Trouble in Tiltown

A Figure of A Father

Abraham was sat with Scott and Amber at a round dinner table. My eyes wandered over to West who was stood nearby with flaring nostrils as he eyes his twin.
"Oh hi brother. I was just wanting to meet your sweet little family. I've heard so much about them." Abraham says with a smile as he stands to be face to face with West. West looks to his smiling family before his eyes meet again with Abraham.
"You've met them, now get gone." West demands with teeth gritting. Abraham looks taken aback by his rude remark before returning his polite demeanor, whether it was genuine or fake.
"Yeah, sure. It was nice meeting you kid, Amber." He nods before colliding shoulders with West. He attempts to grab Elouise's wrist but West blocks him with his body, protecting Elouise.
"I'm her guardian now." Abraham stated.
West shakes his head, "No. She's staying with my family. We'll take care of her from now." Abraham laughs as he draws circles with his tongue against the inside of his cheek.
"You? Take care of our sister? Please, you lost your entire family for years." He scoffed, contains a chuckle in his throat. West went to take a step closer, but Amber gently pulled him back. They looked each other in the eyes and as West looked back to Abraham, his face had become more relaxed than before.
"I'm sorry but she's staying with us. You seem a bit," he paused momentarily as he thought hard with eyebrows stitched, "preoccupied. I don't know with what but I know Elouise doesn't need to be involved with it." West forced a polite grin. His eyes didn't match though, no matter how hard he attempted to appear kind. His eyes held hate for his intruding brother. His brother walks to the ladder but before climbing, his eyes jumped from me, to Elouise and finally to his brother.
"Right, well.. I'll be seeing you." He says through grunts as he climbs up.
"I hope not." West mumbles under his breath. Elouise keeps her eyes glued to Abraham's back until he's out of sight.
"You okay?" I questioned her. She flinches at the sudden question but quickly regains herself.
"Yes. I'm fine." She says, pulling her blonde hair back away from her face. Amber wanders up to her, looking her in the face.
She pouts, "Aw honey, You look worn. Let's lay you down on the bed, alright?" Amber spoke softly as she led Elouise to the bed. Amber picks up the blankets that were balled into a mess and gently hovers the blanket over her body until it landed as Elouise hugged the warm blanket.
Scott tugs on his mother's blouse, "I want a nap too." He whispers to her. Before she could respond, He selects the open spot next to the already asleep Elouise, and closes his eyes and finally falling into a peaceful sleep. Amber and West walk up to me with grateful smiles on their face. They looked complete. Even West looked genuine with his grin. He wasn't forcing it any longer. He was with his family and that's what he had needed after all this time.
"So, I heard your birthday is tomorrow." He says in a low voice as to not awaken the sleepers in the room with us.
I looked down to the ground with a smile, "Yeah. It's whatever though." I giggled. Amber lifted my face up with a finger underneath my chin as she smiles at me.
"You're gonna be eighteen, right? That's big!" She quietly squeals with excitement.
"Yeah well, I'm just gonna have cake and hang around." I laughed.
"No way. I'm making plans for you tomorrow." Amber says as she runs over to a desk and begins scribbling on paper with a pen in hand. West takes a step closer to me, still wearing a smile.
"She's right. You should be excited about your birthday. You'll only be eighteen once. You're gonna be an adult, ain't that cool?" He whispers to me. My eyes wander over to Amber who was hunched over her paper, still writing.
My shoulders shrugged, "I don't know. I feel like I've been an adult since being eight years old." West's smile faded and was quickly replaced by confusion.
"Why eight?" He asked me with his head to the side.
"That's when my parents divorced. I haven't seen or heard from my father since, but it's all good. I have my mom and friends." I answered, however, I didn't fake a smile due to the fact that I simply couldn't. Never having a father in my life without reason was just painful, and I wouldn't hide the fact that it's not.
"I'm sorry." West softly said as he unexpectedly brought me into a warm and tightened hug. At first, I awkwardly patted his back. But once I realized just how hurt I was on the inside, I hugged him back tighter. Now, I knew. West was my figure of a father.

Once dropped home from Jerrick, I relaxed on my bed that I hadn't forgotten even looked like. The comfort of it as I fell deep into the foam of the mattress. I sighed heavily and long as I relaxed all of my muscles, listening to nothing but the loud crickets chirping outside my window. Soon enough though, my mother had arrived back home from work. I jumped up and greeted her at the hallway.
"Why, hi stranger." She joked as she smiled widely at the sight of me.
"I've been trying to tell Jerrick to give me some breathing air." I joked back as we both chuckle. She wanders off into our small kitchen as I follow from behind. She takes out a frozen pizza before placing it into our oven.
"Is that okay for tonight?" She asks me.
I laughed, "Yes of course. Hey, I was wandering.." I paused as she looks at me skeptically.
"Yes? You didn't see the presents I'm hiding in my closet, did you?" She questions me with a raised eyebrow.
"What? No! I was just wandering if we could watch some old vhs tapes, you know, from when I was little. Since tomorrow is my birthday." I stated. She smiles and leads me into the living room before placing in a randomized picked tape. We sat on the sofa as it flicked on. There I was, around five years old. We sat around the Christmas tree as snow fell hard outside the window. A few seconds pass and I notice a dark figure barely hidden by a tree in the distance.
"Do you see that?" I point at the tv.
She furrows her eyebrows at me and laughs, "Uh, what exactly?" She asks. I groan and rewind it before finally pausing it.
"By the tree." I inform her as I point again. She takes a few steps closer and finally realized the figure.
"Wow... That's sure strange." She says with a weak laugh, as if she were attempting not to sound spooked out herself.
"What is that?" I inquired aloud. Before she could reply, the buzzer went off for the pizza.
"Time to eat!" She yelps as she disappears into the kitchen once again. However, my eyes stayed focused on the television.