Chapter 2

The next week was as uneventful as it was hard. Alex walks his dog at 6 o'clock in the morning, wolfs down his breakfast and changes into his work clothes, packing a spare (he learned after his first horrible day) and goes out at 7:30 o'clock to be slightly early for his shift starting at 8, so he can gather his things and get his bearings. With each day he gets more of a hang for the job. Just yesterday he managed to dodge the vomit of a three year old girl and managed to perfectly stick on a band-aid to a four-year old boy. It is these little accomplishments that keep him going.

But it should start getting different soon. This morning as he walks in the now familiar entrance hall he is surprised to see multiple men in black suits surrounding the head-teacher. As he just tries to pass this scene quietly a slightly familiar little voice shouts "That's him!". Suddenly all of the suit-guys turn around to face Alex who sees a tiny finger pointed at him. Behind the back of the suits the little kid from the park emerges, smiling shyly at Alex. "You are the kid from the park. So you really got into a kindergarten. What a coincidence that you chose the place I work at." Well, it wasn't that much of a coincidence since the kid must live in the same area.

"Mister, I wanted to try out the big playgroups."

"You can call me Alex. You can play here to your hearts content. I wish you a great time. But now I have to go since my shift starts right about now. We will see each other later."

Alex made for the entrance to the three to four year olds room when he hears his head-teacher "Teacher Alex, please come back one second." Alex has a foreboding feeling with this…

When he turns around he sees in the terrified eyes of the little kid now all alone between the adults. He is on the verge of tears. "Teacher Alex, since this is a special case and you seem to already have gotten acquainted with this kid please keep an extra eye on him and help him ease into the new environment. For this week you will be excused of your normal duties."

Alex' eyebrow shots up. But he only meets the stern face of his superior, meaning no questions asked. Heaving a deep inner sigh he starts again towards the kid "Well, since this is the case I can take you along. How old are you and what's your name?" "My name's Peter and I am four and a half years old. Nice to meet you." Alex smiles upon hearing this perfect introduction. "Then you will fit perfectly in my current group. Come on, I will introduce you."

Ignoring the men in suits he grabs Peter by the hand and guides him towards the playroom for his age group. With this he doesn't notice how two of them didn't really leave but made themselves at home in a car directly in front of the kindergarten.

Peter quickly got over his previous shyness and started to puzzle alongside a girl of three by the name of Emma. Emma was a calm child, preferring to play by herself. But today she allowed the new kid next to her. With this Alex' day was quiet and uneventful.

After eating lunch all kids went outside to play with the ball, Peter along with them. While Alex waited with him in the entrance hall so that his parents could pick him up at 2 o'clock p.m. Peter chattered away lively and told Alex about all the new names he learned today belonging to his friends. Especially Emma was mentioned often since they also sat next to each other during lunch. Alex was happy to see Peter so lively. The first shyness was long gone.

Soon he was picked up by one of the men in suits and waved happily. His smile grew wider when Alex said "See you tomorrow, Peter!"

The next day was similar. Peter made more and more friends and could now name nearly three quarters of the playgroup's kid's names. He was even a good influence on Emma since she joined the group plays alongside him. Alex's task was mainly to keep watch on him and keep him company while he waits for his parents or better the man in a suit.

On the fourth day of Peter's stay in the day-care-center the mood suddenly changed. When Alex came out to get him as he was dropped of by yet another man in a suit Alex couldn't help but notice the whispers of the mothers currently in the entrance hall. He also sees meaningful glances passed between mother and child on more than one occasion. He should soon find out what all this was about.

The first sign was, when Peter walked up to Emma, like he did the last three days and Emma just greets him with a "I want to play alone." Since Peter quickly gets back his bearings and is distracted by a soccer match outside, Alex doesn't step in. He watches as Peter runs towards the ball. In this moment his supervisor asks him to patch up a freshly bruised four-year old who fell running in the hall. Thus distracted he only looks up after a few minutes. He scans the football field to see how Peter is doing. Scans again. And pales. Peter is nowhere in sight.