#the andersons

“Get over here, now! Or no hot chocolate for either of you. Gen and I will drink it in front of you,” behind Abby’s stern mom-face is a woman who has never denied her kids a delicious cup of hot chocolate when they asked, so the boys knew this was serious. Like two puppies, they run past Abby and Genevieve and towards where you’re standing. Over their heads, you look at Abby. Her stern mom-face is gone, replaced by her loving mom-face as she watches the boys run ahead. She boosts Genevieve higher up on her hip, making the girl’s laugh reach your ears. She then meets your eyes, the adoring look turning into her mom-smile that says “I am so tired but it’s worth it” so well that you let out a laugh, to which she smiles her special smile she gives you when you are happy. You easily recognize the look and feel your cheeks warm. Elijah and Isaac are now standing next to you, looking like two well-behaved boys. When Abby finally reaches you, you’re quick to position everyone back into the previous poses they were in before the impromptu game of tag commenced.

Once everyone is posed, you go ahead and press the timer on the camera, which sits on a tripod you brought for this exact moment. You only get 10 seconds to get back to your family before it takes the photo. For once everyone is smiling with their eyes open and hands at their sides. Abby is still holding Genevieve on her hip, but she adjusted the girl’s clothes and her tiny baby beanie on her tiny baby head. Elijah stands beside Abby, holding Isaac’s hand with a cheesy grin on his face. Isaac’s smile is wobbly but cheerful, his missing front teeth adding a charm to his grin. You stand behind Isaac, who reaches for your outside hand a second or two before the camera snaps the photo. Once done, Isaac, very reluctantly, lets go of your hand so you can grab the camera, tripod, and your bag. Abby takes Elijah’s other hand, aiming to keep all the kids tethered to her in some way as you gather your stuff. When you walk back to them, Gen starts reaching out to you, your parent name falling from her lips as she lets out a long yawn. You grab her and adjust her on your hip, turning to thank Abby when she takes your bag from you to carry. She leans in and pecks your lips quickly. You are startled but grin at her. She winks at you, then turns to the boys.

“Do you want your hot chocolate now? Okay, I want you to stay with us and keep holding hands, please. Okay, let’s go,” she nudges the boys forward to walk in front of you. Staying back in step with you, she wraps her arm around your waist and pulls you closer to her. The two of you, plus sleepy Gen, walk in sync towards the food shed that the farm had set up. Abby gives you another kiss when you stop at the end of the line.

“Do you want something?” She runs her hand up and down your back.

You hum, looking down at the sandwich board. “Can I get a chai latte, small?”

“Of course.” She smiles at you and Gen. “Do you want to go find a seat for us? I’ll stay with the boys.”

You look around and see a few large picnic tables under a tent. The farm had a whole area set up where kids could play while families relaxed under the tents if it rained.

Thankfully, the sky had very few clouds and no chance of rain until tomorrow morning. Abby specifically planned the pumpkin patch outing on this day because of the weather. No way was she dealing with fresh mud caked on the kids’ shoes all over the car and house.

“Yeah, okay,” you lean in to peck her lips again. Tiny moments of PDA were all you allowed yourselves while out with the entire family. If you guys got too lovey-dovey, Elijah took it as a challenge to see what he could get up to before you guys remembered you have children to focus on. One time, before Gen was born, you, Abby, and the boys went mini golfing and while Abby gave you a celebration kiss for getting a hole in one, Elijah managed to run ahead and overlapped two families golfing ahead of you guys. Once you guys realized where he went, he was three holes ahead of you. Thus, the quick pecks are all you get while out and about.

You leave Abby to oversee the two hyper boys who begin excitedly jumping in place as the line moves.

“C’mon, mi amor, let’s go find a seat,” you whisper to Genevieve, pressing a kiss to her head. There’s a brightly painted picnic table next to the pumpkin photo op. You take a seat and slowly adjust Genevieve’s legs around you. She is still awake, her eyes looking around even though her head stays tucked in your neck. You continue to bounce her in your lap, pressing kisses to her face when she whimpers for them.

You must have been spacing out because you startle when Abby’s hand and your chai latte show up in front of your face.

“Thank you, baby,” you say, using your free hand to take a drink from the cup.

“Anytime, sweetness,” Abby responds. She takes the spot next to you, and the boys climb onto the other side to sit across from you. You can tell they’re enjoying their not-so-hot chocolates. Elijah has a whip cream mustache that he acknowledges but doesn’t wipe off, much to the enjoyment of Isaac who has his own mustache made of cream and milk chocolate.

Abby hands him a napkin but doesn’t tell him to wipe the mustache off because she knows it’ll just happen again. Instead she simply nurses her own coffee, a smile on her face as she watches her family enjoy the pleasures of fall.

When the boys finish their hot chocolates and have their faces and hands wiped clean by Abby, you all make your way back to the car. You and Abby trade mom duties. She takes Genevieve from you. The girl’s tuckered out, staying quiet as Abby buckles her into her car seat. You had the job of lining the boys up on the side of the car and helping them get the majority of the mud off their shoes before carefully boosting them into the SUV and into their car seats. Elijah was in a basic booster seat and was now allowed the whole third row of the car to himself. Isaac was still in a more protective booster seat, one with a chest clasp and a neck pillow attached.

You’re about to climb into the passenger seat when Isaac asks for his tiny pumpkin you stuck in your bag. Then Elijah asks for his too.

Abby is still in the doorway of Genevieve’s side of the car, taking her time to adjust the straps on Gen’s car seat like the worried mother she is.

“Abby, can you hand this to Eli?” You pass her Elijah’s pumpkin. Abby takes it without looking and places it in Elijah’s hands. You climb into the car and pass Isaac his pumpkin. Abby finally shuts the back door and walks around the front of the car, patting the hood gently.

You watch her climb into the car. She makes a grunt when she settles. Probably sore from having to chase the kids all over for two hours. Abby starts the car and goes to place her hand on your head seat when she finally makes eye contact with you. The grin and blush that grows on her cheeks match how you feel inside when you look at her, so you lean forward to kiss her. More than a peck, but not ostentatious. When you pull away, you see Abby has her eyes closed. She slowly opens them and beams at you. Snapping back to reality, she continues to back up the car with her hand still clutching your headrest. You indulge yourself unabashedly as you continue to watch her back up, put the car into drive, and smoothly steer with the palm of her left hand. By the time Abby pulls out of the parking lot, her hand has made its way down to your lap to hold your hand. You squeeze it between both of yours and press a kiss to the back of her hand without thinking. You turn to stare out the window at the colorful red and yellow leaves that decorate the trees.

“You okay?” Abby asks you when you stay quiet.

You look at her. She notices your slow blink. “Tired?” She asks.

You hold your index and thumb up, closing the air between them until there’s a sliver left. “A bit.”

Abby laughs at your joke, then hums to herself. You feel her thumb begin to softly run back and forth across your skin.

“How about I put on a Halloween film for the boys and I while you and Genevieve take a nap?” She spares looks to you, to try and watch your face and the road simultaneously.

You nod. “Yeah, that sounds good. You sure you don’t want to take a nap?”

Abby shakes her head. “Nah. I promised to help the boys paint their pumpkins when we get home anyway. It’s okay,” she promises.

“Okay,” you mumble back to her, a nap does sound so appealing. You keep a tight grip on Abby’s hand as you already feel yourself start to drift off.

Abby lets you have her hand until she needs it to pull into the driveway. A gentle nudge on your shoulder wakes you up.

“C’mon baby. Let’s get these kids inside and then you can nap.”

You pout at her, but follow her as she helps Isaac and then Elijah out of the car.

You unclasp Genevieve’s buckles and pick her up to cradle her in your arms. Abby makes sure to take your bag before you think to grab it yourself.

The boys’ shoes are carefully put away and you can already hear them talking excitedly about what they were going to paint on their pumpkins. You go past the living room and into your bedroom with Gen still in your arms. She slowly blinks her eyes at you when you lay her on your bed and start helping her take off her outdoor clothes.

“Hey, baby,” you keep your voice low. “Wanna take a nap with mama?” You place her clothes on the chair next to your bed. Without saying anything, Genevieve climbs over to Abby’s side of the bed and tugs your crocheted blanket up to her chin. You cough out a laugh. She really is your daughter. You change out of your outdoor clothes and into comfy, nap-appropriate clothes that consist of cotton shorts and one of Abby’s old high school shirts. You fill a glass of water in the en-suite and make your way back to the bed, Genevieve already letting out soft snores. Just as you climb under your own blanket, Abby tiptoes into the room.

“Hey,” she greets you, coming up to kiss your head. “I’m just gonna change and then I’ll leave you to your nap.” She brushes her hand over your head, combing your hair back. She presses another kiss to your head. “I love you,” she whispers. She gives you one more kiss then walks to the dresser.

“I love you too,” you tell her when she walks back by on her way to the bathroom.

“I love you more,” she whispers as loud as she can before shutting the door, stopping you from trying to top her declaration.

You are fast asleep by the time she exits the bathroom. She’s wearing one of your tie dye shirts and her favorite Halloween themed pajamas pants. She takes a second to look at you and Genevieve as you sleep. Both of you are laying on your backs, but your heads are turned to face each other. One of Genevive’s hands is wrapped around a few of your fingers. Abby could die right now because of how much her heart burns as she looks at the scene in front of her. And what a way to go that would be.

Abby tiptoes to the door and makes sure to quietly shut it before heading back into the living room where Elijah and Isaac are dealing out what paint they want to use from their paint bucket.

“Is mama and Genny going to join us?” Isaac asks Abby. He grabs a blue tube of paint, then a green one. He then looks up at Abby, his eyes bright.

“No, baby. They’re super sleepy and going to rest for a bit. So we gotta be quiet, okay?” Abby tells him. He nods his head and continues to look at the paint. After a second he turns back to Abby.

“Can we watch Halloweentown now?”

Abby smiles at him and runs her fingers through his hair. “Of course, baby.”

He gives her a big enough grin that she sees where his missing teeth used to be. He starts to hum the theme song before the movie even begins, Elijah joining in when the song actually starts to play.

Abby leans back on the couch. She looks down at the boys kindly sharing paint brushes and tubes of acrylic paint. She thinks of you and Genevieve taking a nap together upstairs.

The Reaper sits cross-legged in the window sill. Behind her the sky rains ash and dust of The Dead. This event has everyone in her profession pulling overtime. It wouldn’t be so bad if the capacity limit wasn’t so close to being exceeded. Still, The Reaper sits apathetic and otherwise very bored waiting for her current retrieval to slip just enough into their own darkness to acknowledge her presence.

He’s fighting pretty hard. The Reaper observes the labored breaths the man makes. His eyes are glazed over with tears and blood and unbridled determination. He’s crawling, gripping his chest in an effort to force air back into his draining blood. His ultimate destination is the window. It’s the only exit available since the rest of his small condo was caved by the impact. He doesn’t realize he’s looking directly into the eyes of The Reaper. 

One more half shuffle towards The Reaper is enough to exert too much force on his already broken body. He collapses – quite unceremoniously – and wheezes and wheezes and wheezes. The Reaper knows his airway is clogged with smoke and blood and tears and calls for his mother. All that manages to leave his mouth is a gross splattering of blood and his final breath.

The Reaper drops a leg off the edge of the window sill and looks into the eyes of Craig Anderson. According to The Reaper’s logs, he’s 42. Had a wife, a kid, and zero empathy. His cold eyes stare back into her nothingness.

“Did you deserve to die?” The Reaper has to ask. The answers have to be reported to the Bureau. Craig bolts upright with agility he has never possessed, especially in the last 5 minutes. He clammors backwards, hitting his back on fallen debris. His eyes flit from his lifeless body to The Reaper to the burning world just beyond. His head swivels from his blood stained bed to his unfinished beer and still smoldering pipe. Nowhere can he find his voice.

The Reaper slides out of the window and approaches Craig, careful to step around his body. Even though he’s cornered he still searches for a way out. The Reaper stops just in front of Craig and lowers down to his level. “Did you deserve to die?”

Craig manages a small shake of his head. The Reaper sighs and drops her head between her knees. Why must they always be so scared? She runs a frustrated hand over her face and looks back up at her assignment. “Use your words. We can’t get out of here until you do and I have a long list of others waiting.” 

Craig chokes on nothing. The seconds tick tick tick past until it clicks. He’s dead. He’s dead? He’s pissed. “Of course I didn’t! Who the fuck are you to ask?”

The Reaper tilts her head slightly. The bold ones are fun to toy with. She would entertain this more if there weren’t more pressing matters to attend to. She stands to her full height and gazes down at Craig. With a wave of her hand she materializes a scythe. She allows the full weight of the weapon to pound the ground and smiles wickedly at Craig.