Our Little Family (COMPLETED)

Kick Me While I'm Down

It got later and later and Strum never came home. The police were out looking for him. Zoe sat up in bed crying while Evan held her close.

There had been so much going on at work that she hadn't spend much time with her family lately. Evan knew the pain she was feeling and shared it.

Oakley couldn't sleep either, he wanted to feel bad for what he said to Strum but he couldn't. It had been years of him building Oakley up to tear him down. Finally, Oakley reached his breaking point.

When the morning came Oakley rose for school. He didn't expect Strummer to actually leave. He began to blame himself for all of it. He made his way downstairs to see Zoe and Evan sitting at the kitchen table with tired faces and broken hearts.

Though they never said anything, Oakley felt as if they were blaming him. The teen refused to make eye contact with his parents until it was time to go to school. He walked with his head down and his backpack felt overly heavy today.

As he walked to the main doors, Russell stood there with his arms crossed. He looked angry and ready to start a fight.

"Hey Tree hugger"! Russell yelled as Oakley tried to avoid him

"W-What"?

"I hear you won Homecoming King... how the hell did that happen"?

"I-I don't know. I got the most votes I guess".

"I think you should step down. You don't deserve that title. I especially don't want you going with my sister".

"I'm sorry Russell... I can't deal with this right now". Oakley spat trying to move him out of the way.

"Hey Oak! Wait up"! Cohen yelled from behind Russell.

"I wasn't done with you, tree lover"! Russell roared

"He was done with you. Go hug a landmine". Cohen sneared

Cohen ran to greet Oakley at his locker.

"Hey, you seem upset. What's up, is your Mom trying to be eco-friendly again"? Cohen chuckled

"No, and that wasn't my Mom. That was my Dad. My Mom just kept trying to make everyone in our house eat healthy.... That was until Strummer went out and bought a whole bunch of snacks for our bedroom to put in a secret stash".

"Oh... well, if that's not the problem then... what's up"?

"Strummer ran away". Oakley said quietly

"What?! When"?

"Last night. He's still not back. Mom and Dad are losing it and even if they won't say it, they're blaming me... I know it".

"I don't think they're blaming you. I've been your best friend for over a decade. Zoe and Evan are like my second parents, I know they wouldn't just blame you for something you had no control over. You didn't know Strum would run away".

"I don't know".

The bell rang interrupting the boys conversation. Oakley headed to his first period, Chours. Strummer is in this class too or... he should would've been.

"Strummer Hansen"? The teacher called out

A kid raised his hand and said

"I heard he ran away"!

Oakley sat in silence as guilt took him over. No one knew Strummer was Oakley's brother in this class. Maybe if they knew, they wouldn't have said what they did

"Yeah, he's a pussy. He couldn't deal with coming from a rich family so he ran away from his problems".

"Wow, he thinks he has it so hard. If I want something I have to buy it myself, I can't just ask my parents for something and them just give it to me".

"Us normal people have to deal with so much, then you have people like Strummer who lives on attention and whenever he doesn't get it he has to do something crazy to get it".

Oakley felt his blood boil. Even if he was still very upset with Strummer, he was still his baby brother. He couldn't sit back and listen to this anymore.

"WELL MAYBE IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT WHAT YOU HAVE BUT WHAT YOU DON'T! JUST BECAUSE MY BROT---STRUMMER COMES FROM A FAMILY THAT'S DOING WELL FINANCIALLY DOESN'T MEAN EVERYTHING IS OKAY! MONEY DOESN'T EQUAL HAPPENNESS"! Oakley yelled running immediately to the bathroom.

He sat against the wall and sobbed. God this is all his fault. After all of these years, you'd think Oakley would be used to how Strum is. While he was busy having a mental break down, someone entered the bathroom.

It was Sam, the student council kid. He looked somewhat nervous.

"Oh my gosh, Oakley! You're just who I was looking for".

He must have completely missed the fact Oakley wasn't doing okay. Maybe if he noticed, he wouldn't have said what he did.

"So... I hate to be the one to tell you this but... there was a miss count for the votes. It turns out you didn't win King.... I'm so sorry! I got last place confused with first"! With that Sam ran out of the bathroom leaving Oakley in more of a mess.

There was only one thing to do now. Run to his Mama aka, Text Zoe and beg that she come and get him.

"Mama... I wanna come home... I can't do this anymore".....