After getting dressed and myself ready for the day, I casually stepped downstairs to find the house surprisingly quiet. There was no sign of Mom, Michael or Bethany anywhere. The only other person I could manage to find in the house was Hailey, who was preparing a quick breakfast for the two of us in the kitchen before the others' awaited arrival.
"Finally, you're awake!" Hailey greeted me as she spotted me approaching the kitchen doorway. "How was your beauty sleep, Captain Grumps A Lot?" She teased pouring herself some milk into a bowl of what I assumed to be cereal. I noticed that there was an identical bowl sitting a few inches beside her on the table which I also assumed to be mine since no one else seemed to be home, to my dismay...
I glared at her in annoyance as I returned my focus back to her snarky remark towards me. "Very funny, Sargent wakes a lot!" I snapped back as I entered the kitchen . "Can't you go one day without trying to wake up the entire household!?"
"No Sir, I cannot!" She joked with a small smile. She then placed down the milk carton shortly after as her expression became more serious. "But all jokes aside, I kinda had to since practice is in approximately two hours from now and you still hadn't gotten out of bed!"
"Yeah, yeah..." I rolled my eyes as I took my usual seat at the table. "Speaking of which, where's Mom, Michael and Bethany? I thought they were gonna be home today..?"
Hailey listened to my concern as she walked over to the fridge with the milk carton in hand and stored back inside. She then turned to me once again and replied, "They were.." shutting the refrigerator door beside her promptly after.
Making her way back to the table, she continued, "But the three of them got up early this morning, saying they had somewhere to be."
"Somewhere to be?" I questioned in shock. "Where the hell could Mo- I mean they..." I quickly corrected myself. "..possibly have to be at such short notice..?"
Hailey took a seat across from me at the table as she replied, "Well, Dad said he had an extra class he wanted to assist with today and Mom went out with Bethany to run some errands she said she needed to take care of. They said it would be better for us if they weren't home during practice so we could focus more, without any distractions from any of them." She chuckled at the last part. "Isn't that sweet!"
I looked at her stunned, but didn't reply.
"I, of course, told them that they wouldn't be a bother if they'd just stayed home with us, but they insisted so, I decided to just leave them be..." Hailey went on, but I could barely pay attention to what she was saying as I got lost in my own thoughts..
"Just great..." I thought to myself in frustration. "She really decided to leave us home alone..on today of all days... Don't you know I need you right now, Mom..."
Hailey seemed to notice my sudden distraught expression as she trailed off. "...Are you ok, Zander?" She asked in a concerned tone. "You seem a bit zoned out.."
I quickly looked up at her as I broke out of thought. "Oh..yeah, e-everything's fine.." I lied with a slight stammer in my voice.
I avoided eye contact with her as she gave me a doubtful look in regards to my response, but she didn't further question me on it. She instead decided to change the topic by saying, "Well then, how about we start digging in on some breakfast, shall we!"
She then gently pushed the identical bowl across the table towards my direction, a sight that looked all too familiar to me...
"I got us your favorite cereal!" She beamed with a smile. "Grape Lord Bites!"
I looked down at the bowl of cereal before me in horror as my mind immediately began to trace back to a heart-aching memory I wish I could forget...
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11 years ago...
It was a bright and sunny morning that day, but it sadly didn't feel that way for my family and I at the time...
I was sitting at the kitchen table alone, desperately wondering where my dad could possibly have been for the third time that week, while my mom was preparing breakfast for me at the kitchen counter.
Her back may have been turned to me, but I could see the look of tiredness in her face. She used to get so sleep deprived whenever dad wouldn't come home from work..
Her eyes were bloodshot from the many tears she had shed during the past few days. You could vividly see the dark circles forming underneath them..
But despite her current state at the time, she still managed to greet me with a warm smile on her face as she approached me at the table, with a small, lilac bowl in hand.
"Morning sweetie! I'm so sorry that breakfast still isn't much today.." She looked away from me as she frowned. "I haven't had much time to go grocery shopping as yet.." She remained silent for a brief moment, then returned her gaze back towards me, trying her best to muster up another smile for my sake. "I hope you don't mind settling with a bowl of your favorite cereal again..!"
She then placed the bowl down on the table as she gently slid it towards my direction across the wooden surface, just like Hailey had done not too long ago...
"It's ok..." I replied keeping my eyes fixed on the bowl of cereal before me. I then looked up at her curiously and asked, "Where's Daddy..?"
Mom's face immediately dropped as her bright smile turned into a frustrated frown once again. "...I wish I knew that too..." She muttered to herself with a heavy sigh. "I honestly don't know sweetie..." She replied to me sadly, but her face soon perked up a bit as she gave me a small reassuring smile. "But he'll be home soon...I promise!"
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I soon snapped back to reality as the memory slowly faded from my mind. I slowly pushed the bowl away and got up from my seat. "T-Thanks for the cereal Hailey, but I'm really not that hungry..." I lied with a slight crack in my voice.
She looked up at me surprised as I began to leave the table without any further explanation. "A-Are you sure..?" She asked after a moment of stunned silence.
"I'm sure!" I retorted a bit annoyed as I stopped and turned to her. "I'll just..." I quickly scanned the area for a brief moment and spied a few granola bars sitting on one of the counter's to the left. I immediately walked over to them and grabbed one as I turned my attention back to Hailey.
"...have a granola bar for breakfast!" I laughed nervously as I waved the bar in my left hand. "Yeah, that..sounds good..." I muttered as I lowered my arm and returned to my usual expression, my gaze shifting onto the floor below me.
Without another word from either one of us, I began to make my way to the doorway and exit the kitchen. I could feel Hailey's concerned eyes on me as I turned away from her, but I couldn't bring myself to look back at her.
"You know you can always talk to me right.." I immediately froze at the front of the doorway as Hailey's sudden statement caught my ears. "If something's bothering you..." She continued in a sheepish but caring tone after a moment of silence.
I looked down slightly at the floor again and remained silent. "Yeah..." I finally managed to reply. "T-Thanks Hailey..." With that said I continued to walk off and headed out the door, leaving my sister even more concerned than she already was...
"Something's bothering him..." She thought to herself in worry. "I wonder why he won't tell me..."
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A/N: Hello again people who have somehow found this fanfic! I'm so sorry for how long this chapter took. I had a lot on my plate trying to get another fanfic done before the end of last month and it was pretty time consuming so I didn't have much free time to work on this.
But hey, it's here now and I really hope you enjoyed it! Not sure when I'll have chapter 2 out, hopefully a not as long as this took..😅 (again so sorry) Maybe in the next week or two depending how long proofreading takes me (yes I've already finished writing chapter 2 😎). It'll be updating this story on Saturdays from now on moving forward so be sure to look out for future chapters every week when the day arrives! 😁
If you met any of my readers from fanfiction.net, I'm sure they can tell how bad I am with following through on assigned upload dates and how often late I am with chapters.. 😅
But anyways thanks again for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter! ^^