As Far as Love

Chapter 4

It was the same dream as always. His family was all sitting in their drawing room. His mom, his dad, him, his little brother, his older brother, and his two younger sisters.

They were chatting about nothing in particular, and they were all happy. Before.

Alex's mom and little sister laughed at something his younger brother, Auggie, said.

That was when some of the staff ran in, looking frantic and glancing around the room. The butler started shouting, "Fire! Fire! There is a fire in the parlor! Evacuate!"

 His family all jumped up. His mom ran up to get his youngest brother and as always, his little sisters trailed behind. Their dog, a collie, ran up behind them, but Alex's dad ushered the three oldest boys all out the front door.

Andrew, the oldest kid, took over from their father and shoved Alex and Auggie out the door, while their father ran after his much-loved wife.

As 9-year old Alex looked at the house with his two brothers, he heard his father calling, "Rose! Rose?!" Suddenly flames shot out of the Windows and doors of Alex's childhood home.

Suddenly his father ran out of the flames with their littlest brother, Aiden who was two months away from turning one in one arm, and the oldest daughter, Tess, who was seven, in the other arm. 

The three oldest children were all thinking the same thing. Mommy and Trinity were still in there. There was a loud scream that came from the house accompianed by a dog's pitiful whine.

Andrew, who was only twelve, started foward, but their father held them back.

Alex just stared. And he kept thinking one thing only.

MommyMommyMommyMommyMommyMommy.

TrinityTrinityTrinityTrinityTrinityTrinity.

The rest was all a blur. The house burned to the ground. With his mom and Trinity in it while his family just watched. Neighbors came to say things like, 'sorry' or 'I feel so bad, I wish I could have helped you.' 

But little Alex knew better. They didn't really mean what they said. It was all just meaningless words.

But Mommy and Trinity were gone.

Then little Alex got an idea. He started to walk around the house, thinking that maybe mommy and sissy had escaped. As he was walking he heard the whispers of Auggie and Tess. They were always whispering since they were twins. Andrew was shouting at Alex's dad for not letting him go after his mom.

Little Alex walked around the whole house but saw nothing. His mommy and sister were dead. This thought kept turning over in his mind.

As he got back to where his dad and brother were arguing, and his little siblings were all staring at them, he sat down and out his head in his hands. Tears rolled down his cheeks, and he didn't even make an effort to stop them.

Then the dream changed as always. They were on the boat that brought them from France to England. That was the sad part of his life. Andrew pretended like nothing had happened, and went on to talk to the sailors and learn how to command a ship after talking to the captian.

His dad did almost nothing. He barely even took of Aiden. The other kids looked out for themselves. Author and Teas whispered all night and all day about anything and everything and wandered the ship.

But you could always catch them up on deck watching the sunrise and sunset. They never missed one.

And Alex agreed, they were beautiful, all those colors mixing together above the turquoise waters.