Transient Equilibrium

⇌5⇌

So sorry about the late update...I was in Tennessee and had no access to internet or 3G. Hope you enjoy even though it's a bit late!
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Arwin~

They took my dad. My dad. Of all the people In the world they had to take him. The one person who truly loved me. The parent that I was closest to. The friend I always had. The one who didn't care what I did wrong because he wouldn't love me any less. The one who was there for me. The one who took me and Adrian places just by ourselves. Adrian. I had forgotten all about him while I was weeping for my father. I jerk upright which causes a look of concern to drape over Theo's face.

"What's wrong?" he asks.

What's wrong? What's wrong? There's about a million things I could list for you right now... "Adrian." I say.

"Oh no," he says, "Did he go into work today?"

"Yes." I reply as tears start to well up in my eyes. I can't believe I forgot about Adrian. My twin, my other half.

"Not Adrian too!" my mother wails.

"Shut up mom!" I scream at her, "Just shut up!" She bows her head and I feel bad for snapping at her when she must be hurting too.

"I have to go get him." he states plainly.

"No!" I urge him, "You can't go! They'll just take you too! I can't lose all three of you today."

"I'll go." my mother says, apparently having listened to us. Neither of us put up an argument so she gets up and storms out the door. That simple.

"You really should have let me go." he says.

"No. They would have taken you and then you'd be of no help. She's a woman, and she's too old to be useful. They will barely bat an eye over her." I rebuttal.

"That may be true," he says, "but you shouldn't have yelled at her like that. Your mother is a good woman."

"Ha!" I chuckle, "A good woman."

"She is."

"Whatever."

We sit in silence, neither of us quite sure what to say. I look up at him, suddenly conscious that I'm curled around him with my head resting in his lap. He is absentmindedly stroking my hair that is matted with tears. I quickly grow self conscious about how much of a wreck I must look like right now. He looks down at me, noticing the shift in my stance, and smiles, forcing a stupid grin to spread over my face as well. Two, broken people, smiling away awkwardness in the face of tragedy. We hold each other's gaze for a long time; a bit too long to be a casual moment. I feel my heart quicken and am sure he must hear it because of its roar in my ears. When did this happen, think to myself. I cannot be falling for Theo. He's my best friend. Especially not now.

He shifts and opens his mouth as if to say something, but decides against it and quickly closes it.

"What?" I inquire.

"Nothing." he says suppressing a grin.

The moment returns sullen when we hear a cry from someone nearby and reminds us of Adrian. Saliah, puffy-eyed and red-faced comes down the stairs as she is about to go into work, but stops when she sees us on the floor.

"What's going on, what are you two doing here?" she questions

"Long story," Theo says, "You're not going to work today."

"Uh, is there something happening today that I need to know about, something important?"

"Maybe."

"Like what?"

"We don't really know what."

"Like heck you don't." she snaps, "I heard them haul dad out this morning, so don't act like you don't know anything."

We sit with mouths agape at her declaration, unsure of how to respond.

"You knew?" I ask incredulously.

"Yeah," then after a long pause, "You weren't going to tell me." She says as a sparkling river forms above her bottom eyelid.

"I never said that." I retort although I know it's true. I would have stalled as long a possible.

Tears start to spill over onto her cheeks and I wave her over to us. I sit up and she curls into my lap as she let's go of the wave of emotion she had been holding in. So that's why her eyes we're puffy and red.

Theo sits awkwardly beside us and I only now realize how much he had to pull it together to be able to sit here with me while I was crying. I look over at him and mouth the words, "thank you" and he nods in response. We wait until my mom bursts in the door, Adrian in tow, and only then can I breathe. I run to him and envelop him in my embrace, inhaling his smell of pine wood and laundry soap.

"Good grief," he says, always the joker, "I was only gone for an hour tops." then finally relenting, "I missed you too."

"Shut up," I say as in slug him in the arm, "I thought they'd take you."

"They about did," My mother says, "They were in the building next to his."

"See Adrian," I say, "I did have a reason to be worried."

"They wouldn't have gotten past my..." he pauses for effect as he strikes a karate-like pose, "MY NINJA SKILLS!"

"They took dad." Saliah breaks in matter-of-factly, effectively ruining the moment. The room falls silent as it sinks in with Adrian.

"We need to leave," Adrian says. "They'll come after us when they realize we didn't show up for work."

"And where do you think we're going to go?" my mother snaps at him.

"I know a place," Theo supplies, "I'll go grab my family." He walks out the door and comes back with Xander, Holland, and Lana, and the planning begins.