Her Knight

Josslyn

The shuffling of Kelley next to me wakes me up from my sleep and I open my eyes to see her cuddling back into my side. I just wrap my arms around her tighter and place a few kisses on the side of her head.

The room is completely silent, the only noise filling the place is the distant sounds of birds chirping from the open window in our room, and the constant ticking from the side clock.

Everything feels calm and peaceful, like the whole world has finally slowed down for a few seconds and we can appreciate everything we are lucky to have.

But I can't help start thinking about Dale. Kelley hasn't had a nightmare about him in months and now she thinks she's seen him in the stands, it's not like her to be seeing him in places he's not anymore.

Knowing I'm just going to continue thinking about it I decide to slip out of Kelley's grasp and pull on some clothes before heading out the hotel room. I walk towards Carli's room knowing Hopes in there with her.

"Hey Champ, what's up?" Carli asks coming to the door once I've knocked on it.

"Is Hope in here?" I ask curiously

"Yeah she is, do you need her for something?" Carli says

"Just want to talk," I say not wanting to get into detail.

"well okay then, I'm heading down to get us coffee so you can go in and speak to her now," She says and kisses me on the head before walking off.

"Hey Hailey, everything okay?" Hope asks smiling as I walk in

"I don't know Hope, I'm really worried" I say looking at her a little scared

Her face instantly morphs into concern and she stops what she's doing to give me her full attention.

"about what Hayley, what's going on?" shes asks me

"you know yesterday when Kelley was hugging me in the changing room and I thought it was just another one of her sad moments?" I say to her

"Yeah, she gets them now and again, what's the big deal about that though," Hope asks me

"because it wasn't one of her episodes, we got into bed last night and she told me that she thought she saw Dale in the crowds, I convinced her it wasn't him and that he's in jail, but what if it was Hope, what is Dale was actually there and he's here to get back at Kelley," I say panicking in a little now.

"that's not possible though, we made sure he went to prison for a long time," Hope says stepping forward a little

"I know that Hope! But Kelley doesn't have nightmares about him anymore, she doesn't see him in crowded places anymore, she's not scared of him but all of a sudden she thinks she's seen him in the crowd. I just don't think it could be her imagination" I say

"how do we know if it's him or not, can we call someone or something," Hope asks looking scared herself now

"I've texted my lawyer and asked him about Dale but he hasn't gotten back to me yet," I say checking my phone yet again for any messages

"I'm not letting anything happen to Kelley again Hope, not after last time," I say, a few tears slipping down my cheek

"I'm not either Hayley, I'm going to be here to help this time, protect you both okay?" she says holding my hands in hers

"Just don't tell anyone else about this, we can't let Kelley find out about him, she'll lose all focus on the Olympics" I tell Hope, knowing that Kelley would just become a panicking mess if she thought Dale could possibly be out there.