Please Don't Leave by Nghi Montero-Duong (early readers .txt) 📕

"Yeah," I responded sadly as he looked at me curiously. "It was the last thing I ate together with my family." He smiled at me and said. "Well, I'm a part of your family now too." I turned around and looked at him. I wanted to scream and yell at him but I was so happy. "You're right." I said before continuing to eat. I left him stunned with surprise. I managed to sneak a little glance at him and nearly spit out all of my stew when I saw he was crying. "I told you already. It's unbecoming for a guy to cry like this." I spoke softly wiping away a tear. When he stopped crying he looked up and me and frowned. "If you were a guy, you would be a lady killer." My mouth dropped open and I just laughed. My laughter started turning into gasps for air. "I can't believe you just said that with a straight face!" I said after managing to calm myself. "It's true!" He said blushing, making him look like a teenager and not a 30- something year old. I was calming down and turned to him with a goofy grin on my face." I got something for you." I said as I got up and raced to my closet. Slowly I got my present and gave it to him waiting, as though I was the one getting the gift.

He opened the box and gasped. Inside was a beautifully crafted pocket watch with a small owl perched in a tree on it. When he opened the small watch he found there was something engraved in it. It read 'Though a person's time is limited, the memories made are worth it all -Celestia'. He smiled as more tears fell down his cheeks. His cheeks had turned red and looked raw from all the rubbing to wipe away tears. It had costed a lot to get the watch engraved but I wanted tell him this message. It was too embarassing to tell him face to face... I was actually embarassed! This was completely new to me I don't know what happened, but I think I like being like this...

As we said our 'Good night's, after what seemed like an eternity of explaining how I could afford the watch, I smiled a little. I had a family, I hope I don't lose this one. What am I thinking? I won't let this family slip through my fingers!

I smiled to myself as I lay on my bed. With my blanket wrapped around me and the lights turned off, I had this feeling of true comfort. I was glad that I had someone to talk to, to laugh with, to be myself. I was pulled into my sleep, most likely grinning.

When I woke up, it was due to William yelling in my ear. I immediately bolted upright and glared at him. He gave a cheeky smile making me divert my eyes and mumble incoherently underneath my breath. I didn't notice until I looked back but, he was using the watch! My eyes widened and I was filled to the brim with happiness. "You're using... the watch..." I was barely able to get over my initial shock. "Yep!" He gave another cheeky grin followed by a small chuckle that resembled a giggle. "It's 5:30. Get a move on!" He continued to smile and he stroked the pocket watch as though it was a pet.

I am not the most peaceful person when waking up. This was made obviously known when I first came and almost clawed William's eyes out when he yanked my blanket from my body. Even though he learned this, he still has woken me up in this fashion many times. I lazily crawled out of bed and walked over to my dresser right after calling William a "pocket watch molester". Many people would have made a retort or have me do some torturous punishment but not William. He looked at me and hugged me saying, "I just love your gift. And the fact that your my daughter makes this gift even better! I love you, Ellie." I flinched before blushing madly. He had given me the nickname "Ellie", saying my name was too long.

I waited for him to leave before I took a short shower, got dressed, brushed my teeth and then fell back on the bed with the blankets over my head. This isn't the first time it happened though. William was in my room the second after the blanket touched my face, dragging my tired body to my chair at the dinner table. All in all, I took 20 minutes to get ready. William had to go to school earlier than I did due to him having to plan the school day.

During the walk there I made sure that William had everything that he needed for the school day including his thermos of hot cocoa (William says that coffee makes him more tired than he already is). Somewhere around that time when I was too distracted by the fact that William might forget something and ruin his chance of keeping a job, he was able to slip his hand into mine and made me walk all the way to school to school with him, hand in hand, like a child. I wasn't that upset about it though considering I forgot my gloves in the middle of winter and his hand was warm due to holding onto the thermos.

"What are we doing for Maths class?" I was curious considering that William had stayed up until ten to finish the Maths lesson, even though he is accustomed to sleeping at eight. I looked up at him expectantly only to see him put his index finger to his mouth and wink replying, "It's a secret," I scowled at him but he continued with that carefree smile on his face. "But you'll find out later." We continued walking and I soon saw the orphanage's school building in sight.

Sighing, I released William's hand and with my head held high I walked right into the school. I walked to my personal cubby, taking off my outside shoes and placing them in the place of my inside shoes. The school janitor appreciates it when the children keep the school hallways and classrooms clean so, to keep the school clean they have shoes for the students to wear when in the building. This is a lot better than the crummy dorm rooms of the orphanage considering that they don't give you any other shoes for you to wear and so many of the children end up with cold toes at night, especially in winter, walking to the bathrooms in the corriders without slippers.

Publication Date: 10-17-2013

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Dedication:
To my friends, family and teachers, who without I wouldn't be this far into this vast world. And, thanks to the Grimm brothers who had written the Little Red Riding Hood book that had me the inspiration to write this one.