Dave was surprised at how easily Hailey reentered her room through the window.
Not only was she able to jump up to it with ease, but she climbed in almost like she was climbing a ladder rather than a wall that didn’t look like it had anything that she could use to grip, other than the window itself.
“You know, I was wondering.
When will you start going to school again?” Dave asked as she hopped down from the window.
“In a few weeks,” Hailey replied as she pulled her pajamas out before picking up the blanket she’d thrown over Dave before.
“I’ll just turn around,” Dave offered, not caring for how heavy that blanket was.
“It’ll take longer than when I transform, so that won’t be enough,” Hailey replied, her tone rather dangerous.
“Alright,” Dave sighed in defeat.
He doubted it would be safe to explain how he wasn’t interested in her body anyway.
Not with how young she was, but that wasn’t important.
What was important was finding a way to get her stronger so that when Hoshi and Himari contacted him, or returned, Hailey would be able to at least hold her own against them.
As the blanket was thrown over Dave, he felt the weight pull him straight to the floor.
It was too heavy for him to continue floating in the air while it was over him, making him wonder if maybe he shouldn’t try and talk Hailey into getting a lighter blanket.
Especially since he suspected that she was using this heavy blanket just because it was so heavy.
After a few minutes, the blanket was pulled off of him, though he had managed to move a few feet towards the edge of the blanket when Hailey lifted the blanket.
“Were you trying to sneak a peek?” Haiely demanded, her tone rather accusatory.
“No, I was trying to get somewhere I could breathe,” Dave replied.
“Do faeries need to breathe?
I mean you are a stuffed animal, right?” Dave felt like he should protest her assumption, but he couldn’t come up with an argument about it.
As he really didn’t know himself.
Not that he was going to let that stop him from at least complaining about the treatment he was receiving.
“That’s not the point!” Dave said sharply.
“We’re supposed to be in this together!
Both of us are working towards the same thing!” A door opening loudly in the hallway outside of Hailey’s room startled both of them and sent Hailey quickly moving towards the light switch so she could turn out the lights in her room.
Dave didn’t ask what that was about as he suspected she was afraid it was her father.
Though, he didn’t know the details, he did wonder about why she was so willing to stand up for herself when it came to Himari and Hoshi but wasn’t able to do so when it came to her own father.
It was a contradiction that Dave wondered if he’d be able to understand even if it was explained to him in detail.
After all, it wasn’t like he’d had any training as a social worker or a therapist.
Something he was confident would be necessary for him to fully understand the dynamics that he was seeing between Hailey and her father.
Dave waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness and could hear footsteps outside of Hailey’s room, though when he realized the steps were too quick to be her father’s, he couldn’t help but wonder why she didn’t feel any relief, since it was clearly her sister who was moving.
It didn’t take long before his eyes adjusted enough that he could see Hailey standing by the light switch, as if she was afraid to move.
As if even letting go of the light switch would tell Jamie that Hailey was awake at this time.
Although, a moment later, he suddenly realized just how loud they were, making him wonder if Jamie had overheard their argument.
Something that made Dave wonder what she thought about the fact that there were clearly two different voices coming from Hailey’s room.
Though, with the secrets that were inside this house, Dave couldn’t help but wonder if Jamie would keep quiet about it, if only to keep attention from being directed at her.
Then after they heard the toilet flush, Jamie’s footsteps heading back to her room, did Hailey relax.
Dave wasn’t sure what the point of that was, but he couldn’t help but wonder if Hailey even realized how loud they were and the fact that Jamie was likely aware that Hailey had bene arguing with someone else at this time of night.
Though, rather than saying anything, Hailey made her way to her bed and slid under the sheet, not bothering to pull any other blanket over her.
“Hailey?” Dave asked quietly, unsure if she would actually respond.
“Yeah?” “What happened to get your family like this?” Dave asked, unsure how to articulate the question so he could get the information he was hoping to get out of it.
Hailey didn’t respond right away and Dave was almost certain that she wasn’t going to when she finally sighed.
“I’ll tell you another time.
Right now I just want to sleep.” Dave accepted that sentiment, though he couldn’t help but wonder if Hailey was merely kicking the can down the road.
While it was clear that she wasn’t opposed to telling him what the deal was, he did wonder if it’d be a while before she was willing to tell him.
“Well, good night then, Hailey,” Dave said quietly, settling down on a pillow she had on the side of her bed.
“Good night,” Hailey mumbled, sounding almost reluctant to say even that much.
As if she wasn’t accustomed to it.
Which Dave couldn’t say that he’d be surprised if that was the case.
After all, with how things were at this house, he doubted they’d said something like that to each other in a long time.
If they ever did, that is.