Arcane Guardian ↣ Avenged Sevenfold

28 ☼ soulless

THANKSGIVING 2008

"Aw shit Manda', look at you." David actually looked devastated as well as he tried to hide it before giving Mandy a hug. "All bald and shit."

"Don't go sappy on me old man," She laughed, pulling a hand over her head. A small piece of the tumor had been able to be removed, but doing chemo was prettymuch just shooting blanks and making her feel like shit. "It's growing back thicker, if that was even possible."

Noelle lugged her suitcase up the drive, dropping it to hug her dad. "David," She said, giving him a squeeze. "Where's my sister?"

A pained expression crossed her fathers face. "Well, uh... I would've told you but I didn't think it was appropriate over call hon. Regina, her birth mother? She took her back. Little to no warning they said she was in fittin' condition."

"Fit condition? Regina has been on meth for years. Where the fuck is Dari?"

"I, well. I don't know. Legally they don't gotta tell me shit. It's cruel." She pulled him into another, more gentle hug, Mandy rubbing her back. "I'm so sorry."

"You lost a daughter dad. You don't have to apologize to me."

"Yeah, well I've officially dropped out of fostering. I didn't want to love a kid like that just to have them snatched from me again. I knew I should've adopted her when I could, I just figured since Carolyn never came to claim you..."

She pulled back and nodded. Jim ran up obliviously. "I BROUGHT YOU ICE DAVE!"

Dave's eyes widened. "Fucks sake, you got me rich people shit?"

"Didn't want a do over of April of last year and all. Who knows, maybe I'll chug something cold this year."

Brian followed, face palming.

☼

"Do you know how much weed they'll let you legally smoke when you're dying of cancer?" Mandy wheeze laughed. "Because of the nausea and shit! I am literally the snoop dog of terminal illness."

Everyone was cracking up, even if it felt a little wrong to laugh. Today's holiday menu included;

-Walmart rotisserie chicken
-Homemade mashed potatoes (courtesy of Jim of course)
-Cold drinks as promised with ice to keep them cold
-Cranberry sauce which Brian had somehow never seen before and found the funniest shit in the world. He could not stop laughing when he poked it and it jiggled.
-Deep fried oreos that Mandy and Brian had a fun time making in David's kitchen
-Pumpkin pie, this time from Aldis instead of wally world.

The five of them had a nice dinner. Before the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," Brian got up, stifling his laughter as he unbolted the door and opened it. There stood a 5'4 redhead with scabs and scars all over her body, clutching--

Dari?

By the back of her neck.

"Where's David. Tell him he can have his fuckin' girl back."

It must've been Regina, like they were talking about earlier, and Brian scrunched his eyes before glancing over Darien. "Holy shit, are you okay?" Brian didn't think twice before grabbing the girl from her mother. He kneeled down to her level, inspecting her face. She looked frail and slightly green. "What the fuck did you do to her?" He snapped at her mother.