BLACK VOSS: ACT 1

12

It was December 24, and Andre was conflicted. After his run in with Dante, he had stayed cooped up in his room. He wasn't hiding out of fear, mostly confusion and depression.

Yelling was a trigger for him, it always has been since he was a teenager. He thought he grew out of it now that he was away from the abuse, but he was wrong. Now he is stuck in his room, being brought food and necessities.

He felt foolish, not because of what happened, but because he wanted to get his son's gifts. Even though his was just destroyed over two weeks again, he still wanted to get his boys something like he did every year. But he was stuck in his room, too depressed to go out. Luckily his prayers were answered when a knock sounded on his door.

The door creaked open to reveal Lucio, "Hey, Andre, mind if I come in?"

"No, what's up?"

Lucio stayed by the door, "The girls wanted me to ask if you wanted to go shopping with them?"

"Shopping?" Andre was confused.

"It's just some last-minute Christmas shopping," he said, "Me, Isa, Miki and Tai or going—I'm paying—and they want you to come too."

"Why?" They didn't know Andre well, and to request him to go somewhere was out of the blue.

"I told them about what happened," sighed Lucio, rubbing the back of his neck, "They wanna help you get stuff for Morgan and Remus."

Andre was taken back, "That's really sweet, sure I'll go."

"Great, I'll let them know." Lucio turned to leave, "We'll be going in about an hour, Genesis, Darren, and Xavion are staying with the kids."

"Okay."

The afternoon seemed as cold as the night, as Andre's breath became visible in the air. It was strange to be outside again, as snow began to fall. Ever since he went to stay with Lucio, he never left the house much, not that there was much to do in the cold. He was either too busy hiding out or looking over documents to think about the outside world. But there he was, huddled in his black coat, trying to use the fur in it for extra warmth for his hands.

He watched everyone leave the car, and despite the cold, he felt underdressed again. Everyone in the Voss family was dressed to impress.

Isa had a name brand coat, the wooly material was pink with a floral print. It had large buttons trailing up the coat. Tai looked fresh out of the military, with a simple designer coat vest over a turtleneck. She wore earmuffs, made of thick fluff. Lucios had a thick coat similar to Isa, but it had no buttons. Instead, it was open, and he had a checked white and black scarf around his neck.

Andre got his coat years ago, the fabric tattered and scratched. He fell out of place being with them.

The place they were shopping at was a mall, full of people who were also doing last minute holiday shopping. The place was full of green and red tinsel and streamers, and holiday music was paying over the loudspeakers.

"So, where to go first?" Isa asked.

"I need to get a new video game for Xavion," said Tai, pulling out a list from her pocket.

"And I need to get toys for my kids." Andre said, while Miki nodded with him.

"Should we split up?" Lucio suggested, "Miki, Andre and Isa can go together."

"That's fine with me." Andre said.

So, the group split, leaving Andre, Miki and Isa to wander a toy store alone. It has been a while since Andre had been shopping with people. He was thankfully Isa could keep the conversation going.