New beginnings

Chapter 4

Contains a little bit of gore and alcohol use.

About an hour later, Sarah had came out of her bedroom. She was clean from her recent shower and wearing her pyjamas. She strode into the kitchen. Fidd was topping up his cup of coffee. Tate had woken up and was resuming with his drawing.
"Fidd get in the shower and when you get out I'm gunna fix up your back" she demanded.
"Fine but watch Tate please, i don't want him hurtin' himself on those compute parts" he huffed and put his coffee cup down.
"Of course, now make sure to get rid of that shirt it's covered in blood"
"Get rid of it? It's the only shirt I have"
"You can have one of mine, I'm sure I'll find one to fit ya. Your skinny enough" she chuckled. Fidd then walked past her, down the corridor and into the bathroom.

Sarah walked into the living room to see Tate fully concentrated on his drawing.
"What ya drawin'?" She asked as she sat down beside him.
"A computer" he was fully engaged in his drawing he didn't even look up at her.
"Could I take a look?" She smiled.
"Okay. But don't mess it up. It's for my pa" he carefully handed it to her.
"Wow. This is a good drawing. You did this all by yourself?" She smiled down at him. It was a classic representation of a four year olds drawing. Parts out of proportion and full of untainted imagination.
Tate nodded his head full of pride.
"I gotta colour it in now" he said reaching up, trying to grab the sheet of paper.
"What colour are ya gunna make it?" She gave the paper back to the child.
"Green" the child replied as he began to messily colour in the drawing.
"A green computer, huh. Never seen a green computer before"
"My pa can make one"
"I bet he can" she smiled down at him.

Moments later Fidd returned, he had a huge towel wrapped around him. From his shoulders down to his knees. He didn't want Tate to see the scars.
"What you two doin' in here?" Fidd entered the room. His hair still wet.
"Tate's showing me his drawing" she got up from the couch. "Tate you stay in here for a while, okay? Me and your pa are going to be in the kitchen" she patted his head.
"Okay" his happy little voice squeaked. She smiled down at him before escorting her brother into the kitchen.

She sat Fidd down in a chair.
"You can drop the towel from your shoulders now" she said as she pulled a bottle of gin from the fridge. He did just that revealing his scarred body and arms.
"What's the gin for?" He looked over his shoulder waiting for his sister to freak out at the sight of his torn body.
"Well your gunna be in some pain- JESUS CHRIST!" She yelled as saw his body. She placed the bottle on the counter as she ran to inspect his wounds.
"You didn't tell me she did this much damage!" She exclaimed while searching his body.
"P-please, can we just get this over with?" He snivelled.
"Oh, okay. It's fine, they don't look bad. barely noticeable" she tried to make the situation better but was failing. Fidd knew these scars were permanents and ugly, he had to face them everyday, from the moment he woke up to moment he fell asleep. He just tried his best not to blubber over them, he didn't want Tate to hear him crying. Sarah grabbed a pair of tweezers and the bottle of gin. She pulled up a chair and began to pluck out a shard of glass from his back. Fidd flinched in pain and grabbed the bottle of gin. He took giant gulps before his sister prized it out of his hands.
"Geez Fidd take it easy, I barely touched ya" she had a shocked expression on her face.
"S-sorry, living in a house with an alcoholic makes ya have a taste for it yourself" he looked down at his feet.
"Fidd it's okay but just pace yourself, you got Tate to look after remember" she gave him back the bottle.
"I know, I promised myself the day he was born, I would never get drunk as I did the night Tate was conceived. Heck the only thing I remember was waking up beside Sam and the next thing I knew she was pregnant" he tried to joke about it but he was deeply filled with despair.
"Okay, just watch yourself" she said, starting again on his back.
He whimpered, flinched and gave out some small screams all the way through the painful process.
Sarah constantly apologised.

After an hour of gruelling pain it was over. His back was once again covered in blood but at least the glass was removed.
"Thank you Sarah" he whimpered trying to regain his breath.
"Don't mention it Fidd. I kinda wished I didn't have to do it" she got up from her chair to grab a cloth.
"Are we done yet? I'm gettin' cold" he shivered in the soaking towel.
"I just gotta clean up your back and then we'll be finished" she sat back down behind him and wiped at his back with the wet cloth.
"There we are, all done" she patted his shoulder. He quickly pulled the towel back around his shoulders and walked into the next room to check on his son.

Tate was only the floor playing with Nancy.
"Hey darlin'. You play nice. I'm gunna be back in just a moment" he smiled from the door way.

Sarah helped find him a shirt for him to wear as Fidd was still shaking on the bed. She pulled out a blue blouse.
"This should do" she handed him the shirt.
"You just have to rewear your pants and trousers unless you want a pair of mine aswell?" She chuckled.
"Ha. Ha. Very funny" he said in a sarcastic tone. She just smiled and left him to get dressed.

About five minutes later he appeared in the living room. Tate and Sarah were playing on the floor.
"You know I think blue is your colour" she laughed as she looked up at him. Fidd just rolled his eyes at her and sat down beside them.
"I finished my drawing pa" Tate handed him the piece of paper.
"Wow. This is good" he patted the child's head. Tate looked up at his father and smiled happily.
"Why were you yelling?" Tate's little innocent voice squeaked.
"Oh um, I-I I fell over and h-hurt my knee. I'm ok now" Fidd looked up at Sarah and shrugged.
"Uh, Sarah what's for dinner?" Fidd tried to change the subject.
"Dinner? I um, I usually bring home left overs from the restaurant but cause I came home early I, uh, I don't have much too cook with" she shrugged.
"Oh, I could try to rustle something up. You'd be surprised with what I could make with just an egg and a slice of bread. You liked my fried egg sandwich didn't ya Tate?" Fidd rustled Tate's hair.
"No, it was sticky" Tate replied.
"Well that's because ya broke the yolk, cause you kept playin' with it and not eating eat like I told ya" Fidd looked up at Sarah and rolled his eyes in a comical fashion.
"Well, I'm siding with Tate. I'll just order pizza" she got up from the floor and walked into the kitchen to retrieve the phone.

Fidd could hear her talking to the man on the other end of the phone.
"FIDD, WHAT DO YOU WANT!?" She screamed from the other room.
"Tate you want a cheese pizza?" He looked down at his son.
"Yes" his little voice squeaked.
"CHEESE!" He yelled back.
There was no reply, except the murmer of conversation between Sarah and the pizza man.

Soon she returned into the living room.
"It will be about 30 minutes" she sat down beside them.
"How's your back feeling?" She rubbed his shoulder.
"I'm fine just a bit sore is all" he looked at her with soft kind eyes.
"Good" Sarah smiled back at him.
Then Nancy strolled past them and sat next to Tate. He looked up and smiled at her.
"Kitty!" He cheered as he aggressively patted her on the head.
"Tate, play nice" Fidd grabbed hold of his hand and moved it nicely over Nancy's fur. "Do it like this" he instructed as he moved his hand over Nancy. Sarah just smiled at him. She knew he loved Tate with all his might. He was a brilliant father. He endured years of suffering, abuse and torment just to make sure Tate had a roof over his head. At that moment she made  a promise she would do all she could to help her brother ensure that he would keep Tate.
"How about we play a game, you know while we wait?" She suggested.
"Alright, what game were ya thinking?" Fidd pulled away from Tate's arm and watched him closely as he continued to slowly stroke the cat.
"How about eye spy. I know how much you loved that game growing up Fidd" she smiled.
"Okay I'll go first, um I spy with my little eye something beginning with...T" Fidd grinned looking down at his son.
"Hmm what could being with T?" Sarah pondered tapping her finger on her lip. Tate had an expression on utter concentration until it hit him.
"TATE. My name begins with T" he giggled.
"Yay!! You got it" Fidd cheered as he picked up his son up into the air and back down again.

They played for a long while until there came a ring at the door.
"That's the pizza" Sarah got up from the floor and answered the door.
"That's 5.99" the stranger at door said. Sarah took out her purse and handed over the money.
"Thank ya, very much. You have a pleasant evening" her sweet southern charm put a smile on the delivery mans face.
"You to miss" he had a huge smile on his face before leaving the door.