Chapter 109

Claire POV:

I hummed a song as I colored in my coloring book. Mommy often said it was okay for me to color outside the lines. The first time I did it on purpose, I gave the apple a mustache and a little army of chopped fruits and I became an artist! 

Mommy pinned it up on the fridge with a magnet and smiled every time she opened the door. After that, I did my best to make her happy, so I kept drawing and writing. She bought me colored pencils when she saw how good I was and I got even better. I loved it so much that I asked for notebooks and pencils.

Mommy said that it was my creative outlet. I never told her it was my happy place. When my bad dad yelled at Mommy, I would write and sketch all the time. Now I had a new happy place. My mommy and daddy loved each other and me in that place. They loved to make each other smile, too. That was important because Mommy's smile lit up the room, at least that was what Daddy said. Then again, he said that about me, to