The Adventures of Jones & Walter

Blast to the Past

This part of the story contains mention of death, abuse, alcoholism, cancer and smoking. If you are not comfortable with any of the mentions above please skip over this chapter.

23/07/2003

Mumma is gatting worse. Shes more sick than before. Dad still drinks and fight with mumma.

The sound of a beer bottle shattering in the kitchen rang through the thin and broken down walls with yelling soon after. Seven year old Jones shot his head up at the sound of his door creaking open. A little girl wearing a torn Princess Tiana dress walked in. Jones closed his journal and tucked it under his pillow as she ran to her brother and sat on his very broken and scratched red race car bed.

"Mommy and dadda are fighting again." Small tears appeared in her eyes and Jones hugged her tight as more crashing sounded outside in the kitchen.

"It'll be okay Atlas." He hugged his sister tighter as the screaming and breaking bottles got louder. Atlas' tiny sobs sounded through the hallowed walls as the sounding of slaps joined in with the mix of bottle breaking and screaming. Slowly Atlas' sobs faded away as she fell asleep in her big brother's arms. Jones moved his sister out of his arms and set her head on his pillow, wrapped his torn up blanket around her then his arm to give her extra warmth. The sounds of bottles breaking faded as he also fell asleep staring at a very well kept poster of a rocket on his wall.

The sun shone into his room through his cracked window. Jones quietly got out of bed while trying his best not to wake his sister. He slowly opened the door to his room and walked out into the hall. Read stained carpet lined the floor with multiple corners torn up to reveal the concrete underneath. Wallpaper peeled off the walls as he avoided the piles of beer bottles and glass on the floor. A man only to be his deadbeat father laid on the couch, TV still on and a one-fourth of a beer bottle left. Jones tiptoed to the kitchen besides the living room and started looking through the cupboards for breakfast. He opened the final cupboard and found a few rats trying to get into an Eggo box. He shewed them away and popped two Eggo's in the toaster. While they cooked he looked in the fridge, beer, tomato sauce, more beer, syrup! He grabbed the bottle of Aunt Jeremiah syrup and set it on the table right as the waffles popped. He grabbed two paper plates and put one Eggo on each. Once the Eggo was on their plates he set them on the three legged table and went to wake up Atlas.

"Atlas honey, breakfast is ready." She turned over at Jones' voice and groaned while sitting up. Jones walked out of the room as Atlas got up. He went into the kitchen, slapping pieces of bread together with a few beans in between. Atlas sat down at the table and ate her Eggo, still wearing her Tiana dress. After Jones threw his lame excuse for a sandwich into his scratched up bag before sitting down and eating his Eggo with his sister.

 Atlas was still way too young to go to school, being only three, so sadly he had to leave her with his 'father'. Once he was done he cleaned up his and Atlas' plates he put on his snagged red jacket and his worn out, passed down for generations converse.

"Do you remember what to do if something happens?" Atlas nodded as he put his hand on the knob of the front door.

"Call the wee woo"

"And what's the number for the wee woo?"

"9-1-1!"

"Yes. Now, can I get a hug before I leave?" Atlas ran into Jones' arms and hugged him. They stayed like that for a while before Jones let go. They exchanged goodbyes before he walked out of the door to school. It was always a few minutes walk, but to Jones it felt like forever. He liked to look at plants and animals on the walk to school. Today though felt different in some way, maybe it was the dead possum on the road, or there were more cracks in the sidewalk, or maybe he stopped to pet a black cat named Charcoal, but something didn't feel right in his guts. After a while more and more kids started joining him on the sidewalk as they approached the school.