Saving Ant and Sarha

Bad News

Today was Thursday. That meant that in precisely three days Ant and Sarha would be gone. Ever since they were told this on Monday all three of them had been understandably upset. They would spend every night together in Dec's room talking about anything. Anne had gone in multiple times to check on them and would find Sarha sleeping next to Dec in the bed while Ant occupied the floor.

School was no different. Ant and Dec still hung out with Stephen, they just weren't as happy as they were before. Stephen knew something was up but he just couldn't bring himself to ask what. Sarha was also saddened. Even though she was somewhat new to the school and didn't have that many friends, she was still going to miss staying with the Donnellys.

Anne and Alph called the rest of their kids to stay for a couple of nights. They could only stay on Tuesday and Wednesday since they were busy but it was better than nothing. Everyone was there except for Camelia. She was away at boarding school and since it wasn't vacation she couldn't make it home.

********

After school Ant and Dec decided to pick Sarha up from school. When they arrived at Atkinson Road Primary School they saw Sarha sitting on a bench outside, swinging her legs and looking around. When her eyes landed on Ant and Dec she ran to give them a big hug.

"How was your day?" Ant asked as they began walking.

"It was good. The principal made an announcement about me leaving and so my class is throwing a going away party." she said with a hint of sadness.

"That's good, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess." They decided to just leave the conversation as is and walked the rest of the way home in silence.

When they arrived at home they saw once again that their dad's car was in the driveway. He was home early for the second time. This just had to be luck. They walked in and dropped their backpacks by the stairs. They walked to the living room and saw Anne and Alph sitting on the sofa talking. As soon as they saw them they instantly stopped and stood up, looking at them with an unreadable expression on their face. For some reason they all had this feeling of deja vu; they were both waiting for them when they walked in the room, the solemn looks on their face.

"Hi dad." Dec said uneasily.

"Hey there, Sport." greeted his father with a smile. Dec furrowed his eyebrows. Something was off in his father's voice.

"Dad? Is everything okay?" Alph sighed, guiding Dec to the stairs with his hand.

"Why don't you go wait in your room for a bit while I talk to And and Sarha, okay?" Dec looked at his mom and saw her nod. He then looked back at his dad, hesitating before reluctantly trudging up the stairs. 

Anne then cleared her throat and the two kids looked back at her. Alph sat back down on the coach and Ant and Sarha followed his gesture. Anne sat down as well so that both of them were in between them.

"There is no easy way to say this," started Alph, "but your mother was in an accident."

"Is she going to be okay?" Such an innocent question. Alph looked up at his wife sadly before replying.

"No," he answered, "she passed away." Ant and Sarha's eyes widened, their mouths agape.

"But...how?" Ant managed to croak out.

"She was driving and she...well..."

Sarha's normally soft eyes darkened. "She was drunk, wasn't she?" Although she already knew the answer to that. She leapt to her feet and ran up the stairs.

"Sarha!" Anne called, but she didn't listen. Ant soon followed after her. "Ant!" He didn't listen either. She got up to follow them but Alph pulled her back down.

"Let's just give them a little space." he suggested. Anne nodded.

Sarha ran into her room and collapsed on the bed, sobbing. Why was she so upset? This was, after all, the woman who had beaten her, majority of her life

Meanwhile in Dec's room, Dec was dealing with a very quiet Ant whose face was buried in a pillow. When he first walked in he had this blank expression on his face. The first thing he did was lay down and stuff his face in the pillow. He didn't even bother to change his clothes or take off his shoes.

"Come on Ant," begged Dec, "please say something." It took a while but Ant finally lifted his head and looked at Dec.

"My mom...dead." he whispered. Dec hugged him.

"You know it's okay to cry. I won't say anything." Ant nodded and let a couple of tears fall. Dec didn't say anything, he just held him.

********

"Sarha?" Sarha looked at her door.

"Go away!" she screamed  in a high pitched shriek. Dec went against her wishes and walked into the room anyway. He just barely missed a pillow being thrown at his head.

"I said to go away!" she growled. Dec took in her appearance. Her eyes were red and puffy, her cheeks slick with tears.

"Sarha-"

"GET OUT!" she roared and next thing he knew, Dec was being shoved out the door. In one swift movement, he twisted Sarha around and pinned her wrists to her sides. Using his foot, he closed the door.

"I'm not leaving until I'm sure you're okay."

In a flash, the angry little girl who had been yelling at him not moments before became a broken one. She slid down the wall in a heap of tears and pulled her knees to her chest, taking shaky breaths.

Dec sat down next to her. He placed his hand on her shoulder and she instantly collapsed into him, burying her head in his chest.

Dec stared at her for a moment before doing what he did with Ant and pulled her into his arms, letting her cover his shirt with her tears.

"It's going to be okay." Five words that he heard many times in his life, but this time he wasn't so sure.

********

Dec opened his eyes and saw he was still in Sarha's room. He didn't know exactly what time it was but he knew it was late. He looked down next to him and saw Sarha fast asleep, dried tear stains on her cheek.

He nudged her gently with his elbow. All she did was turn her head and continue sleeping. He nudged her again a little harder this time.

"What?" she mumbled.

"Come on." he pulled her up to her feet and she leaned heavily against her. Normally it wasn't hard to get her to his room but it is a little difficult when you're half asleep and you have almost dead weight leaning against you.

Luckily he made to his room. Ant was still asleep, where he left him, with his school clothes and shoes still on. He led Sarha to his side of the bed and laid her down before going to Ant and taking off his shoes and sweater.

When he was finished he turned off the lights, whispered goodnight, and shut the door, going back to Sarha's room. His plan was giving his room to Sarha while he slept in hers. He knew they needed to be together tonight.