moment but muffled blabbers in the background that distracted him from the mental checkup.

After finishing the story, and as Mommy prepared to get off the chair, Aaron gripped her shirt and said, "Stay Mommy a bit more, Mommy?"

"As long as you want, baby."

She held him to her chest for as long as he wanted, unaware of the plan in his head. Because who was she to deny his little wants? If he wanted to stay on her lap, then she didn't mind. If he wanted to be held, then she didn't mind. If he wanted to sleep right there, then she didn't mind. Anything for him.

Eventually, Daddy decided it was time to sleep. He tucked the boys in their cribs, then turned and stood by the door as Mommy wished them a goodnight.

She'd just finished with Leo then moved to Aaron, slowly crouching by the crib. "You were a handful today, baby," she said. Aaron expected her now to start shaming him; telling him how much she had to tolerate from him and how tiresome it was to handle him. But instead, she smiled at him even through the haze of sleepiness. "But I didn't mind, baby. And I never will. I'm happy as long as you're happy. Good night, baby. I love you so much."

She reached for his hand and kissed his palm, then turned and left them alone. Something felt heavy in her chest; she had no idea why, but there was a constant chant in the back of her mind telling her that something terrible was going to happen.

Daddy noticed the grim look on Mommy's face, so he asked, "What's wrong?"

Mommy just shrugged it off. "Nothing. Maybe because I'm so tired. I just really need to sleep. It's all fine as long as the boys are safe."

Aaron didn't allow himself to sleep when they left and closed the door behind. He didn't want to accidentally skip midnight and suddenly wake up at morning. It'd ruin his plan. He wanted to wait until a little past midnight, because he'd be sure all the captors would be soundly asleep.

The sickening horror in his gut intensified with each passing second he spent there waiting in bed, because the time was nearing, and he knew all his and Leo's life depended on that one fateful attempt. He wondered in a passing thought if it were normal for his heart to beat so harshly.

He hadn't even started and he was already so nervous. Great, Aaron thought.

And so the hours passed by, between the unsettling rapid beats of his heart and the menacing ticking of the clock arm. Soon it was around one in the morning, and Aaron slowly propped himself on one elbow as he squinted at the clock for confirmation. It was indeed time to begin with the plan. His heart couldn't pace faster anymore, and so it stopped beating at all for a millisecond. But even as his hands slowly became clammy, even as they trembled slightly, his lips curled, and his eyes sparkled longingly.

Because now was time to start.

*_*_*_*_*_*

hi! just for fun(and because I really like to know what you guys think) if you can describe each character in the story with one word, what would it be?

(alsoo get ready bc in the coming chapters shit gets real—old readers can confirm lol)

thanks for reading/commenting/voting, it means the world <33