Clean up is both the best and worst time of the day, the clock unwinds and the children follow
Jackson enjoyed it a lot, he saw it as the Solstice of the Day Care and joked regularly with his coworkers about it,
During cleanup the kids usually take it upon themselves to split into their groups and mingle, all except Lily
Lily instead, every breaktime, chose to stick to Jacksons side like a flower on a bow, this would be normal behaviour, everyone has a favourite, if it werent for one aspect, Lily never left
The daycare was Lily’s second home, she never went to school or to a friends house on the weekends, every week aside from sundays Lily was the hallmark of Sunrise Daycare
Jackson grew suspicious of the eight year old hanging from his leg that insisted, despite being corrected many times, on calling him ‘Mummy’
On this particular day especially, as he leaned down to pick up a battered plastic truck a small whimper pierced the hundreds of other sounds in the daycare to reach Jacksons ear, he looked down to see an uncharacteristically sad look on Lily’s face
And under even further inspection he saw the lines that told him she’d recently cried
He took a knee, as advised in the manual, grabbed Lily’s cheek inbetween two of his fingers and in a practiced soft tone asked, “Whats up boo?”
Jacksons reassurance had the opposite effect but brought him emotionally closer nonetheless
Lily looked up to him, meeting his brown eyes with her soft gray ones, and shoved her head into the side of his thigh
Through this only one muffled word escaped
“Daddy"
For the rest of the day Jackson made sure to remain within arms length of Lily, arms length isn't very far to an eight year old
Throughout the day Lily’s mood seemed to improve and Jackson thought all was well again until pickup time
Lily saw other kids come and go, it had been three years of developing relationships with the other children only for them to inevitably move away or their parents shifts changing
The one constant in this daycare was Lily, and her one constant was always Jackson
Lily stayed sometimes for days at a time, in the 24/7 day (and i suppose night) care the workers were rotated through shifts, a set of people were working nights and another, days
But when Lily stayed for multiple nights in a row Jackson made sure to stay up with her until she fell asleep for the workers to rotate and someone to take his place, he wasnt being paid to do so but he felt it right in his heart
Come 8PM most of the kids were leaving with their parents, Lily and Jackson would make sure each night to stand on the verandah and wave them all farewell, the goodnight ritual brought comfort to Jackson and Lily alike, so when Lily went home herself some nights, it hurt Jackson a lot.
On this night more than most, as the clock ticked ontowards Lily’s pickup, the distress Jackson thought they overcame earlier built, and built and crescendoed into a panic when the headlights of her fathers Ford litup the foyer
Jackson took Lily’s hand and walked her towards the door, Lily dug her heels into the carpet and refused to leave
What Jackson initially thought was just general misbehaviour he later learned was something much darker, he leaned down in the same fashion as earlier in the day, gave Lily a hug and told her how much he looked forward to seeing her the next day
Lily reciprocated and said one word before turning towards her Dad’s car, she said goodbye
A wave of melancholy struck Jackson and tears appeared in his eyes, this was unlike him since he usually had his emotions locked far away
He covered his eyes with his arm as Lily turned so she couldn’t see the state she left him in, and in an uncharacteristic trembling voice,
“Seeya Kiddo”