Where Will I Go

13||Styrofoam plates

Thirteen years old in the suburbs of Denver
Standing in line for thanksgiving dinner
At the catholic church. The servers wore crosses
To shield from the sufferance plaguing the others
~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Alex, bring Lester with you to go stand in line." His mother said, ushering Lester towards the brunet.

Alex rolled his eyes at his ignorant mother, before he and his younger brother walked over to the line, to wait for their thanksgiving dinner at the catholic church. They both grabbed the styrofoam plates that were on the side, as well as plastic forks and knives.

"Don't we have enough money for our own thanksgiving dinner?" Lester asked.

"Yep." Alex nodded. "Our parents don't understand the concept of family." He said, his tone sounding bitter and leaking of venom.

Lester nodded, his already gloomy mood becoming even more depressing. He looked down at his feet and shuffled them slightly.

Alex noticed his brother's dampened mood, so he rested his hand on his upper back, rubbing small soothing circles in between his shoulder blades. The line started moving faster, and soon enough one of the servers was plopping mashed potatoes on Alex's plate. Alex scrunched up his nose at the sight of gooey white mush, which was soon accompanied with the rest of his dinner.

He left the line to go find his mother who was sitting at one of the cafeteria tables, his brother soon following.

"When is Jesse arriving?" Lester asked, as the two boys sat a few feet away from their mother.

"I don't know." Alex said. "Hopefully soon."

Lester nodded, and returned his attention towards his food.

The two boys' mother glanced at them from where they were sat feet away from her. She looked slightly hurt, and the expression didn't go unnoticed by Alex. However, he could care less about his mother. In his mind, she didn't deserve his love or a family of her own. Not after when all she did was abuse it and refuse to protect it from a dangerous (and rich) alcoholic.

Something about Alex that almost everyone knew about him was that emotions never went unnoticed by him. Whether you were sad, frustrated, upset, lonely, angry, overjoyed, happy, excited, or anything at all, he would know how to recognize them. And he also knew how to achieve them out of other people. So, to him, it was a no brainer that his younger brother had clearly been more depressed lately.

The brunet couldn't help but feel as if it was his fault that Lester felt that way. He wanted to help him, but he wasn't exactly sure how. He and his younger brother, unlike most siblings, got along really well and were actually great friends. So Lester never rejected Alex when he would come into his room, and Lester was often more than welcome into Alex's. And the reason for that was so Alex could talk and try to cheer Lester up, although it was never very affective.

Alex felt Lester nudge his shoulder. He looked at Lester, and the younger male nodded his head in the direction of where the door to the church was. Alex's glance followed Lester's gestures, to where he saw Jesse entering the room.

The eldest's eyes searched the whole room, probably looking for his brothers. Alex waved his hand in the air, trying to get Jesse's attention. When Jesse finally noticed the obvious signal for him, he smiled at his half siblings and walked over to the table. He didn't bother getting food.

"How're mah bros" he asked, grabbing Lester's fork and stealing one of his peas.

The youngest of the three glared at him, but Jesse just laughed shortly, before ruffling his hair playfully.