𝚃𝚘𝚛𝚗- ᑕ0ᗰᑭᒪᗴ丅ᗴ

ch 1: nate

Today has been weird. Dad said I had a doctor's appointment, but instead of getting a shot or having the nurse stick that weird beeping thing in my ear, I just talked.

The lady was nice. She said I could call her Dr. Julie and she had a bunch of toys that I got to play with.

I got to draw pictures and play with action figures, which was cool, but then she wanted to talk about Mommy.

I missed her so much and even though Dad's wife Trish was really nice, there were times when all I wanted was to be back home with my mom.

Dr. Julie and I talked about my old house, and how Mommy would feed me dinner, then leave me by myself while she was at work.

When Dr. Julie asked why I thought Mommy left me by myself, I shrugged, not knowing what to say.

"She always did."

✨

After talking to Dr. Julie, I played with the blocks in the waiting room while she talked to Trish and Dad. The door was cracked open a little and I could kind of hear what they were saying, but I didn't understand a lot of it.

"...severe neglect and abandonment issues. It seems Nathan's stories corroborate what the police in Florida said. The mother would leave him at home alone for hours on a regular basis. When they found her body, there was barely any food in the house and it was a mess."

They came out a few minutes later and Dad crouched down to my level with a sad smile on his face.

"Let's go home, Buddy."

✨

After stopping to get Chinese food, my absolute favorite, we got back home. Dad let our nanny Maryse go for the evening after she told us Tristan was watching television in the family room.

"Tris?! We're home, bud."

I followed Dad into the family room and the second Tristan saw me, he rolled his eyes and drew his focus back onto the television.

"Did you guys get dinner?"

"Yeah."

Tristan got up from the couch and rounded the back end, heading for the kitchen as he shot his head back to ask Dad a question.

"What'd you get?"

"Well, your brother wanted Chinese, so we stopped at Mushu Lee's. Got you the barbequed pork."

Tristan turned to look back at Dad and then at me with a glare on his face.

"He got to pick last time."

"Tris, look--"

"Just forget it, he always gets what he wants."

Tristan cut Dad off before turning to run down an opposite hall, to get to his room.

Dad looked back at me and gave me a small smile.

"Just give your brother some time, Nate. We're all trying to get used to all of this. It'll get easier, bud."

🖤