LOUD//Marcus Abbott

Bonds

"I'm so bad at this game" I sign to Regan who was currently the banker in the game of monopoly.    "You'll figure it out" she signs back and I roll the dice. The dice reads a six and I move my guy six places. I land right on Marcus hotel. I begin to mortgage all of my properties. Marcus then rolls and lands on Regans hotel. She smiles as she collects the money and then reaches over and the lantern falls and the carpet catches on fire. Lee immediately gets up and starts to hit the fire with a rag trying to subdue it. He eventually goes out but then everything to quiet until the house starts to rattle. 

I sit and listen holding my breath. I look at Marcus who displays a terrified look on his face. Regan begins to stand and Lee immediately wants her to sit down. He walks to the window and looks up towards the roof. He jumps back when two raccoons leap from the roof. I take a deep breath thankful we weren't heard. 

Morning comes quick and I sit in front of Evelyn I take her blood pressure and quickly write it down for her. I then grab the stethoscope. I put them in my ears and feel around her stomach. I move from the top of her stomach to the bottom and that's when I find the heartbeat. It's a calming noise and I close my eyes and listen to it. This baby doesn't know what it's gonna have to go through. I then hand the stethoscope to Evelyn and she puts it on. She smiles and smiles. She puts her hand on my cheek and mouths thank you. I smile and then get up and walk out of the room. 

I walk into Marcus and I's room and open the child birthing book. I read each page carefully. I couldn't help but feel myself begin to tear up. I'm extremely nervous for the delivery of the baby. I will be doing most of it while Lee helps me. I will be helping her through the process of the delivery. I'm nervous she might die and then the family might think I was the reason she died. I couldn't deal with that thought. I have talked to her before about my cautions of delivering the baby and she told me that everything will be alright and that she believes in me. I honestly don't know what to do with this trust. 

"Remember you need to divide" Evelyn signs too Marcus and I. I roll my eyes and sign "This shit is so stupid why are we learning when the world already ended" Evelyn gives me an irritated look. "Divide" Evelyn says pointing at my math problem. Marcus then figures it out and Evelyn signs "Amazing" and then we all three hear footsteps in the house. I look. behind me to see Lee already for his next expedition. He goes and checks the traps for fish down near this river. 

"time to go" He signs up to Marcus and Marcus turns towards his mom terrified. "don't make me go" He signs. I grab his hand trying to comfort him and he grips it tightly. "It'll be fine, your father is always gonna protect you, always." Evelyns signs back trying her best to comfort the poor boy as well. Marcus then grips onto her hand. I tap him and he looks towards me. 

"You should start getting to know these things they are important, I need you to take care of my lazy ass when I give up and sit on the couch all day" I sign to him and he smiles and laughs. "I always take care of you Auggie" Marcus signs back which makes me smile. "I'll always be there for you too" I sign back and hug him. Evelyn thanks me and smiles at the two of us. 

Marcus continues to argue with Lee about going. "I don't want to go" He signs. "It'll be fine there's nothing to be afraid of" Lee signs back. "Yes there is!" Marcus angrily signs. Regan then walks up to the three. "I'll go" Lee then stands and puts an arm on her shoulder. "You need to stay behind and help your mother" Regan seems a bit irritated. "Auggie can watch her just fine!" She signs back and Lee looks at the two of us. "No stay behind" Lee says. "Sexist" I sign and Lee gives me an irritated look. The two then walk off and so does Regan. 

I then walk back into the house. Evelyn needs to get down with some laundry so I decide to help her with that. She takes the big load out of the washer. She wraps it in a sheet so no sounds can be made. I grab the laundry bag and then take it up the stairs behind Evelyn. It all of a sudden gets caught on something though. I begin to pull on the bag and then it flies up causing me to fall and make a thud sound. I look at Evelyn who helps me up. I look at the stairs and realize a nail is pointed straight up now. 

"you okay?" Evelyn asks me and I shrug her off. "I'm fine don't worry about me" I sign to her and then pick up the laundry and the two of us go outside to hang the wet laundry up. I feel the hot and warm sun on my face and take it in. Lately I've been hating the world but I'm slowly getting use to it. The weather has been beautiful. I'm sure I'll get depressed again when winter comes around though. 

"I'll be right back" Evelyn says and walks away quickly. I give her a small smile and she's gone. I continue to hang the stuff up to dry. It had been a couple of minutes though and so I walked back to the house. I look around the house and eventually walk up the stairs. I see Evelyn sitting in Beau's room. I can also see the tears streaming down her cheek. I quickly walk over to her an hug her. 

"am I a bad mother?" She whispers. I hadn't heard her voice in a while. "No, you're amazing!" I whisper back. She hugs and kisses the top of my head. "Thank you for taking care of Marcus" she says and I smile. "We take care of each other" I whisper and kiss her cheek.