Matt Casey's nieces and nephew

Chapter 4

Casey was a light sleeper, especially since he had been living alone. He was also used to getting up early and he rarely slept in. He always thought it had something to do with his job; he was constantly on alert. Not to mention that the house was old so the floors and stairs creaked and the door knobs were squeaky. He heard one of the girls the minute they had opened their bedroom door. He thought they might have to use the bathroom, but then he heard one of them go down the stairs however as they went down he realised it was both.

He could navigate the halls and stairs without making much noise and they were too distracted with their own thoughts to realize they had woken him up. Casey wasn't sure if he was curious or worried, maybe both. He stopped a couple stairs down and watched the girls.

Ellie and Grace were in the living room sitting on the bay window ledge and staring out into the empty street watching the sun rise. Grace had her knees curled up to her chest with her arms wrapped around them. Whilst a Ellie was cross legged with her arm around herself. Even from the staircase he could see that they were crying a bit.

He descended down the stairs and crossed the distance from the bottom of the stairs to the living room rather quickly. He was quiet and the girls didn't notice him until he was only a few feet away. They stared at him for a moment before wiping away their tears which were streaking down their face. Casey sat down between the girls and he pulled his arms around both girls into his arms.

"What's wrong Gracie, Ellie?" He asked as he rested his hand on their necks. "Come on sweethearts, talk to me."

"I'm scared." Grace mumbled into his chest with fresh tears falling which made Cassie look at Ellie. "We've never been in this situation before."

"You've got nothing to be scared about. I'm not going to let anything happen to you guys."

They we're silent for a few moments before speaking again. "We lied to you." Grace tells her uncle looking at Ellie her twin.

Casey frowned and pulled back a little to look down at them. "About what?"

"About Mom," Ellie said with a pause. "And Dad" Grace says.

His frown only deepened. "What's going on?"

"Mom finally kicked Dad out about three months ago when she decided to get sober. She was doing well until he called. He told her he wasn't using anymore, had a steady job and that he missed us. So she went to meet him for dinner and was gone all night with him. They came home together drunk and he was all beat up from some bar fight over drugs. He needed a place to stay and she gave it to him. It went back to the way it's always been and we couldn't take it anymore so Ellie, Jake and I left."

"What do you mean you left?"

"We packed up all our stuff one night and took off in her car. They were on another bender and we had a good twelve hour start when she first called."

"You drove here?" Casey exclaimed. "That's a thirty hour drive, how did you get the money?"

"We worked this summer and we saved because we were planning it."

"Planning to leave?"

She nodded. "They were never going to change. You don't know how bad it got sometimes."

"Why didn't you just call me and tell me then?"

"We tried," Grace said. "We figured you'd talk us out of it but if we showed up in Chicago maybe you'd see how desperate we were to get away."

"So how did your Mom get out here?"

"She flew out here and met us at the hotel. She showed up and we knew she was probably drunk or high but she actually broke down. She said she ruined everything and all her progress and she wanted to get help this time. She told us you were going to help and begged us to get in the car."