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(Kalston's POV)

We head to the kitchen, Iris careful with her steps as she imagines that the floor will crumble below us if we don’t step on the right spots. I’m not entirely sure how to tell the difference, so I follow her lead.

“No, not that one, Peter! Quick, step on that one over there!”

She points to a couple of boards to my left. I’m quick with my movements as I jump onto it, panting for extractive effect. She laughs, her eyes close for a moment before they open again.

“What? I was scared practically to death. It’s not cool, to be so insensitive about someone’s demise, I.”

She looks at me puzzled.

“Demise?”

I smile because it’s one of the vocabulary words I learned last week. I’m a year ahead of her, so she hasn’t learned it yet.

“It means death or end.”

She’s back to smiling and it gives me that funny feeling again.

“Okay, Mister Dramatic, it wasn’t that serious. But for real, those ones, only one person can step on them and after, the next person will fall. You almost fell, so careful.”

I am clueless how she can tell the difference. I’d say she’s making it up, but yeah, she is, but she’ll still have reasoning for the game and its rules.

“What’s the difference between those and the safe ones? I can’t tell.”

She begins pointing to different boards to show me what she means as she speaks.

“You can tell by the way the lines are. If they are long, it means they are safe. If they have any breaks in them, then they’ll fall if anyone steps on them, but if they have a loop or circle, one person can step on them, but not for long, and now one after. Do you see?”

I pay better attention to the detail on the wood and notice what she means. I almost thought it was the shade of each one, but when we stepped on a darker one and were safe, I realized the rules had to be different.

“Yeah, I see. So, that one?”

I point to one three boards ahead of me, slightly to the right.

“That one’s safe, right?”

She nods her head.

“Yeah, but be careful because it’s near the room of doom.”

I look up and notice that door we ‘re told to stay out of. I’ve wondered what is in there before, but Iris told me it’s not a safe place. And if she willingly stays away from somewhere, I know it’s a bad place. It’s hard for Iris to stay away from somewhere simply because she’s told to. Sometimes that makes her want all the more to. She does find it easier if she’s told exactly why, but we were told just that it’s a room for grownups only.

“I’ll be fine. We can go near it, just not it.”

She gives me a weary look. That’s usually mine to give.

“Okay, but be careful because if the guardian wakes, he’ll eat you, so here.”

She tosses something into the air before telling me what it is and I play like it’s real.

“The sword of Mumquarry will keep you safe.”

Mumquarry is a place she made up last year for us to save. We’ve been pretending more from it and made it into a kingdom where a king lives that can protect his people because Yahweh give him special powers to stand against the enemies from Agithot, a shadow kingdom that keeps trying to take them over.

The next second, Iris jumps into the spot next to me, holding her hands up like she has slingshot.

“I have your back, knight.” She whispers to keep from waking the guardian.

I look down at her for a quick moment before looking for the next safe spot to go before getting a good idea.

“I, do you trust me?”

She looks up at me with a grin.

“Always.”

I take her hand and we jump before sliding ourselves through the doorway across the hall and I slam it shut to keep us safe. My breath exaggerated again.

“That was close. Oh! Peter, your cloke is burning!”

I jump up and rip it off before tossing it away. We slump against the door, Iris laying her head against my shoulder.

“Now what?”

I look around the room we’re in, it’s the second lounge that we readily go in. There’s no other way out, so my good idea might not have been so great after all.

“We wait in the cave until the guardian goes back to sleep? Yeah, I didn’t think that far.”

I laugh and feel Iris too softly.

“Sounds good.”

Things are quiet for a moment and I look down to notice Iris’s eyes are closed.

“Hey, sleepy, do you want to go take a nap?” I keep my tone light and myself from jostling her too much.

“Hmmmm, no. I’m only closing my eyes for a moment.”

I lay my head on hers and she grabs my hand. We hold hands all the time, but this time it feels different. Like I don’t want her to ever let it go.

“Have you not been sleeping well?”

“No. It’s hard to when you’re not here.”

Iris gets scared at night. It’s part of why I try to spend the night or get her to stay over at my home as much as possible.

“The monster again?”

 “Yeah. Mommy’s been sleeping with me some nights. He doesn’t come out when she does, but last night she had to work late on something. She said it was a surprise.” Her voice begins to sound sleepier with each word.

“Well, I’ll protect you tonight.”

She looks up at me for a moment before back down.

“You really are like a knight, you know? I’m glad God gave me you, Peter.”

I never thought about it like that. Our parents close friends too, Abba always said it was weird how it happened. Iris’s mommy moved here not long after we did. They hadn’t been in contact for a while until one day they bumped into each other just before Iris was born. They started talking more, and here we are. Having a life where I can’t imagine it being any other way.

That was you, wasn’t it?

I smile at the thought.

Thank you, Yahweh.

“I’m glad God gave me you too, I.”

Things are quiet and I look down to a completely asleep Iris.

Please help her with her monster.

I know that if anyone can, Yahweh will.