Serendipitous

11.

"What happens when we walk out of here?" I ask Shane as I look deeply in his eyes. I would be lying if I said I wasn't afraid for him. I don't think I could bare it if my dad were to hit him again.

"We'll be together, no matter what happens." Shane responds as he holds my hand. I nod my head slowly. As we make our way down the hallway we go to the kitchen where everyone sits. My mom looks up at Shane and I as her eyes land on our intertwined hands, she turns away and my dad keeps his head down.

"Good morning," T-Dog greets you as he looks down at our hands. He looks surprised for a moment but shrugs as he holds a pan. "You two want some breakfast?" He asks us.

"Sure" I say in a friendly tone as Shane and I sit down beside one another at the large table. T-Dog puts eggs on our plate as Shane and I begin to eat our food.

As T-Dog takes a closer look at Shane, he frowns. "What the hell happened to you? Your face is bruised up..." He trails off as I glance over at Shane who shrugs.

"I got drunk last night and fell in the shower." He states casually, I didn't even think about what might happen if someone saw the bruises on his face.

"I mean, if that's the story you're going with I won't ask any other questions." T-Dog replies casually. I'm glad he isn't going to ask more.

I give his hand a gentle squeeze as another 'I'm sorry' for what happened last night. I glance over at my mom who continues to eat and doesn't look up at us as my dad walks into the kitchen, he avoids our eyes.

"Morning." Dale greets him.

"Are you hung over? Mom said you'd be." I hear Carl say; I keep my head down avoiding all of their eyes. I don't really want to look at my parents right now; I might glare at them for the way my dad punched Shane last night and how my mom pushed Shane under the bus so to speak.

"Mom is right." He mumbles.

My mom looks down at my brother who notices that Shane and I were holding hands, he gives me a smile which I return.

"Come on Carl, let's go read some books, hmm?" My mom suggests. She and Carl get up from the table.
After my mom leaves the room with Carl, my dad looks up between Shane and I for a moment before quickly tearing his eyes away from our direction. I don't know what to say to him, my dad and I never fought before. My mom and I on the other hand have had many arguments in the past, but my dad was always the one to calm us both down and be the peace maker.

"You okay?" Shane asks me quietly. I look up at him and nod my head trying to be reassuring. I feel more so nervous that my dad is going to try and give Shane another bloody nose, or even try to give him a busted lip. Hopefully it doesn't come to that... If anything, I think Shane would retaliate the blows right back today.

"Morning." Dr. Jenner greets us all as he walks in the room.

"Hey, Doc." Shane greets, he looks up at Dr. Jenner.

"Doctor. I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing—" Dale begins.

"But you will anyway" Dr. Jenner responds.

"We didn't come here for the eggs." Andrea chimes in the conversation.

After we call finish eating, we follow Dr. Jenner to a large room, as we walk in the lights come on.

"Give me playback of TS-19" Dr. Jenner speaks loudly to Vi.

"Playback of TS-19" Vi speaks.

"Few people ever got a chance to see this. Very few." He says turning to us. Our eyes look up on the wall at a large display that shows 3-D views of a human skull.