Finding Emery

"Can we play hide and seek?" Emery asked when they got to the living room. "Sure why not" Jasper replied smiling at Emmy. He had assumed she had accepted the fact that she would be staying and wanted to make it as fun as possible for her. "Can we play outside?" Emery asked cautiously. She didn't know if the front door was locked or not so thought it would be easier if the game was outside to begin with.

Jasper stopped and thought about it. The place was safe so they could go outside to play but he would have to set some rules. "Sure, but there are rules Emery" Jasper replied. Emery nodded her head in understanding, she hoped the rules didn't have to be broken. "Ok" she whispered and crossed her fingers behind her back. She didn't like lying, but by crossing her fingers she really wasn't.

"Where are you going?" Asked Taz as he saw Emery and Jasper heading to the front door. "We are playing hide and seek" Jasper told Taz. Emery just nodded her head and hoped that no one else wanted to play. She could get away from one person, but if other people played and hid with her she wouldn't be able to sneak away. "Can we play?" Asked Chase standing up and stepping closer to Jasper and Taz.

Emery was panicking a little "there will be rules" she stated and Jasper was smiled down at the little girl. "That's right, there will be rules" Jasper explained. Taz and Chase nodded in understanding before they all walked out the back door. Seb was cooking dinner so he wouldn't be playing at all.

"Ok so the rules are, we stay in the yard. We don't go outside of the fence at all and we can only be out here until the sun goes down" Jasper explained. "And you have to hide by yourself" Emery added. Taz and Chased laughed while Jasper smiled down at Emery. "Ok" Jasper stated. "Now who is in first?" Chase asked. "Not me" Emery screamed while touching her nose.

Chase and Taz copied what Emery had done leaving Jasper the person who was in. Jasper rolled his eyes before muttering "children" to himself. "You have to count to 50" Emery stated dramatically. She thought that was a huge number and would give her plenty of time to get out of the gate and head towards the shed. Jasper nodded his head before saying "remember the rules Emery". Emery nodded her head slowly while looking anywhere but at Jasper.

Jasper turned around so he could start counting before Emery called out "no peaking and you have to hide on your own". Jasper nodded in understanding and turned so his back was to the yard before he began to count loudly. Emery waited a few seconds while Taz and Chase took off to hide. When they took off in seperate directions Emery bolted towards the front so she could slip out of the gate. She knew she was not suppose to leave the yard but this was the only way she would get back to the shed.

No one had seen her tuck Nix under her top at all, well they had but hadn't mentioned it thinking that she was attached to the teddy. In reality it was so Nix was with her when she returned to the shed because she didn't want to be alone. She may have been 6 now but she was still a little scared of the shadows.

When Jasper reached 50 he called out "ready or not here I come" before he began to search for the others. He assumed that Emery would be the easiest to find so purposely decided to leave her to last and went in search of Chase and Taz. Within a few minutes they both were found and then they all went in search of Emery. They checked in the garden, near the house, around the trees and along the fence line. None of them could find her at all.

"Do you think she went into the house?" Taz asked after they had been looking for 15 minutes. Both Chase and Jasper nodded their heads and headed in side to find the little girl who had clearly disregarded the rules of staying in the yard. Jasper knew he would have to speak to her about following rules because things in their world could be dangerous. Yes this was an innocent game but sometimes she would be told rules that kept her safe and she couldn't be breaking those.

"Have you seen Emery?" Jasper asked Seb as he passed the kitchen. "Weren't you playing in the yard?" Seb asked as he continued to make dinner. "Yeh but she isn't in the yard" Jasper stated. "She didn't come in, did you check the front yard?" Seb asked not thinking much about it.

Jasper headed out the front to check while Taz and Chase still checked the house in case Seb had missed her coming in. Jasper saw the front gate open and just hoped Emery didn't leave. It was almost 5pm and it was getting dark. "Emery you win, the game is over come out now sweetheart" Jasper called out. He had a sick feeling in his stomach that something was not right and hoped to god his instincts were wrong.

Emery had made it to the shed before she realised that her things were back at the house. The boxes were still on the ground where she had slept and the little blanket but everything else was in the bags. She sighed but knew she couldn't go back as it was starting to get dark. She would just have to leave it till tomorrow and then get her things to bring back to her shed. She usually slept holding onto Nix and her daddies bag. She just hoped she would be able to sleep without the bag tonight.

Jasper raced into the house hoping that someone had found Emery only to be met with Taz and Chase looking just as panicked as he felt. When they both shook their heads Jasper knew that Emery had gone. He didn't know if it was willingly or by force. "Dad" Jasper yelled causing Michael to come running thinking that Emery had hurt herself. When he made it down the stairs Jasper immediately said "Emery is gone".