Wait

"276, 278, 270...9?" Hilary muttered to herself, counting the seconds since the door had moved. 270 seconds ago, the door handle had slightly jotted. The door to the lobby creaked open, and Hilary sunk into a corner.

"Is this the waiting room for Mr Groff?" A small boy stepped timidly into the room. Hilary looked at him. Short, messy, blonde hair, and he held a small folder clutched to his chest. She jumped out.

“Yes!” She blurted out, collapsing onto a stiff chair. The boy fell happily onto the one opposite.

“Mr Groff is my father.” Hilary explained when the boy looked quizzically at her. He nodded understandingly.

“He’s my father too!” He suddenly shouted excitedly, “And you’re Hilary!” He added.

Hilary looked shocked and then replied, “Ben? The brother who got separated from me at birth?” Ben nodded vigorously, unable to speak, then jumped at the door.

“DADDY! DADDY!” Hilary soon joined in, and people came flocking to the door, wanting to see why two children were shoving the door to the boss’s office. The door gave way.

“I’m disappointed.”

“But the only reason was because Mummy went away and never came back.” Hilary pleaded.

“She took her toothbrush and like, millions of shoes.” Ben added.

“And she didn’t think to come and give her report card in?” Mr Groff inquired gruffly.

“I think...we think...” Hilary began, but she broke down in tears, so Ben carried on.

“We think she died.”

Mr Groff looked up, brushed his paperwork aside onto the floor, and started rushing through his cabinets. Inside the last one, he found a small page of ripped paper.

“Here. I got this 3 months ago, I thought it was just a joke or something, so I ripped it up.” He explained, handing the paper to Hilary, who was the older of the two.

Dear Grian Groff,

We are sorry to inform you that your wife has been victim of a particularly bad earthquake that took place in Southend. She was found in a small valley, where we firstly thought her unconscious, but after a few medical procedures, we were devastated to find she had been one of the many who had: fallen, been crushed, or had a reaction such as severe dizziness.

Yours Sincerely,

The Medical Team of Tree Harbour

Ben looked sadly at Mr Groff.

“But Daddy, where are we going to live? We lived in Mummy’s home for a few days, but we were kicked out and the house was demolished.” Hilary said forlornly, putting the paper on her dad’s desk, “I guess it’s back to the old peoples’ home, Ben.” She added, putting her arm around Ben’s shoulder and gently leading him to the door.

“Wait!” Mr Groff shouted. He got up, and walked over to a cleanly polished oak wood door, “You can live in my quarters, I have two extra bedrooms if you would like. It’s the least I could do for my children.”

Hilary rushed over to Grian, and engulfed him in a hug, Ben following suit. But this time, Mt Groff didn’t stop them, instead, he walked into the corridor with the bedrooms in. There were two for kids, one for an adult, a storage room, and a large bathroom at the end. Ben immediately rushed into it and hid behind the shower curtain, which was extremely opaque.

“Betcha can’t find me!” He shouted happily, and instead of commanding Ben to be sensible, he joined in the game.

“Where is he, Hilary?” He asked.

Hilary opened her mouth to be frank, but then she saw what she was to do.

“Maybe in your office?” And she snuck downstairs.

“Have-Have they gone?” A small voice whispered behind Ben. He whipped around. There was a small red panda, it’s tail as fluffy as a cloud. Ben picked it up.

“You’re a red panda.” Ben said in surprise. It nodded. “And you speak.” Ben added, trying not to be overtaken by the red panda’s overwhelming cuteness.

“My name is Sonika, golden in Nepalese.” Sonika said, leaping expertly onto the bathroom tiles.

“How long have you been here, Sonika?” Ben asked.

“Well, you see...”

“Ben! BEN!” Hilary shouted scared.

“Benjamin!” Grian shouted.

Hilary began to cry.

“What-what if he’s w-w-with mum-mummy?” Hilary cried, sniffing and getting the carpet very soggy. Mr Groff took her to her bedroom, where she soon fell asleep.

“BEN!” Mr Groff’s voice rang through the bathroom.

“Oh, no! They think I’ve left!” Ben cried, then ran into his Father’s arms, “I’m SO sorry!”

Grian smiled.

“Let’s just wait.”

“No, no, no.”

“How?”

“Why now?”

“How did poor Janice die?”

“How is Grian holding up?”

Hilary and Ben awoke to people whispering and crowding around their beds. As soon as they were awake, microphones and cameras were thrust into their faces. But only one question caught Ben and Hilary’s ear.

“How did your Mother die?” Just after they had been asked that, Mr Groff came in and ushered everyone out. AFter the room was empty, he turned to his kids.

“Wait until the end of the day, and I will give you something.” Then he left.

“Nineteen whole hours.” Ben groaned, then went to the cafeteria to get breakfast.

“What are you getting, young Mr Groff?” The chef asked Ben merrily.

“An English breakfast, please.”

“What are you getting, young Miss Groff?” The chef asked Hilary merrily.

“A stack of pancakes draped in syrup with strawberries and blueberries, please.”

“Wow, Hilary! Pancakes!” Ben exclaimed. He had never eaten a pancake before, and neither had Hilary. They sat down at a table for two.

“Wanna try?” Hilary asked Ben, and before he could answer, Hilary handed Ben a huge fork. He dug in immediately.

“Now, Ben, the last thing I want to do today is,” Hilary told Ben as the sun was setting, “Ride a bike around town!” Ben smiled.

“I saw some bikes on the ground floor, let’s go borrow them.” So they swiftly ran downstairs, clipped the helmets on, (Ben clipped his chin,) and cycled out onto the pavement.

“Where to go?”

Mr Groff creeped up the stairs to Ben and Hilary’s bedroom, holding an iPhone SE in each hand, one blue- Ben’s favourite colour, and the other red- Hilary’s favourite colour.

“Haha, let’s go home, Ben!” Hilary cycled downhill on the road, and pulled into the bike garage. Mr Groff was there.

“I was so worried, where were you?” He shouted.

Ben looked scared, and Hilary looked like she was about to burst into tears. Then, Mr Groff ran to them, giving them a big hug, and putting the iPhones into their hands, then ran away. Hilary and Ben went to their room.

“I think I’m going to play Minecraft. You, Ben?” Hilary asked Ben, lying down.

They logged in, and on the friends tab there was a player, TheGDaddy. They knew who it was immediately, and played all together until 3 in the morning.