She's My Little Sister

What Am I Supposed To Do?

"COME ON, MICHELLE." Shawn said holding his hands out to the baby. "Try to stand up and walk."

Michelle looked at her brother, her big eyes dancing with mischief. She would stand up perfectly fine, no problem. But she would just stand there. That was the issue. Shawn was getting frustrated with her, but tried not to let it show.

Running a hand through his hair, Shawn stood up from his crouched position and stretched. Walking over to his sister, he scooped her up in his arms. Michelle clapped smiling up at her brother, patting his cheek. She smiled widely at him, almost in a teasing way. Like she knew that he wanted her to walk, she just didn't want to.

"Are you being difficult on purpose?" Shawn asked.

Michelle merely smiled again, and Shawn rolled his eyes. "Course you are."

Shawn carried Michelle outside covering her ears as they walked through the trailer park as he listened to a woman yell profanities. They made it outside of the park and Shawn set her down hoping for her to start to walk. But once again, she just stood there, bouncing in her spot, before crouching down and began crawling down the sidewalk. Shawn scooped her up again, not wanting her to crawl around on the dirty sidewalk, and they began walking to the Matthews.

"Hey, maybe Mrs Matthews will know why you won't walk." Shawn suggested.

Shawn talked to Michelle the whole way, occasionally looking at her as if waiting for an answer. She would give him one, though it was mostly babble. Smiling at her, he tossed the door open and saw Cory.

"Hey, Shawn—"

"Where's your mom?" Shawn asked, cutting Cory off.

"Uh, in the living room—"

"Thanks."

Shawn walked away, leaving Cory confused behind him. Walking into the living room, he saw Amy sitting on the couch, Eric and Morgan sitting in there with her. All three Matthews looked up and saw Shawn.

"Hey, Shawn." Amy said.

"Hey, Michelle." Eric smiled.

"Hey, uh, Mrs Matthews, can I ask you a question?" Shawn asked, shifting Michelle's weight.

"Yeah, sure, what's up?"

"Um, I was just wondering what age Michelle is supposed to walk?"

"Well, they normally start at 12 months." Amy said. "Why?"

Shawn shrugged. "Just wondering. She's starting to stand. She just won't walk."

"Well she's only 7 months," Amy said. "She's still got a while to go."

Shawn nodded. "And when should she start talking?"

"12 to 18 months."

Shawn nodded. "Alright, Thanks Mrs Matthews."

Shawn headed back into the kitchen where Cory was, before heading back home.

"Hey, where you going!?" Cory called.

"Home!"

"But you just got here!"

Shawn didn't answer, instead heading out and down the sidewalk. He once again began to talk to Michelle.

"You know Halloween is coming up," He said. "I'll have to find you a costume. I think Mrs Matthews has a bunch of Morgan's old ones. Or maybe we'll go out and buy you a new one."

Michelle gave him a toothy smile, and he smiled back. Making his way up to the trailer, he noticed that neither their mom or dad were home. He felt like crying, but kept it in for the sake of his sister. He sat her on the floor on one of her mats, and switched the TV on. 'The Flintstones' was on, which wasn't very surprising since it was still fairly early.

He looked around the trailer just to make sure his Dad wasn't actually gone, but he came to the disappointing realization that he was in fact gone. Shawn sat down on his bed listening as the TV talked softly in the background. Tears slipped from his eyes as he tried to cover his face. How could his Dad just up and leave like this? Again? Why would he act like he cared for Michelle if he was just going to up and leave. His cheeks had hot trails of tears rolling off them. He could here Michelle laughing and clapping as she watched the TV.

"What am I supposed to do?" Shawn asked himself quietly. "How am I supposed to take care of Michelle by myself?"

Shawn ran a hand through his hair, fear over taking him. What happened when they ran out of baby food? Shawn didn't have any money, and there was no way he was going to ask the Matthews for anything. They've helped more then they should.

"It's okay, Shawn." The brown haired boy said. "It's okay, you'll figure it out. She'll be fine. You'll be fine."

Shawn aggressively wiped his cheeks and went to the living room. He sat on the couch behind Michelle, watching the TV with her. Michelle tilted her head back to look at her brother and smiled.

"Hi Michelle." Shawn said, his eyes still glossed over.

Michelle's smile dropped and she patted Shawn's leg, as if asking if he was okay. Shawn smiled slightly, she had been working on sitting up, and was doing pretty well.

"I'm okay, Michelle." Shawn assured, scooping Michelle up in his arms. "I'm alright."

Michelle patted his cheek, and leaned back into his chest. Shawn tried to keep all negative thoughts out, not wanting worry too much. He also didn't want his sister to see him cry.

He watched TV with Michelle for the rest of the morning.

"Maybe you can be Pebbles for Halloween." Shawn told Michelle. "What do you think?"

Michelle babbled, and Shawn took that as a yes. Shawn made a mental note to take Michelle out shopping after lunch. He had a bit of money, given to him to get his costume, so he would buy his and Michelle's. Once the cartoons where over, Shawn set Michelle in her high chair and began to prepare lunch. He threw a sandwich together for himself, and after he prepared his sandwich, he grabbed some yogurt for Michelle. He fed her first, and then ate himself. He had learned not to let Michelle feed herself. It was a messy day in the kitchen. She had somehow ended up getting food on the cupboards and all over the ground and Shawn's still not sure how she did it, but she managed to get her food in his bed.

Once he cleaned everything up, he grabbed Michelle out of the high chair, and headed back outside. He sat Michelle on her feet and held her hand, trying to get her to walk. She lifted her leg up, but set it back down. She bounced slightly as she smiled at her brother.

"Come on, Munchkin." Shawn sighed. "We've got to go to the store before they close."

Shawn walked down the sidewalk, but he didn't talk much to Michelle. Instead, he listened as she babbled every once in a while. Too much was on his mind to focus on one thing. Tears welled up in his eyes, but he forced them down.

Stop it Shawn Patrick Hunter. He scolded himself. Don't cry. You're better then this.

Clutching his sister tightly, he ignored the ache in his heart, choosing to be strong for his sister in this unfortunate situation.

What a pity Shawn Hunter's life was becoming.