Sequel: Infinite

Trouble-Maker

Arch Drewry

Heather and I were sitting in the playroom as we watched the children nap on their personal mats. Some of them were just laying there looking around at everything but most of the children in the large room were clunked out with their heads on their pillows and covered by their own blankets.

One little boy was laying in my lap. His name was Arch and he was one of the sweetest children I'd ever known. His mat was just a few feet away from Heather and I but when he got tired he stood up and scampered over to lay in my lap with his head on my shoulder.

"What are you doing tonight?" Heather whispered to me.

I shrugged. "I don't have any plans, why?"

"A few of my girlfriends and I are going to the movies. Do you want to come? Maybe get a break from that boyfriend of yours."

I chuckled. "I like being around him," I replied in defense.

Heather smiled. "Just wait. The time will come when you both have to get away from each other."

"Whatever you say, Momma," I replied, watching as he hand moved to her stomach.

"So do you want to go?" she questioned, "We're seeing that new chick flick that just came out with..." she trailed off trying to think of the actor.

"I know which one you're talking about," I told her, "And sure, I'd love to go."

"Great," Heather replied, "No men allowed."

"Of course not," I laughed, "Just us girls."

Heather nodded and she motioned for one of the little girls to come over to her. I watched as the child clambered to her feet and walked over to my friend with a glum expression on her face, knowing she'd just gotten caught messing with another child.

I smiled at Heather before scooping Arch up in my arms and walking over to his mat. I was about to set him down when he peaked his blue eyes open and looked up to me. "No," he said, wrapped him arms tighter around my neck.

"I've got to go check on the babies, Arch," I told him, getting a better grasp on the small boy.

"Can I come?" he questioned, his eyes wide.

I sighed but nodded my head. Arch looped his legs around my waist and his arms around my neck as I walked out of the playroom and down the right hall towards the room that was filled with cribs for the babies that we took in here.

Arch's head rested on my shoulder and his eyes were closed as I walked. When we got into the infant room I pulled him off me gently and set him down in a wooden rocking chair as the child drifted in and out of sleep. He curled himself up into a ball has he squeezed his eyes shut tightly.

I was changing one of the baby's diapers when he started to whimper in the chair. I looked at him as his little fingers grabbed fistfuls of his short hair. I quickly finished changing the little girl and I set her down in her own crib, careful of her head.

I hurried over to the rocking chair and grabbed Arch. I pulled him up into my arms and was shocked as he automatically threw his arms around my neck and held on for dear life, tears streaming out of his crystal colored eyes.

"Arch," I murmured as I walked out into the hallway so he wouldn't wake any of the younger children, "Arch wake up," I demanded, patting his back.

After a couple minutes of coaxing Arch opened his eyes widely and looked up to me. I kneeled down and set his feet on the floor. He was staring at me like he didn't know what was going on.

"Are you okay?" I asked, reaching up to rub his arm.

"What?" he asked quietly, looking around him.

"You had a nightmare," I told him, my eyebrows knitting together, "Don't you remember."

He stopped for a moment and looked confused. Then he nodded. "I remember," he said although he didn't sound very confident at all.

"Why don't we go get your lunch early," I said as I stood up and offered him my hand.

He took it gently and let me lead him to where the girls were setting out the lunch pales for when all the kids would get up. They were lined up in the hall by the cubbies.

The cubbies were in pretty much alphabetical order so I walked Arch over to his and smiled as he reached for his own tin lunch box.

He plopped himself down on the floor in front of his own cubby and opened it. I sat down next to him and peaked into his box. There were some carrots, a brownie, and a sandwich which seemed to be just bread, mayo, and lettuce.

"That doesn't look that good," I told him with my nose crinkled.

He blinked and looked up to me from his sandwich that was half unwrapped. "What?"

"Your sandwich," I said, "There's no meat on it."

Arch shrugged. "I'm a vegtabatarian," he spoke slowly, getting the letters all mixed up in the word as he tried to explain.

"A vegetarian?" I corrected, watching as he bit into his sandwich.

"Yeah," he replied with his mouth full, "That."

This little boy was only four years old and he was a vegetarian. He was small for his age, I knew that, and I wondered if the way he was eating had contributed anything to that.

I looked up as Arch set his sandwich down and reached up to the shelf in his cubby to grab a knitted beanie hat and cute glasses that weren't really prescription, like those kids sometimes wear. He slipped the duo onto his face and then turned to grin at me.

"How cool!" I said as I laughed.

Arch grinned and nodded his head. "Yeah! They're my favorite things."

I offered him a small smile as he went back to his lunch. The little boy was wearing a faded and torn Boston Red Sox shirt and a pair of jeans that had to be two sizes too big. Hanging on his hook was a little striped hoodie that I had seen Arch wear every time he came here.

It took him about 15 minutes to eat and by then kids starting waking up and making their way out to their cubby's to grab their lunch boxes before they headed back to their mats to lay out their food.

Arch hung around me for the rest of the day, and when 5:30 rolled around and children started leaving, I grabbed my usual group of kids and rounded them up so that I could get them ready to go home.

"Go get your jackets and your lunch boxes guys," I said as the six kids and I walked out to the lobby.

The six young kids ran off to their cubby's but Arch stood right by my side. I looked down at him and he looked up to me and smiled. "What are you doing?" I asked, a little grin on my face.

He shrugged and bit his lip. "Nothing," he said.

"Go get your things, Arch."

He smiled and sauntered his way over to his cubby. I watched as he slipped his own jacket on and zipped it up before he opened his empty lunch box and stuck his hat and glasses inside. He then came walking back over to me and the group of kids who were surrounding me.

The kids and I went and sat down as Heather brought out her six or seven kids. My kids all began to play the game where you smack hands until the song gets over and the last person pulls their hand away and tried to win by having the person miss their hand.

Little after little more kids started to leave. The two girls in my group left with their parents as well as many other children who were here. There were about 10 kids left around 6:15 and Ronnie started calling me.

"Heather," I said to the woman who was now sitting next to me, "Can you watch my kids for a second," I held up my phone and showed her the picture of Ronnie that was flashing on my screen.

"Sure, no problem, Att," she replied, looking over the heads of the two boys that were still waiting for their parents. Arch and Oliver.

When I stood up to walk to my office so I could talk to Ronnie, Arch stood up too and looked up to me with wide blue eyes. I had already hit the talk button so I held my hand out for Arch, not having the patience to tell him to sit back down.

"Hey Ronnie," I greeted as I walked down the hall with Arch's hand in mine. "What's up?"

"When are you getting home tonight?" he asked, "I"m fucking bored."

I chuckled at his language and his childlike attitude. "I'll be home in a little while. We're seeing the kids off right now," I told him, sending a smile to Arch as we entered my office and the little boy climbed onto the couch.

Ronnie and I talked for a few more minutes before the conversation died down and Ronnie stopped whining about being bored.

"Okay," Ronnie sighed, dragging out the word. "Did you tell someone that you're taking time off for tour?"

I nodded to myself. "Yeah," I said, drawing out the word.

"What?" Ronnie asked, "Are they not letting you?"

"No," I said, "They're not."

Ronnie was silent for a minute and then he sighed. I sighed too and grabbed a piece of candy from my desk and tossed it onto the couch next to Arch who looked up to me. I nodded my head at him and motioned towards it. He smiled and grabbed the mini-Snickers.

"I told them that I was going to be quitting," I continued a minute later, "When the tour starts."

"You can't quit your job," Ronnie said, sounding glum as he realized that if I didn't quit I wouldn't be able to go with him.

"It's not that important anyways," I said with a shrug, watching as Arch popped the carmel candy in his mouth and grinned at the taste.

Ronnie replied, "It is a big deal, Att. You can't give everything up just to be with me all summer."

I shrugged to myself. "I want to, Ronnie."

Ronnie replied but I had turned my attention to the door that opened. Another woman I worked with had poked her head through the space between the door and the wall.

"What?" I asked, "Are Arch's parents here?" I questioned, looking to the clock on the wall that read quarter to seven.

The woman then looked down to Arch. "He's still here?" she asked, her eyes wide, "All the other kids are gone."

I sighed, wishing she hadn't said that in front of him. "Okay, well then what did you need."

"We were justing going to lock up for the night, but I guess we need you to call his parents."

I nodded my head, wondering why they hadn't known he was still here since no one had signed him out. "I'll call in just a minute," I said, noting that Ronnie was now silent on the phone.

"Thank you," she said, giving me a look over Arch's head that said something was wrong if his parents were this late, seeing as pick up was between 5:30 and 6 and now it was almost seven.

"Where is my mom?" Arch asked when Victoria left the room.

I looked up and smiled at him. "I'm sure she just got tied up with something, Arch. I'll call her right now."

He nodded and scooted back on the couch. I put the phone back up to my ear and spoke, "I have to go, baby."

"Deadbeat parents forget about their fucking kid?" Ronnie asked, although he didn't sound insanely angry, just disgusted.

"Yeah," I said, my eyes trained on Arch as he picked at the thread on the cough. "I've got to go. I have to call them."

"Alright. I'll see you when you get home then."

"Okay, love you."

After Ronnie replied with a "I love you, too" I hung up and stuffed my phone into my pocket. I sat down on my chair and opened the files on the computer so that I could find the number for one of his parents.

His mother's number was the only one that was on record. I dialed it into the phone on the desk and held it up to my ear as it began to ring. Arch looked up to me with wide blue as he waited for his mom to answer. I sighed when the machine forwarded the call to the voice mail after about 15 rings.

"Hello, you've reached Abigail Drewry. Please leave a message and I will return your call as soon as possible. Goodbye."

I cleared my voice as the phone beeped loudly. "Yes, Mrs. Drewry, this is Atticus Gurewitz from La Petite daycare. I am calling to inform you that pick up for your son Arch was from 5:30PM to 6PM. It is now 7PM and we are wondering when you will be by to pick Arch up. Please call this number when you get this message to inform us when you will be coming and why you have not picked up your son yet. Thank you. Goodbye." I hung up the phone and sighed as Arch sat back against the couch.

"She didn't answer," I told the four year old, "Why do you think that is?"

Arch looked up to me with his gorgeous eyes and said, "She forgot."

"About you?" I asked as I stood up and walked around the desk.

Arch shook his head as I sat down next to him on the couch. "She forgot that Dad died."

I felt my eyes go wide as the child said that. "What do you mean, Arch?" I questioned, turning to face him completely.

"This morning she said he was at work."

I closed my eyes for a second as I thought about the news that had been circulating around the daycare, regarding Arch's father who was in the military.

Archer Drewry was a truck driver for the military. He had gone back three times already. Before he left the last time his wife threatened that if he left them, she was divorcing him. He left for another round and she divorced him. Archer Drewry was blown up on his last stay in Afghanistan, about a week ago.

To hear Arch talk about his father's death and the fact that his mother forgot, made it even harder to look at this child. According to some of the women hear who spoke with Abigail Drewry after his death, Arch had never known his father very well and wasn't too distraught since Archer Drewry had been over in Afghanistan for three and a half years of the four year old's life.

"Do you think your mom is coming soon?" I asked Arch, watching as the little boy shook his head and then slipped out of his hoodie.

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair, wondering how I could get ahold of his mother. I reached out for his hand as I stood up. He grabbed my fingers and his jacket before letting me pull him out of my office and back down to the lobby.

"Any luck?" Heather asked as she sat behind the desk with Jamie.

I shook my head, causing all the women in the room to sigh. "Where's Sven?" I questioned, not seeing him any where since the children were taking their naps.

Heather nodded down the hall. "He's cleaning the infant room," she said with a smile, "Like all the newbies do."

I chuckled and nodded my head, watching as Arch let go of my hand and sat on the floor next to me, on top of his hoodie. "What are you doing?" I asked.

He looked up to all of our faces and then back to me. "Getting comfy," he said simply.

I shook my head at the boy and looked to Heather and the rest of the girls. "You guys can take off if you want. I'm probably just going to end up waiting here for his mother to show."

"That'll be awhile," Arch said, his young age making each word sound adorable, even if they were very off-putting.

"I'm sure she'll show up soon," I said, ignoring him.

Heather shrugged. "I don't have anywhere to be right yet. I don't mind waiting with you two."

The girls left, leaving Arch, Heather, and I sitting behind the desk on large chairs, Arch on my lap.

"This is ridiculous," Heather said after an hour and four more unanswered phone calls.

I gave her a look that told her to be quiet in front of Arch.

"Sorry," she mouth, "It's after seven thirty, Arch, do you think your mom is coming soon?"

Arch shrugged and continued playing on the computer. I sighed and picked up up, stood up, and then set him down on the chair. "We'll be right back, Arch, stay here."

"Okay," he murmured, not even looking at me as he hit buttons on the keyboard.

Heather and I stood up and walked halfway down the hall towards my office. We turned off and went into the employee lounge.

"Do you think something happened to his mom?" I asked, folding my hands together.

Heather bit her lip. "I don't know," she said, "Should we call the cops?"

I licked over my lips and then shrugged. "Arch said that his mother forgot about his father's death this morning."

"Do you think she..." Heather trailed off, implying.

"She might have," I said, shaking my head, "But do you think she'd try to kill herself knowing she has a child to take care of? A child that doesn't have anymore family?"

Heather sighed and ran her fingers through her blonde hair. "We should just call the cops, Att, there's nothing we can do by worrying here and we can't legally take him out of the building."

I thought about it for a moment. "What if I just take him home with me tonight and keep calling his mother? Then if I get ahold of her I'll take him home."

Heather was already shaking her head before I was done.

"What is so wrong with that plan?" I asked quickly, cutting myself off.

"What if his mom is hurt? And someone finds her tomorrow and wonders where her son was all night?" Heather said, trying to make me think clearly.

I was about to rebut her but she cut me off as she pulled out her phone.

"I'm calling the cops, Atticus. They can figure out where his mother is since she's two and a half hours late picking her child up from daycare."

"Just two hours," I said quietly.

Heather gave me a look as she dialed. "Yes," she said, "I work at La Petite daycare and the mother of one of the children has not come to pick up her son. I am worried that maybe something happened to her since her husband died recently."
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Oh no..
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