EETSWA / Chook

𝕭𝕴𝕽𝕯 𝕻𝕾𝖄𝕮𝕳𝕺

Flashback age fifteen:}>}>}>}>}>}>}>}>}>}>}

Chook held his arm around me as I sobbed, offering comfort as we watched my mother be wheeled out on a stretcher, sheet over her face, the ambulance team passing me with pitiful looks.

Not long after they'd left a person from child services walked through the front door asking questions I couldn't answer, Chook stepped in and answered them best he could but when the lady asked if I had any relatives Chook glanced to me, he lied for me that day, saying we were related and that I could live with him, that he'd sign the papers to get it done.

Cash had been living with Chook for awhile now after being put through so many homes, his mother had been hooked on ice while my mother was a raging alcoholic, it was the thing that killed her, choking on her own vomit in her sleep, her body to drunk to do anything about it.

After the lady had left Chook knelt before me grabbing my arms and giving me a soft look

"You're okay now Hibiscus, I'm going to take care of you" I believed him giving a nod in acknowledgment to what he had said.

Chook helped me pack my things, I found myself staring at him often, he was in my room packing objects and clothes into boxes that he'd found in my garage, we'd all met one another at such a young age, all three of us bonding over our home life, children of addicts, I broke the silence as I spoke up for the first time in awhile

"I've wanted to live with you guys for ages now" I remembered being a kid and getting to see them go home together after our play dates wishing I could go with them and not back to my house, to my mother.

Chook gave me a smile as he heard me speak, placing the item he held into one of the boxes he came up to me

"And now you can" he whispered as he pulled me into a hug soothing the pain away, I grasped his shirt, I never wanted to let go.

End Flashback:}>}>}>}>}>}>}>}>}>}

Stretching awake I tried to blink the dream away, my mind betraying me as I remembered that day.

I'd been staying at Cash's house with Nan, taking on his job to look after her while he was in the pen, not wanting her to be alone and not wanting me to be alone had worked out.

Me and Nan got along really well, an old lady with a young heart and a young lady with an old heart, we balanced each other just right.

It was the beginning of the second term already, the holidays having flashed past, I hadn't visited him in those three weeks but I knew I needed to stop by at some point to collect more stuff as I was running low on clothes, Nan had offered to come with me on many occasions saying she could put him in his place but I had politely declined, not wanting her to fight my battles.

Sitting up and out of the floral old lady doona bed I decided to make it in hopes that I'd be starting my day off good, the words of my father from when I was young sticking with me, 'If you want to make a difference in the way you're day plays out, start by making your bed.', I knew it was just a bunch of bull that my dad would spout so that I'd have a tidy room but even now after his death I tried to uphold just that small part of him.

Getting dressed in some of my last fresh clothes, a simple grey hoodie and denim skirt, I walked into the hallway being greeted by Nan's drama tv blasting through the living room

"Good morning Nana" I spoke as I walked into the kitchen beginning to make breakfast for us, even though she was only blood related to Cash she insisted that I was also family and to call her Nan, she understood that I had no family and had anointed herself personally as my grandmother, it warmed my heart to know she cared so much even though she was a real tough nut