Anatomy • Eddie's daughter

Cry, Lie, and Almost Die

18

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──
I ain't scared of death,
I'm scared of losing you
── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

Jo got home that day to an empty house. Since her school wasn't that far away she just decided to walk. Chris was still at his after-school program that ran till 7, so the house was hers until Carla dropped Chris off.

She couldn't help but shake the conversation from earlier but she always didn't want to bring it up anymore.

She didn't really have much to do. Besides the mound of homework from the past 4 weeks, breathing down her neck. Although it sounded a good idea when she started digging through the papers, it quickly died out. So now she sat in the kitchen trying to decide whether she wanted to eat or just watch TV until her father got home late tonight. After almost no consideration she walked over to the couch and laid down, turning on the TV, and falling asleep 20 minutes later.

She must have been tired cause the next thing she remembered was Carla softly shaking her awake, and the faint sounds of the TV playing.

"Hey, sweetheart." Carla whispered while brushing a few pieces of hair back. "I just wanted to check on you before I head out. You alright?"

Josie sat up and bawled her hand into a fist to rub her left eye. She nodded and leaned in for the hug Carla was giving. "Was school good, Love?"

Josie connected eyes with her and she could instantly tell her question was genuine. "It was alright, Carla."

"Just alright?"

Jo doesn't answer her question, instead, she just lets it float in between the two. Carla pulls from the conversation and grabs her purse that sits on the armrest of the long couch.

"I'll see you tomorrow Josephine. Have a good night. Chris is all settled in his room." Carla calls out as she leaves. Jo kinda just sits in the living room alone for a little while. It's about 7:45, so Chris might be getting hungry.

After she decided to stop sitting in a puddle of loneliness she stood up and walked down the hallway to Christopher's room, leaving the TV playing.

Chris's soft voice makes whispers that bounce off the walls of the quiet house. Once she makes it to his room she lightly knocks on the door, pushing it open in the process. "Hey, Buddy. How was school?"

Chris turns to her excitedly. He slowly starts walking over to her and engulfs her in a hug. Jo wraps her arms around his back and hugs back. Chris pulls apart first and then uses his desk to walk over to his legos. "It was good. We had pizza and brownies!"

Josie genuinely smiles at her little brother. "Does that mean you're not hungry?"

Chris moves about his Lego area, giving Jo a short nod. The whispers come back as he makes two of his Lego people talk to each other.

Jo used to do that with her stuffed animals. She had a little pig and a lion who were best friends. She stopped playing with them and threw them both away after she brought them for show and tell at school and some kid bullied her for having stuffed animals.

Jo walked out of the boy's room and into the kitchen where the TV was still playing the news and her phone was buzzing over and over. She really wasn't in the mood to talk to her friends, even though she should.

She decided against it and went to move to the fridge to try and muster up today's dinner, which would most likely be half eaten, and then put in the fridge for Eddie or Chris.