Reconstructing Amelia (unedited)

Chapter 36

November 29th, 2019
*Alan*

Thanksgiving, in our household, usually never went well, but this year it really sucked.

Normally, we'd have dinner and everyone would be either talking or arguing, there'd be some sort of food fight, and then we'd all collectively eat like four whole pies.

This year, everyone was silent, picking at the food on their plates. We were all thinking about Amelia, and how different things would be if she were here.

I'd almost gone over to invite her but I hadn't wanted to ruin whatever plans she already had with Javi and their dad.

"Mia should be here," Calvin whispered sadly. "This doesn't feel right,"

"Yeah, I agree," Eli mumbled.

"Guys, I know this sucks, but we all promised not to get her involved yet," Cato reminded us all. "We've got to do things slowly," I immediately looked away, feeling incredibly guilty. Mia already knew everything, and I'd scared her away. She'd never want us to adopt her now.

"Any progress on her?" Xander asked me. I shook my head.

"Hopefully, she'll be back at school on Monday," I said, trying not to look conspicuous. "I can try to talk to her then," My brothers eyed me in concern.

"Has she been gone?" Cayden questioned. "I think she was there last week,"

"She's been sick since the fight," I answered, feeling bad. I wondered if she'd been faking the entire thing just to avoid us but I also hadn't seen her at the cafe either. It wasn't like her to ditch class anyway, she was too good for that.

"You should go round her place again," Eli suggested. "See if she's okay,"

"Yeah," I murmured. "Maybe,"

***

I heard knocking on the door, rousing me from my sleep. I rubbed my eyes sleepily, reading a quarter past three on the clock as I forced myself up and downstairs, throwing on a shirt on the way down. I groggily opened the door.

Standing in the pouring rain, was Javi. His eyes were red and he lunged in and clung to my waist, rapidly talking in Italian.

I glanced around the driveway but I didn't see Mia anywhere nearby, so I ushered Javi inside the foyer and knelt known to his height, trying my best to comfort him

"Hey, slow down," I told him gently. "Tell me what's wrong," Javi just latched onto me again, crying into my shirt.

"Javi, I really need you to talk to me so I can help you, okay?" He sniffled, nodding his little head.

"My sister," he mumbled. "Help," I wasn't quite sure what to do until I realised he was talking about Mia. Mia needed help.

"Okay," I told him, rising to my feet. "Everything's going to be fine. I'm going to go get the others, you wait right here, okay?" He nodded, wiping his tears with his sleeve and trying to put on a brave face.

I hurriedly ran upstairs, banging on everyone's doors, shouting for them to wake up.

"What the fuck, dude," Eli muttered, padding into the hallway. The rest of my brothers followed suit.

"Mia's in trouble. Javi's downstairs alone - he ran all the way here," I explained, watching their eyes widen.

"Fuck," Cato muttered. "Okay, give the kid a blanket and one of the triplets give him a hoodie to wear. Everyone dressed and in the car in five," Everyone dispersed to change. I threw on sweats, a jumper, and pulled on a jacket. I slid on my shoes before grabbing a blanket and jogging downstairs to find Javi.