Behind The Mask

Ch. 2

I can see the emotion in his eyes. The pain, the anger, and even a hint of guilt. He just looks so vulnerable.

"I think we should get you upstairs. You are in no state to be taking care of children right now."

He doesn't reply. He just nods. I help him up then lead him to the stairs. We walk down the hallway and I open his room door. He plops down on his bed and stairs at the wall in front of him.

"Why?" His voice, barely a whisper. "Why would she leave me?"

I don't respond, I just stare at him. I don't think he wanted a response from me anyways.

"I loved her."

He lays down and I can see he is crying again. Tears roll down his cheeks.

"It will be okay. I will watch the children tonight, get some rest." I tell him.

And with that, I walk of of the room. I head toward my room and I walk in to see Josh talking to Cassie.

Uh, oh. Josh may be a jokester, but when he cared about someone, there was nothing to stop him in protecting them.

I see him, infuriated. I quickly rush to him and stop him from barging into Frank's room.

"JOSH! You need to calm down!"

"What do you mean calm down?!? He yelled at Cassie! A little girl! Not only that, he brought up her parents. He hurt her!"

"I know! But he is in no condition to be in a discussion like this right now. He is really depressed and he just needs some time."

"No freaking kidding he isn't in a great condition! HE'S DRUNK!"

"Look! I know you're mad but you won't solve anything like this. Frank is a really good guy, he is just in a hard time."

I can tell Josh is slowly calming down. He knows I am right.

"I know," he replies.

"But it has been almost a year and a half since she left. How much more time does he need?"

"I don't know." I answer truthfully.

Moments of silence pass. I realize that Cassie is still in the room. I go close to her.

"Cassie, would you like to help me make dinner?" I ask her.

She stares at the ground as if there were something of interest on it.

"We could some mac and cheese?..." Macaroni and cheese was Cassie's favorite.

She quickly hops off the bed. She nearly drags me out of the room. I have to stop her quickly to say something to Josh.

"We will talk to Frank tomorrow. For now, let's just take care of the kids."

All three of us head downstairs to start dinner. It ended up really tasting really good. After Josh and I finished cleaning up after dinner and making sure everyone was in bed, we went to bed our selves. We were the oldest kids in the house so it was okay.

I walked into my room and quickly got into bed. I was so tired from the day that I quickly drifted asleep.

~|~|~|~|~|~

I wake up the next morning, sort of tired.

It is only the second day of school, Blake. I thought to myself.

Josh and I wake up all the other children and make sure they are taken care of. Then, we head to school.

We go to Westpeak High School. It is just an average high school. Nothing really to it.