The Pros and Cons of Walking the Knifes Edge

Chapter 13

Xavier's POV PT.2

We were both so young and carefree at the time. It was the perfect life as far as we were concerned.

I remember mom made us breakfast that morning; scrambled eggs and Smiley face pancakes. While Matthew and I were sitting at the table eating, our mom got our school bags ready for us. When we were done eating mom said she had a surprise for Matthew, and she told him to go to the backyard after he washed up. When we were done washing up I helped mom finish packing our bags when I suddenly heard Matthew laughing so I rushed to the backyard. When I got there he was sitting on the grass with a really small puppy in front of him. After that, the dog was his best friend. He named it the first thing that came into his tiny mind at the time; Maxi. Sometimes it seemed like he loved her more than his family. You never really understand how blessed you are to have what you do until one day you don't. That's exactly what happened to us.

It seemed like just a normal day. It started the same as it did everyday. Matthew and I went to the same school. But we were a few grades apart. We would get to school and I would walk him to his kindergarten class, and then I would walk to my grade 2 classroom on the other end of the school. We start the class off with reading which goes by really slowly because I hate reading. I always sat there and looked around the room. However the writing part of class was a completely different story. I loved writing, I could write all day, everyday. Math was my least favourite. Numbers always got mixed up in my head and nothing would turn out right. 

This day during math, the principle came to my classroom and asked me to follow him. We went to the kindergarten class to get my brother, i'm not sure why though. He takes us to the office where I see our grandmother sitting. She..she's crying.. She sees us and immediately pulls Matthew and I into a very close hug. Matthew thought she was crying because she was happy to see us... That's when I got a bad feeling inside me.. Something bad happened and she's pulling us out of class for a reason.. But what could happen that's really bad that we would need to be pulled out of class for.. 

"I was thinking of going for a bite to eat Xavier. How does that sound?" she asks while looking at me, tears still in her eyes. I looked at her and nodded my head "I'd like that grandma" I replied calmly so she doesn't worry more than she already is. Could something bad have happened to mom and dad? Is that why grandmas here instead of them? I can't shake this feeling that something bad has happened.. The whole time we were in the car she kept asking if I had my seatbelt on.. And if Matthew had his on. She was worried and it was noticeable. Maybe not to Matthew, but it was to me and it was starting to bother me and make me slightly worried.

We decided to eat at the diner on the edge of town. As we got close I could see coloured lights flashing in the distance. The traffic was backed up too.

Grandma was still smiling but i could see the corners of her mouth twitching, I could tell that something had to be wrong.

When we got to the diner, matthew wanted grilled cheese. I got chicken strips, grandma wasn't hungry.

"Can we get chocolate milk too grandma?" Matthew asks.

"Sure sweety" grandma said.

We were the only people there, so it was quiet while we ate. The only noticeable sound was the subtle smacking of Matthew's mouth as he chewed.

"Xavier," she started, distracted, "Matthew, sweety, please listen for a moment. There's something very important I need to tell you."