Page 45 of The Mentor
Comfort and Fear
Kya
With a sigh of irritation, I blinked my eyes for the third time, but my reader still didn’t turn the page. The device was broken, and had been for a while, but my quick relocation from the Motherlands to the Northlands hadn’t allowed me time enough to get an upgrade.
I was reading a book on child psychology, and my eyelids were getting heavier when the sound of feet in the hallway alerted me.
Archer and I had the night shift, and all the children should be sleeping by now. He was in his room next door with his door shut, while I always kept mine ajar in case a child might get homesick and need me.
My door creaked slightly and I lowered the electronic reading glasses, putting the device away to see who it was by the door.
“Kya?” a small voice sounded.
“Mila?” I held out my hand, signaling for her to come closer. “What’s wrong, honey?”
“I miss my mom,” she cried and I automatically lifted my duvet knowing exactly what she needed. This wasn’t the first time Mila had needed some extra comfort, and she was quick to crawl into my bed and nuzzle up against my soft pajamas. The kids from the Motherlands had all grown up in parenting units where a child could find comfort with an adult. Sadly, that hadn’t protected them from life’s cruelty and many of them carried traumas from their past. Victoria had lost her whole family unit in a tornado, Raven had been neglected by her mother, Nicki was traumatized from seeing the rare sight of violence in her early childhood, Willow had lost her twin brother when she was three and grown up without a primary parent since no one had adopted her, and then there was Mila, who had lost her mom earlier this year.
“It’s okay,” I whispered and kept stroking Mila’s back. “It’s hard, I know.”
“I miss hersomuch,” she repeated.
“Do you want to talk about her?” I asked, because sometimes when she was sad it helped.
“Not tonight.” She sniffled and used the heel of her hand to dry away tears.
“Okay, I understand.” Again I planted a kiss on top of her strawberry blond hair. “What do you think your mom would’ve done if she was here now?” I asked.
Mila lifted her head to meet my eyes, her lips quivering with sadness. “My mom used to sing to me and let me sleep with her.”
“Would you like me to sing for you?”
“Uh-huh,” she said and rested her head on my shoulder.
I tightened my arm around her, and started singing a lullaby in a hushed voice, feeling her breathing calm until finally she wasn’t crying any longer.
“What’s going on?” Archer stood by the door taking in the sight of me and Mila nuzzled up closely together in my bed.
“Mila misses her mom,” I explained.
I expected him to make some kind of negative remark about the situation, but he didn’t. Instead he stood hesitantly, as if he was hypnotized by the scene in front of him.
“I’m letting her sleep here tonight,” I added.
With a soft headshake Archer left my room.
“The men never let us sleep with them,” Mila said softly. “I like it better when you are here.”
“What about Shelly? She would let you sleep with her, wouldn’t she?”
“Yes, but the last time I was sad you weren’t here and Rochelle was already sleeping with Shelly.”
“Oh, so what did you do then?”
“Magni had the night shift, so I woke him up and asked him to take me to you up at your cabin.”
I furrowed my brow. “And he refused?” I asked, already assuming the worst. My heart broke a little, just thinking about this precious girl, so full of grief, being rejected and told to go back to bed.
She shook her head. “Magni said that he would help me.”
