Distorting Destiny

Tears & Tea

They wobbled as they copied the movements of their parents, who were hovering as they walked. Their father was holding their hands as they set their feet down on the padded floor. It was a huge deal where they covered the floors with anything plush to stop them from getting hurt when they started pushing themselves up and falling. Lloyd's mother was holding that weird object that released smaller thin objects that took their attention.

They stumbled, but their father kept them from the floor and they regained their footing. They stared at their mother backing up through the hallway as she held the object, then to the blanket-covered floor. "Mama!" They whined as she kept getting farther away.

"You can do it, Lloyd!" She cheered as she moved the object away from her face for a moment.

They rushed their movements, and they slipped completely from their father's grasp. They fell on the plush blanket- it had been a fall, yet they didn't want to cry over it. Yet it was as if all the parts of their mind agreed that crying was a necessary reaction, they let out a wail as if they'd just hurt themself. Tears were easy to come by for them as they trailed down their cheeks in seconds.

They felt themself be fussed over as their parent's voices tried to enter their ears. Warm hands brushed their arms and legs as they searched for any injuries, but they wouldn't find any. They kept crying, loud and with their entire body. It hadn't been a big deal and they didn't know what made them so upset.

The worried noises of their parents managed to get through to them once their throat had started to hurt from all the crying. "Why's he-" They heard the voice of their mother begin to get worked up as she fretted over something she didn't know how to stop.

Lloyd listened as the noises of their mother stopped for their father to begin on his. "I-" His noises were harder to focus on as they were crying, little noises coming from their mouth still. "Lloyd, Lloyd." He kept repeating their name, hoping to gain their attention.

They tried to see their father through their eyes which were blurry from the tears. The pale of his skin was easy to spot, along with the context they gained from their ears. "Dada?" They almost choked as they spoke, their throat was sore.

Arms picked them up off the floor, gripping them tightly as they went through the halls. "You're okay, Lloyd." The calming voice of their father assured them as he carried them in more of a hug position. Footfalls indicated that their mother was close behind them, and they shut their blurry eyes as the tears slowed down their descent.

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Their mother made gentle shushing sounds as they lay in their crib, petting their thin head of hair. "It's okay." She assured them as her green eyes met their red ones. "You're okay, Lloyd." It was so refreshing to get that from her, she was around but Lloyd couldn't shake that something was off. As if she wasn't motherly enough, not that they really understood what that meant.

They shifted their attention to a creak that came from the chair in the corner by the paper doors. Their father had seemed to have just sat down, exhausted. They scrunched their face up the best they could in confusion, which only made their mother's shushing noises multiply. Were they really crying for so long that their father was tired? Surely they fell asleep at one point. Their mind was pretty blurry though.

Once they relaxed their face the shushing lessened. Now, as they analyzed their mother's expression, they saw that she too was weary like their father. They hadn't worn themselves out apparently while crying, but instead their parents. They had that pang of guilt, like when they didn't want to try the peach purée and their mother broke down sobbing. Lloyd had made their parents miserable by having their crying fit. They had to fix this- fix themselves. So they vowed never to cry for no reason again.