I was brought out of my thoughts as the trees suddenly ended and we were back at the big mansion. I couldn’t help but sigh as we made our way towards the front doors.

So much for trying to escape this crazy nightmare.

Alex put me down when we reached the house but he kept a hand on my left arm while Kevin opened the front door for us. We hadn’t more than stepped inside and shut the door behind us when a high, seriously pissed and girly voice cut through the hall.

"Where is he?!" The others parted in front of me in confusion and unconsciously cleared a path for the person and I cursed under my breath when I saw who it was.

Kate was running towards me and her small frame was shaking with anger. Shit! I took a small step back when she approached me and I held up my hands in a pleading gesture. For a five-year-old she could be very scary and I knew exactly what she was angry about. She opened her mouth, probably to start yelling, but I interrupted her before she could get to it.

"Please Kate I can explain, just listen okay? It’s not how it seems." I made my voice pleading and I could feel the others questioning eyes on us.

"You promised Ash! You promised me!" Kate’s voice was still loud but now her eyes had started to tear up, causing here to choke on her own words. Shit, I thought as she started crying and I felt like shit for being the cause for it. I run a hand through my hair in frustration before I took a deep breath and slid down on my knees in front of her. I was now eye-level with her and I could see big tears rolling down her cheeks, making her look heartbreaking.

Aw, hell I couldn’t help it. I took a hold of her and pulled her to my chest wrapping her in a tight embrace. She struggled against me, trying to pull away and her small hands punched against my chest. I just held her tighter and I could feel her small frame shake violently with each sob. She was screaming at me through all the crying and I let her, just holding her against me while she did.

"You promised! You promised! You…p-p-promised Ash! Amber…s-s-she told me y-y-you… you promised me! I t-t-thought you were g-g-gone!" her cries were the only sound that was heard and I shut my eyes and placed my chin against her hair. She stopped struggling and instead wrapped her tiny arms around my neck burying her face against my bare chest. I winced as her tears wet my skin and mixed with the blood from my cuts but I endured it because this was Kate and her crying was my fault.

I slid down in a sitting position on the floor and pulled Kate into my lap still holding her tight against me. Her cries subsided a little after a few moments and that’s when I decided to speak. I lowered my voice and made my voice soft and soothing:

"Shhh its okay Tiger, I’m here and I’m not leaving you, not now and not ever. Shhh I did promise you, and I’m keeping that promise princess. I would never, never ever leave you okay? I’m sooo sorry if Amber told you that."

Kate listened to me and her sobs became smaller as I talked. She pulled her face from my chest and looked into my eyes with her own red-puffed ones searching for anything that would tell her I wasn’t telling the truth. When she didn’t find anything that suggested that, she tried to wipe her tears away with her small hands before she faced me again.

"But were where you?" She looked at me and I gave her a small smile.

"I was out doing something stupid, you know I always do Tiger but I wasn’t about to leave you here with these lunatics." I brushed some tears away from her cheeks and heard how someone huffed at my “lunatics-remark”. Probably Alex…

Kate looked at me with big loving eyes and hugged me again. She whispered into my ear:

"Do you promise Ash?" I smiled even though she couldn’t see that and hugged her back whispering:

"Of course I promise Kate."

Sometimes I’m just great aren’t I?