Comfort

3.Family time

I pulled up in the parking lot and made my way towards the front desk
The lady that was there looked to be around 30 or so and I think she was new to the school so when she saw me approaching she gave me a sweet smile
"Good afternoon how may I help you"
"Afternoon I'm here to pick up my younger sister Maddie Parker"
"Oh..Maddie is such a sweet child and her class is the one down the hallway by your left"
"Thank you"
"But you have to sign here"I signed where was needed and made my way to her class

At her class I saw her sitting by the corner playing with herself and she wasn't so happy which made me nervous
I opened the door and her attention was on me suddenly she left what she was doing and ran up to me and hugged my legs with the biggest smile on her face
I smiled and bent to her level and hugged her back
"Hey sunshine"she blushed
"Hey Ali I missed you and I made you a picture"she said showing her front teeth making my heart swell
"That's so good baby and guess what?we are going to get ice cream before going home"
"Yay!!!.....let's get going"she ran off to get her bag
She retrieved the bag and I got it from her holding her with my other hand and we walked out of the school

I made sure she was buckled up properly in the car before I drove off to the ice cream parlor close to where we stay
Immediately Maddie entered she dragged me to the counter and she was jumping up and down due to the excitement and she ordered her strawberry cookie dough Icecream with cheese cake and I ordered vanilla and chocolate
After I paid for the ice cream we were on our way to my car when I saw Zander walking into the parlor and my eyes widened
He walked up to me,he could not see Maddie yet from that view and immediately he stepped in-front of me he noticed Maddie
Maddie felt a presence infront of her and looked up
"Who are you"she bluntly asked which made me suppress a laugh
"Hi I'm Zander and I'm friends with princess over here"he said looking at her
Maddie looked at me waiting for confirmation and I nodded my head at her and she took a look at him for the last time before going back to her ice cream

I looked at Zander to see him already looking at me"why are you looking at me"
"Nothing....Soo you have a daughter?"he asked seriously which made me laugh and some people that were in the shop turned towards me and I muttered a quick sorry to them before turning back to Zander
"I don't have a daughter this is my sister Maddie"he sighed in relief and I was wondering what that was all about then he smiled at me
"How....what are you even doing here"I shuttered due to my nervousness and I blushed
He smirked at my reaction"you know they have the best Icecream here and I wanted trying it...I think I would be coming here more often now"
I had a feeling that he wasn't telling the truth but I did not want to push on it so I just shrugged

"Soo I was wondering if you would like to go watch a movie with me sometime"
I was surprised that Zander was asking me on a date then I smiled"yea that would be fine"
"Yea so Friday night I'll come pick you up around 6"
"Yea sounds like a plan"
We walked out of the shop with Zander following us and I was surprised that Maddie hadn't said a word for a long time and I looked down at her and saw her staring at something in a distance when I traced it,I saw that it was a little girl with her parents together they were having a good time together
I looked at Maddie and saw that her blue eyes were glassy with tears making my eyes glassy with tears too so I immediately hugged her and said smoothing words and she cried on my shoulder repeating the words I miss them so much

My heart broke at the sight of my sister cause it was really hard on her she was really attached to them alot and it killed her inside
We stayed like that for like 5minutes when I told her It was time to go home and she nodded and entered the car and I turned remembering that Zander just saw our little break down which made my face turn red

"I'm so sorry you had to see that she's usually not like that"I focused on everything but him cause I knew he would read me like a book which I did not really like
He studied me closely before
speaking"its fine ...I know it may be personal so I won't push you to tell me anything"
I released the breath I did not know I was holding and smiled"yea thanks"
We stood there for what felt like hours when it was only 30 seconds before he said"please can you drop me home,my car kind of broke down"he said scratching the back of his neck which I noticed it was something he does when he was nervous about something

He walked to the passengers side and slipped in.The car ride was silent none of us speaking and I could see that Maddie was staring out the window. i followed his directions to his house and it was actually 7 blocks away from mine and I was surprised that we lived really close
"Can I at least get your name I know this is not the perfect time but I would like to know"
"I'm Alice by the way"I smiled weakly at him
We said our goodbyes to each other and headed home.i found out that Maddie fell asleep and I picked her up and got into the house.i shouted Jason name but he wasn't responding so I thought he was still at work
I headed towards Maddie's room tucked her in and kissed her before heading out to my room
Immediately I was in my room I went straight to the floor crying my eyes out crying all my pain that I have felt since the day my parents died and crying for the way It broke my sister today I cried till I drifted off to sleep

I woke up to the sound of the front door opening and I went out without caring about my appearance and saw it was Jason
Immediately he saw me his expression changed he walked up to me holding my face
"Ali what's wrong,why do you look like you were hit by a truck"he said with humor and a little bit of concern laced in his voice
"Maddie saw a child with both her parents so she had one of  her moments and I....I...I couldn't take it seeing her that way"my voice cracked as I was beginning to shed tears all over again but it didn't matter at this point
"It's all my fault jay I told them to go back....I caused their death jay...and now Maddie is really suffering from it...I would have been the one not them...I'm tired of shielding my emotions jay...I'm tired of being that strong woman to everyone jay when in reality Im so weak"
Jason immediately pulled me to his chest and hugged me making me cry on his shoulder
"Don't ever put the blame on yourself kiddo..you did not know what would have happened to them and don't ever wish for death cause they would have not liked it at all...you are the strongest person I know and we love you...you just have to hang in there it would be alright"

After 20 minutes of standing there we pulled away and I gave him a weak smile and cleaned my tears
We heard footsteps coming from the stairs and we saw Maddie coming down she didn't look as bad as me
Immediately she saw Jason she ran towards him and he picked her up and whispered something into her ear which made her smile a little bit and that was the best moment in the world

"Hey beautiful ladies we are going to have a family night since the two of you are not really feeling it"we smiled at that and we ordered pizza and Chinese with chicken nuggets
We sat and chatted catching up on school and stuff
After dinner we went to the movie room to watch a movie and we cuddled up to the couch and began watching the movie
Half way through the movie my eyes were becoming heavy and I let them fall cause I really needed the sleep
The last thing I saw before drifting off to sleep was my brother kissing my head along side Maddie's then darkness consumed me

Hey pretty people I know this chapter is a little bit emotional 😢 it made me almost cry
Thanks for reading y'all I love you guys
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