𝑴𝒚 𝑮𝒊𝒓𝒍~𝑷𝒂𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝑯𝒐𝒄𝒌𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓

C6~Away Again

I got home, only to find the door was locked. My mom and dad were away again. I managed to sneak through the back and found a note left on the fridge;

Natalie & Richie,
we have had to leave town for a few days due to a sudden work emergency, we apologise for the sudden leave, we understand how annoying it must be for you both.
PS: Dinner's on the counter x
                             -Mom & Dad.

More time for me to bunk off of school again. I went upstairs in my room to find the keys to the front-door so I could unlock it for Richie. I didn't bring them to school today since, well, I didn't know mom and dad would be leaving so soon. I thought they'd stay for another week or two, but no! It's always the 'work emergencies.' Got to come to one of our rewards evenings at school? Work emergency. It's one of our birthdays? "Work emergency, sorry! Can't come." Fucking assholes. I don't mind them being gone every like 3 weeks. Because we get 3 weeks together. Lately, they've been in and out of Maine like nobody's business. Richie hates it, I've never seen him so upset over anything before. I'm okay with it most of the time because I have the house to myself and I can do whatever the hell I like. Bunk off of school, order pizza, throw a party, steal some of Dad's beer. However it's becoming a lot more frequent to the point where they're never here, I'm talking every week and they're back for what? Two days at least. Then they leave again. I'll never understand why they got the same job as eachother, if I'm gonna be honest I would much prefer one working a day job and the other working a night job, or something like that, just so we'd have more time as a family. It's starting to get lonely with it just being me and Rich.

I found the keys eventually, and unlocked the door, then went into the living room and threw myself on the sofa and turning on the television. It got all muffled and wouldn't work so I had to fix the satellite stuff on the top of it, twisting and turning them all different directions until finally, it stopped. I was in the middle of watching Ducktales when Rich stepped in the house.
"Oh hey! Have fun at the arcade?" I smiled.
"No, not at all. Couldn't have gotten out fast enough!" He sulked.
"Wanna talk about it?"
"Kinda. I dunno. Just depends if you're willing to listen." He perched onto the sofa and sighed.
"Im all ears kiddo." I said.
"Okay. So basically I was playing street fighter with this kid right. Same age as me and stuff and dude he was so good at the game! I was really enjoying it. Then once we stopped he said he had to go, but I found another quarter and asked if he wanted to play just one more time. Then Bowers comes out of fucking nowhere and the guy starts calling me a fairy and tells me to get out because the kid who I was playing with said something to him and-
His voice began to wear out the faster he spoke and I could see tears forming in his eyes. I hugged him and spoke calmly,
"Rich. Calm down. Everything is going to be fine I promise you, please don't let him get to your head. He won't even touch you I swear to God I won't let him so don't worry. And as for that fairy comment? Just simply let it go. He wants him to get into your head and it's working so he's taking advantage of it, don't let it happen."
"I won't." He started to sob silently in my arms. I've never, ever seen my little brother cry. He's usually so sarcastic and happy. I couldn't stand seeing him like this. Poor guy.

Later that night I had settled into bed and made sure Richie was okay. I couldn't stop thinking of the things I would say to Henry tomorrow. I could rip his fucking head off if I wanted to, but I don't dare risk it. Not just yet anyways.