Seizing Change

Andre

I woke up to an alarm going off.

I sit up and look at my phone, 4:43, Dads alarm shouldn't be going off for another fifteen minutes, and he doesn't work today.

What the hell.

The alarm stops but I open my door to see what's going on and meet my Dad in the hallway.

"What is that?" I ask him rubbing my eyes.

"Its just Tyler's seizure alarm, its ok go back to bed." He mutters and rushes past me into Tyler's room, Gloria not far behind him.

I stand there in a daze for a few seconds before going back to my room.

I didn't fall back asleep after that.

After laying there for two hours staring at the ceiling, I got up and got dressed. Then I didn't know what to do. I haven't been up this early all summer.

I open my door and walk down the hallway stopping when I see movement in Dads room.

I look in the door and notice him putting on his uniform.

"I thought you were off today." I ask knowing full well he wasn't supposed to work today.

"Ya I got called in to finish off a shift. One of the guys is sick. Don't worry, I'll be home after supper."

Fuck that, if he gets to leave so do I.

"Well I'm going to hang out with some friends then."

"Andre, I really wish you would try to put in some effort. I think this is going to be really good for us."

You mean good for you.

"If your not sticking around I don't see why I should have to." I argue knowing full well I'll just sneak out after he leaves anyway.

"Fine, just be home for supper ok?" He sighed and grabbed his keys.

"Why I never had to be before." I know I'm pushing it but I'm still not ready to just back down and accept this quite yet.

"Andre, there's going to be a lot of things that are going to change. Now I at least want you here for dinner every night. I Expect you to still act like your a part of this family."

Act.

There it was.

I hate how he expects me to just pretend this is a normal situation.

"This isn't a family. As much as you want to pretend it is. She's not my mom and that dude is not my brother. They never will be. So I can play along with this game all you want but its still not going to change anything." I shot and shoved my hands in my pockets.