The money, drugs, and temptation - my life on the bad side

Confusion

"Kiki, Kiki, no!" I yell, laughing lightly as i grab the baby's a arm. I was sure not to ask Andrew whether she was invited as well, and simply took the librity, as i cannot leave her now. I have not yet told her of Mother's fate... she knows she's sick, she knows not how badly.... and she has not yet been told how the nurses have packed her body into a wooden crate, and are simply waiting for someone to come pick it up and fill out the paperwork. I have not yet given them the number of my aunt Lucinda - whom hasn't spoken to us in years, but will still be the one to organize the papers and funeral for her sister - but i am sure it will be figured out soon. I have only a few days before the men come to my foor, demanding my sister and myself for new homes, and we'll be destined to spend forever apart, her growing old, having her first boyfriend and her first heartbreak without me. 

"La-la? La-la!" Kiki breaks me from my miserable spell with a sharp tug on my trouser leg, guiding me towards the door of the mansion before us. 

Andrew said he lived in the large house off of Elk, but large would not cover it in my mind. Three stories high, a spilt driveway with a fountain and a pond between them... this, is the mansion of a very rich man. 

"Now, Kiki, we're to be nice to this man, got it?" I tell her, slightly dumbfounded by the home as the heels of my pumps click on flawless pavement. 

"OK," she answers innocently, reaching her arms up for me. i swing her onto my hip, and lift the ring from the door in the gargoyle mouth. 

It smashes back down loudly, and it's only seconds we wait before the door is swung open to Andrews dark face. 

"Evening, Laura." he's not the same as he was this afternoon - reserved, his eyes dark and hiding. 

"Hi, Andrew. This-this is Kiki... Kiki, say hello to Mister Andrew."

"Hewwo, Mister Andrew," she says sweetly. Andrew is looking at her as if she's a pile of fly guts, but then something lifts from his face, as if a memory has surfaced, and he smiles at us. 

"Hello there, Kiki." he says, picking her up and swinging her around. i smile, before painfully realizing that i just replaced Michel in my head for a second with this shadowy man. Michel, who i love so much... Michel, who isnt here for me right now. 

Andrew, who is. 

"Well, come on in, Laura!" Andrew exclaims, throwing the door open for me. Kiki is tugging on his hand until he gives in and crouches down beside her. 

"I paint a picture today," she tells him, "Of Mommy and Daddy and me and La-la. Only Daddy is an angel above us."

"Well, that's good that he's there anyways," Andrew says, shooting a sad smile over his shoulder, before gently wiping a tear from my face. 

"Come on, Laura. Sorry the house is so messy." he says, taking my arm gently so he can lead me farther into the imaculate house to close the door. 

I'm walking numbly, as i confict about the two most important men in my life. 

"Do you have a cigarette?" i ask andrew quietly, watching Kiki run ahead and begin splashing in the spouting fountain. 

Michel hates smoking. He's really quite a tightwad, though i love him, I miss my father so much right now. i miss him being with me, holding me on his lap and putting his heavy chains around my neck when i asked him to. I miss his rings i said i wanted to grow into, all but one of them i had to sell for bills.

If he was here right now, he would be grieving with me over mother.

Of course, if he was still here, then mother would never have abused the drink, and she would have never died from alcohol poisoning in the first place.