The Moonwalkers

Breakfast for Five

I ended up going back to the living room since Mom and Charlene had everything under control, leaving me with no room to help. Chris was still cleaning up the pile of hair he shed after transforming. I stretched my arms and sat cross-legged on the loveseat to watch.
"So you find this fun," Chris remarked as he swept up the pesky hair. "Only I know how hard it is..."
I smirked and leaned back on the couch. "Yeah, it's fun, especially since I already cleaned up my room."
"No fair..." Chris sighed. "And this is carpet too." He brushed the last of it into the dustpan and stood up with a groan. Chris turned to look at Charles and then looked at the pan of loose fur, then back at Charles. It wasn't hard to know what's on his mind.
"Don't even think about it," I said, gaining his attention.
"How do you know what I was thinking?" Chris asked in surprise.
I gave him a deadpan look. "Because I've been seeing you since I was born."
"That makes sense," Chris shrugged and made his way to the kitchen to throw out the fur.
I snorted as I watched him leave and turned back to Charles and sighed. He literally fainted twice! But who cares, I just don't wanna stick around when he comes to.
So I made my way over to the dining room and perched myself at the table to play on my phone. There wasn't much that I could do now, right?

I helped myself to some hash browns and sausages, completely ignoring the elephant in the room.
By elephant, I mean Charles, who decided to join us for breakfast without much of a choice. He tried to argue with Mom earlier, about being kidnapped and all, but it seems like she finally lost her patience with him and just gave him a hard slap across the face. A visible handprint still stung his cheek.
Breakfast was delicious, but no one spoke through it, Charles didn't even dare by the looks of it. Well, he should be grateful. We saved him last night and he thinks we're the kidnappers? He thought wrong...
"Pass me the sauce," Chris nudged me just as I was about to fork some sausage into my mouth. I rolled my eyes and pushed the bottle over to him. "Thanks." He said and proceeded to pour a large amount of chilli sauce onto his plate and continued to eat.
It almost felt normal, like we were having breakfast as a family on a day way before Charles found that his family were werewolves. The only difference is that we weren't relating about random things or bickering about something stupid.
"Make sure you finish everything on your plate," Mom told Charles as she got up with her own plate, making her way to the kitchen.
I couldn't help but snort at that, Charles looked horror-stricken. Chris suddenly let out a loud burp, making me burst into laughter while my mouth was still full.
"Shoot..." I groaned, seeing how a piece of half-chewed sausage flew right back onto my plate. "Never mind, I'll just eat it."
Charlene shook her head and started snickering before making her way to the kitchen as well, leaving just me and Chris with Charles.
Chris got up after finishing his glass of milk. I guess that just leaves me. Why me? I inwardly groaned when I spotted Charles from the corner of my eye and turned my attention solely to the plate in front of me, quickly finishing up whatever that was left on it before abruptly leaving for the kitchen as well.
"Good that you smacked Charles just now, Mom," Charlene remarked as I walked into the kitchen. "He's finally behaving."
"He needed to know that it wasn't our fault," Mom shrugged. "That seemed to be the only way."
"Yeah, like he kept yelling at us for kidnapping him, calling us monsters," Chris added as he washed up at the sink. "He deserved that."
"I know, right?" I added. "Mom watched him all night, falling asleep on the ground too. And how he reacts? He just shoved her off!"
"And he thinks that werewolves are a menace!" Chris stepped away from the sink and motioned to me. "He's the one who acted ungratefully."
I stepped towards the sink and started washing my plate and cutlery. "Yeah, he didn't even want to listen to what we had to say. He just kept accusing us."
"Keep it down," Mom said in a low voice. "He might hear."
"Well, let him," Chris loudly countered. "Anywho... what's for lunch?"
"Seriously?" I snorted. "At a time like this?"
Mom sighed. "First we have to deal with your father."
"No point calling him that if he no longer sees us as family, Mom," Charlene remarked.
"She's right," I added. "He doesn't even see us as people anymore."
I didn't notice how Charles had come in, carrying his plate. It was odd but still made sense. He was too scared to leave his dirty plate around, maybe. Mom took the plate and was about to go over to the sink to wash it, but I stopped her and took the plate instead. I gave her a nod and motioned towards Charles. Mom nodded back and led him out with Charlene right behind her.
"You're actually washing his plate?" Chris said in surprise, peeking over my shoulder.
"You fancy Mom washing it instead?" I countered without looking at him.
"Yeah, you're right..."
I put the plate away and turned to him. "Let's go see what's going on."
Chris nodded and we both made our way over to the living room. Charles sat on the armchair, a terrible mess with dishevelled hair, while Mom and Charlene sat on the loveseat to speak to him. So that left us with the three-seater sofa.
"Before you start accusing us again, we aren't the ones who kidnapped you," Mom calmly said. "We found you last night, when we were prowling around during the full moon. Someone was trying to attack you in a lonely alleyway, so we jumped in and took them out."
"You were knocked out cold so we had no choice but to bring you home," Charlene added. "Mom nursed your wounds and stayed by your side all through last night."
"And she was a werewolf the whole time, but still treated you with such gentleness," I added. "She was so careful with you, so tender."
"But as we saw, you scream and faint at the sight of us," Chris chimed in. "I didn't even do anything earlier, just standing there, but that was enough to make you faint."
"Chris..." Mom sighed and turned back to Charles. "We don't wish to keep you here, Charles. You can leave if you want."
Charles slowly nodded, his gaze lowered, and got up. "Thanks." He muttered and walked to the door to see himself out.
"Well..." I said as soon as he left. "Does he even know his way around here?"
"I'm pretty sure he does," Chris said. "Especially since he was loitering around last night before being attacked."
"Well, at least he's okay now," Charlene shrugged, leaning back in her seat. "Let's just hope he doesn't get himself into more trouble."
Mom was silent, streams of tears flowing down her chin. Charlene scooted closer to her and put an arm around her.
"Mom, please..." Charlene crooned. "Don't cry."
"Yeah, Mom, he's a jerk!" Chris added. "Just leave him be."
"I shouldn't have smacked him, his face was still red," Mom sobbed. "Oh gosh... poor Charles."
"Actually, I feel like he deserved that," I added. "But don't worry, Mom. He's fine now. And he didn't seem like he minded that slap, that's the only thing that made him listen."
Mom nodded. "You're right. We treated him well. We rescued him too."
"We made him tasty breakfast too," Charlene added. "That means we didn't even let him leave on an empty stomach.
"Yeah, we treated him well, despite receiving the opposite treatment from him," Chris remarked. "Don't kick yourself like this, Mom. He isn't worth it..."
"I know he isn't, but I still love him!" Mom cried. "Chris, it isn't easy to get over someone we love. It's not easy to move on."
"But you have to, Mom," Charlene softly said. "He doesn't like us for who we are. You should get over him."
"I'll try," Mom nodded, wiping off her tears. "I'll try, especially for your sake."