The Fall of Family

Chapter Four

The day continued as normal; boring classes, gross lunches and rumors spread throughout the school. I texted Stephanie from under my desk during almost every class, not getting caught once.

I saw the Boy in the hallway once, smiling as wide as I could to show him I liked him, he would smile back everytime. Every time I saw him, the butterflies in my stomach would flutter back and tickle me inside. I got a text from my dad during my lunch, I got a text from my dad reading "after school, come talk to me" this worried me, but I didn't reply and continued on with my day.

After the long day of being locked up in a boring brick box, I headed home.

Drew was already, home as he lives at home and drives to college everyday to study for his degree in Animal Science. He was binge watching The Walking Dead, with a bag of potato chips in his hand and his laptop, which he was probably supposed to be doing work for school on.

He released his attention from his show for a split-second to glance at me. He mumbled "hi" and continued to watch his show. I smiled at him and say "Well, how was class?" in a sort of sassy tone. I threw my backpack in the corner as I sat down next to him, cuddling into his side, at the same time grabbed a handful of salty chips and started chomping down on them.  Drew gave me a dirty look and replied "Fine, how about yours?"

I thought about if I should tell Drew about the Boy, but then I decided I should wait till a later time.

"It was fine" I said, "I got another presentation to make, but that is about it. Dad sent me a text to see him after school, do you know what he wants?"

Drew's face went white as the zombies on the screen. I immediately wondered what dad had to tell me, I started thinking of all the things he could tell me, but Drew interrupted my thoughts and said in a quiet voice, "yeah, you might want to go see him".

I felt the blood drain from my face and my stomach started to churn thinking why Drew was so worried. Drew is NEVER worried about even the most serious things, so this worried me horribly.

I put the chips in Drew's hand and slowly got up. I looked at him and he gave me a nod. I slowly started toward my dad's room, and opened the door slowly. I saw my dad on his bed, beer in hand, watching the football game on his large TV.

The lights were out and the blinds were closed. Even though it was 3:00, I saw 2 empty beer cans on the floor, and I guessed he had drained them too, but I don't know why my dad would've drank in the middle of the day. He looked at me, his eyes bloodshot and tired. He turned back to look at his TV, and said "Come sit by me".

I slowly walked around the bed, taking in the unusual surroundings, my dad wasn't like this, he wouldn't do this because he knows he would wake up hungover for work. I crawled it the queen sized bed, feeling the gap of my mother, and snuggled up to my dad and resting my head in between his shoulder and neck. I could smell the alcohol in his breath, and I almost gagged at the horrible smell.

He sighed and took a deep breath, looked up at him and saw his lip quiver and eyes swell up with tears. I refocused my gaze at the TV and listened to the almost inaudible words escaping his trembling lips. "I... I... I was..." He rubbed his forehead with his hand and finally blurted out,

"I was let go".