A home, a family, a dream

Ūndecim{TW}

{TW: Mentions of suicide! "Detailed" panic attacks! "Detailed" experience of depressive a "episode"!

It is throughout this chapter so it is persistent so proceed with this knowledge}

The cool breeze hit Shinso's pale cheeks like a whirlwind, his violet short hair dancing on his scalp. His small hand was enveloped by a larger older hand, giving off a safe warmth. His father. He donned his police uniform, briskly walking along the sidewalk, making small talk with his son. He had deep dark circles around his grey eyes, indicating sleep loss.

"—and then we learned how to type on the computer! I typed my name out, dad!" Shinso bounced around with a large smile across his face, his purple backpack jumping up with him.

"That's cool, Toshi. Tomorrow can you type my name?" Masato asked the excited boy.

"Yeah!" His eyes sparkled with happiness. "I can even do Mama's!"

Masato's smile fell a little. "Y-yeah. You can type mom's name, too. Uh... What else did'ja do today?"

"Oh! I drew a picture of Mama!" Shinso stopped, taking his hand away and slipping his bag off. He unzipped it, pulling out a piece of paper. He held it up for his father to see. "Mama is dressed as a pretty angel in heaven! She has the tie dyed handkerchief I made for her, too!" It was a crayon drawing of a stick figure, being his mother, with misshapen wings, a large white dress, a colorful band around her head, and a halo. There were hearts scribbled on and in messy handwriting "Mama."

"I... I see that, bud. Mom would really.... love it....." Masato's smile turned sour, twisting itself into a ruthful frown. He looked away so his son wouldn't see.

Shinso put his bag back on but left the drawing out to keep it close. He grabbed back onto his father's hand. "Dad?" The elder male pulled on a fake smile and looked down at his son. "Can we go see mama after you're done with work? You promised last week but you didn't take me... I wanna go see Mama, dad."

"Um.. Yeah. I get off at six tonight. We can go see mom and pick up some dinner. I ultra plus promise."

"Ultra plus promise!" The seven year old fist pumped the air with a large grin.

The indigo haired male tried to smile through it all. He really did. But it was just so hard. He had to stay strong for his son. He was all the boy had left.

But its been two weeks of fake smiles and built up tears. He had to hold it all in for the sake of his son. Its not like he could just breakdown in the sanctum of his own home, either. They lived in a small two bedroom apartment. One room, the master bedroom, was Chizuru's room as it had all of her medical supplies and many medications, out of reach from Shinso. The second room, a smaller size than the master, was where Masato and Shinso slept.

Even though its been a couple weeks, Masato still hasn't cleaned out her room. He's been staying close to his son as much as possible to ward off any tears or nightmares in the middle of the night. But that does not stop his nightmares. He hasn't slept in half a week, but he has to keep going. He has to.