The Long Way Home

Eleven

I know this is super early in the story but I'm announcing a sequel!! It'll come out after this one is done which won't be for a while!

Matthew still remembered the first time he saw his parents in a big fight. It was before his and Alfred's fifth birthday party and they were both stressed out from all the planning.
"Where are zhe streamers?"
"I don't bloody know, Francis. You were the one who had them last."
"I 'aven't seen zhem since you used zhem in zhe bazhroom."
"Then they should still be there."
"Zhey're not, zhough!"
They continued bickering like that over the course of the day. It only got worse and worse with time. By afternoon they were outright screaming.
"Why don't you just do the rest of this yourself. It was you who decided to do all this shit anyway!"
"It is zheir fifzh birzhday!"
"Yeah, and I'm sure a cake and a few balloons would satisfy them a lot more than turning the house into a toddler's art project."
"It only looks like zhat because you wouldn't stop hanging balloons from zhe ceiling."
"That's it. I'm leaving."
"Fine. I don't need you anyway!"
"Fine!" Arthur stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind him.
Matthew squeaked nervously. He watched his papa sit down on the couch, putting his head in his hands.
"Papa?" He asked, waddling over to the chesterfield and climbing into Francis's lap.
"Oh, mon ange!" Francis smiled at his youngest son, hugging him close.
"Are you and daddy breaking up?"
"What? Non!" The adult laughed. "We were just competing to see who loves you two zhe most and it got out of 'and."
"If you get in a fight to prove you love me, I don't want that." Matthew sniffed.
Francis smiled, hugging his son close. "I promise we will never fight like that again."

His words echoed in Matthew's head when he opened his eyes. He was lying on his bed, on his back. It was dark and he had kicked his blankets off his body while he slept. He turned his head toward the clock on his nightstand. It read 4:37.
He sighed. It didn't look like he was going to get back to sleep any time soon.
But it was late and he didn't want to wake the others up.
So he reached under the pillow on the empty side of his bed and removed the notebook he stored there.
He still didn't know what the story was missing, but he decided that reading back from the beginning would help.
He noticed right from the start that there wasn't much mention of anybody other than the main character and his mother.
Maybe it needed more.
Maybe it needed a younger sibling to give him more of need to grow up.
Maybe he needed a friend to keep him tied to the real world.
Matthew snatched the pen from the coil spine of the notebook and started his process of character design.
About halfway through the little sister, his stomach let out a low growl. He sighed, setting down his pen and squirming out of bed.
It might have been early in the morning, but he was starving.

I'm going to my cousin's on Thursday so there won't be a chapter on Friday. I might post double chapters if you're all good, though.