Mommy greeted us when Daddy and I returned home. She had an exultant smile on her face. While Mommy's attention was indeed on me initially, it shifted to Daddy at the front door, and she walked to his side.

At that instant, I knew what was gonna happen.

"No! Daddy doesn't want Mommy to kiss him! He's tired!"

I held my hands towards Mommy after I got in between them, and they chuckled. Daddy mentioned that he wanted to take a quick shower before heading back to work.

Mommy, on the other hand, went to the kitchen and I followed her. She had already peeled some potatoes earlier so she proceeded to cut it into smaller portions. I threw the potato chunks into a small pan with olive oil, and let Mommy fried it.

"Daddy... do you have to leave?" I asked as my hands pulled at Daddy's shirt. "You're not going to have dinner with us again?"

"I'm sorry, Ava. It's... I have to help a coworker who's sick today. I'm taking his shift." He kissed me on the forehead. "I promise I'll eat with Mommy and you tomorrow."

My cheeks flushed when Daddy patted my head. "When I grow up, I want to be Daddy's princess."

"Hoh?" Mommy heard this and poked at Daddy's arm. "If Ava becomes your princess, then what will I be?"

"You're my queen of course!"

"B-But I want to be Daddy's queen! If Mommy wants to be your queen, then I want to be one as well!"

They laughed at my words and I pouted at them. Afterward, the scene shifted, and I was put into another memory I was quite fond of.

I found myself staring through the window looking at the heavy downpour outside with Dale and his two friends. He jogged to another window in the living room and peered through it.

I remembered this memory vividly. Dale and his friends came to visit my house one day to invite me to play with them at a nearby park. I would love to if the day was moderately allowing, but, I came to accept the reality with a sigh.

It began to rain as soon as the trio arrived. Before we knew it, the rain turned into a downpour.

"...How about we play tag inside?" I suggested to Dale.

"Tag? Boring," said one of his friends. "Wrestling! That's more fun, isn't it?"

"...That'll be painful. Besides, Mommy said to never copy the shows we saw on TV!" I pointed out. "They're not good for us."

"Eh... tag it is then!"

Not more than five minutes later, I was chasing those three on the first floor. They ran into my bedroom and then I ran after them in circles before they went out into the corridor. Dale pulled his hand just in time as I was about to grab him, and he laughed at me.

"I'll get you three!"

With Dale within sight, I sprinted after him and managed to pull his shirt. He stumbled towards me and I patted his shoulder. "Yay! Dale's out!"

The others looked over their shoulders when my fingers pinched at their collars to stop them from running.

"I got you two!" I said, somewhat enraptured by me winning the game. However, Dale and his friends cast a wry smile at me.

"You're quite rough for a girl," said Dale as he tucked his shirt. "Again!"

"Alright!"

In the second round, I chased them until we encountered Mommy in the kitchen. Past her, we went into the living room, and I tumbled a flower vase to the floor.

It shattered and soft soil scattered all over the floor. The four of us held our hands to our chest, shaking. However, the fact that the vase broke elicited an angry yell from Mommy, as she flounced towards us with squinted eyes.

"Who broke it?" were the first words that came out of Mommy's mouth.

"Um... Me."

Mommy narrowed her eyes at me and I lowered my head. I remembered how she admonished me for five straight minutes. My eyes shut tight, I froze at my spot, taking in every word Mommy said.

"Do you have to play tag in the house!? What is this, a playground!? Why don't you clean your room for once and help to do house chores? Dale always follows her mother to the market and help her carry stuff. But you? Sitting on the bed and waste your time drawing. I'd never seen you doing anything productive."

"I-I'm sorry, Mommy."

"Rather than invite your friends to come here and play, why don't you get the potatoes from Mrs. Kennard's house and—"

"Um, Mrs. Andersson, it's our fault actually," interjected Dale. "So, er... we'll accept the punishment as well. I don't want Ava to take the blame all by herself."

"Clean that up right now!" ordered Mommy as she pointed at the broken vase.

"Y-Yes!"

Mommy left for the kitchen as us four swept the vase's shattered pieces. However, when Daddy arrived with his raincoat on, he saw us and squinted. The four of us previously doing what we were asked of then blanched to a corner—as if expecting Daddy to disparage us as Mommy did.

He quickly put away his raincoat and went over to our side, concern evident in his eyes.

"...Bart, you should take a shower," said Mommy after she stepped into the living room with a harrowed look.

"Alicia, I'll clean this up for them. Kids, you can go to Ava's room and play there, alright? The rain looks like it won't be gone for quite a while anyway."

Daddy, even though he'd just gone back from work, helped us clean the mess I'd made. After sweeping the floor, Daddy mopped the spot despite Mommy's conspicuous qualms of having him do it.

After everything was said and done, I ambled out of my room and peeked at Mommy and Daddy from the stairs. Talking among themselves, I tried to eavesdrop on their conversation.

Perhaps Daddy was defending me? The thought of it quickened my heartbeat. I heard soft voices from my spot, and slowly, I inched closer to the couple in the living room, step by step while holding my breath.

"...I'm sorry," said Mommy as she shook her head. "I didn't think when I said those words to her. It's..."

"I know. It happens. I'm just glad that nothing happened to her when the vase dropped. I mean, we've managed to keep her secret after all these years. Imagine if her friends saw her injury and it suddenly..."

"Her power is dormant, Bart. But still, we must keep it from her at all cost," said Mommy.

"But for how long...? Eventually, she... Yeah, I know. It's better if we keep it until she's a bit older, a bit more mature. Our daughter is strong and I'm certain she'll be able to accept it."

"...Bart, I don't want anything to happen to our sweet little Ava. I kept dreaming that one day we'll never see her again... But we won't be apart from her! She's our child."

Mommy leaned her head on Daddy's shoulder and Daddy wrapped his arms around her, attempting his best to assuage his wife's emotions.

As I looked at both of them, my mind repeated the words they'd said. It did not occur to me this conversation they had, somewhat related to a life-changing event I experienced later on without them nearby.

I was shot and felt certain I came back from the dead—living proof of a revenant among the islanders. Albeit their greatest effort to take me to safety, I suffered alone trying to find them.

But I did not intend to give up. Mommy and Daddy were out there somewhere looking for me. For once, if I could have any wish granted, I wanted to meet them again and ensconced in their warmth and couthy smiles.