Don't you just love the number 14?
———
Zak's POV
I quickly run out the door, my backpack hanging over one shoulder. I realized that I had to be home to help my moms sister and her family settle in, as well as taking care of Mia.
Mia wasn't supposed to be home alone for more than 5 hours, and since my school day ended after 6, and my mom left an hour after I went to school, I was in charge of taking care of her when Zarro didn't get there first.
Fun fact about Mia, she hates Zarro. But my school ends at 14:00 (2 PM) and I usually rushed home right after. That is, on days I went home.
So now here I am, running down a road. I only somewhat knew this street, as I've been here only once before. But it's ok, because after a few minutes I made it down the road and was now running towards my street.
I pant as my running starts to slow, but I pick up the pace again right before I start walking. I'm now jogging. After a couple minutes, I made it to my road.
I start walking, out of breath. My feet hit the dirt sidewalk as I walk, my weight shifting from left to right. I sigh when I finally make it to my door.
I swing it open, walking inside slowly. I kick off my shoes, hearing the tv on beside me. I look to the side, seeing Zarro watching some show while eating cereal.
"Where's Mia?" I ask hesitantly. He looks at me, probably angry for interrupting his show. "She's sleeping in her room. You would've been able to see her if you didn't take so damn long to get back here," he says angrily, taking another bite of his cereal.
"Sorry, my school let out late today," I lie, and then turn towards the stairs. "Your moms family is coming in half an hour, wake Mia up and put her in something nice, and wear something other than a hoodie for gods sake!" he says before I walk away.
I immediately run up to our room, and put my backpack on my bed before looking at my hands. They were still wrapped from when Darryl did them, but I figured I could just wear gloves. I slowly unwrap them, leaving the arm wraps on since they wouldn't be shown.
I open my drawer and pull out the fingerless gloves I have, slipping them on. I then open a different drawer and grab a long sleeved black shirt.
I take off my hoodie and undershirt and slip on the black shirt. I keep on the same pants I had on before, and then leave my room. It's take about 2 seconds before I'm at Mia's door. I open it, only to find Mia on her bed crying.
"Mia! What's wrong?!" I say, running over to her. She automatically latches onto me, and I sit down on her bed while she hugs me. "You weren't home! Zarro wouldn't let me make any food and mommy forgot to make my lunch today," she sniffs, still hugging me.
"I'm so sorry Mia, I was caught up with my friends, did you eat breakfast at least?" I say, about to be really angry. I feel her head shake on my shoulder and anger fills my eyes.
"I'm sorry, did you get any sleep?" I ask, thinking back to what Zarro said about Mia sleeping. She pulls away from me and shakes her head. "No, Zarro just dragged me up to my room and told me the door was gonna be locked," she says, sniffing again.
I was now furious. First off, nobody fed her. And then Zarro told her complete lies, because the doors in our house don't even lock. But the anger leaves my eyes as soon as I see Mia's face.
She looks terrified and tears are still slowly falling down her face. I give her a sad expression before getting off her bed. I walk over to her dresser, pulling out one of the only dresses she has along with some black tights.
I walk back over to her and lay the outfit down on her bed. "Okay Mia, I know your sad, but we still have to get ready." I say in a calm voice, and she nods, wiping her nose on her sleeve and swiping away her tears with her hand.
She walks over to me and I help her get changed into the dress, and she insists she gets the tights on by herself. I let her, even though in the end I had to help. When she's all done I sit her in front of a small mirror to do her hair.
Since she doesn't have any hair clips, I choose the most colorful hair ties I can find. I put half her hair up in a ponytail and then braided it, repeating it with the other side. I've done Mia's hair since she was around 18 months old, so by now I knew all the hairstyles she did and didn't like.
The hairstyle I chose was one of her favorites, and I did it to cheer her up a little. "Okay Mia, why don't we go downstairs now and wait at the door to greet auntie?" I say, and Mia gives me a sad look.
Rachel, my moms sister, had 5 kids. Three of them were older (12, 14, and 15) and two of them were younger (4 and 6). Sadly, the younger two stayed in Mia's room when they came over, and Mia hated sharing her room. The 12 year old was also pretty violent, and tended to bother Mia a lot.
Some other bad things about Rachel and her kids coming to our house were the fact that the 14 and 15 year old had to come to my highschool since they were old enough (and they stayed for usually a month or so), and the fact that sometimes there's so much arguing that you can't even hear your own voice anymore.
Though, we still have to deal with them. I give Mia a happier look. "It's okay, they're only gonna be here for a month or two, we can survive that, right?" I reassure her, and she just nods, yawning.
I pick her up and rest her on my hip. She automatically places her head on my shoulder, obviously tired. Small amounts of anger towards my family still stay in me, though.
———
Around 10 minutes later, both Jake and my mother have arrived home. They were rushed the entire time, trying to clean the house. But somehow, I managed to make a sandwich only getting yelled at once.
When I finished making the sandwich I sat Mia on the couch and let her eat it. The tv was off now, and I wasn't allowed to turn it on because you could only use it for small amounts of time during the day (we didn't have enough money to use it full time) and Zarro just so happened to use up all that time.
But Mia finished the sandwich without a word, and I managed to get her to stand next to me in front of the door, waiting for the guests to arrive. Of course, it was my job to greet guests, and I couldn't leave Mia, so I had to keep her near me at all times.
And finally, after 5 minutes of waiting, the door swings open. In the doorway, stands Rachel and all 5 of her crazy kids.
Quick break: I sat here for a while wondering if I should leave this with a cliffhanger or continue, and you all should be glad I decided to continue.
The oldest (15) was on his phone with only a single duffel bag in his hand. The second oldest (14) was just staring angrily at something. She obviously didn't want to be here. The middle child (12) was getting held back by his mom so he wouldn't go running to who knows where. The second youngest (6) was crying, and much like his sister, seemed as though he didn't want to be here. And then the youngest (4) actually seemed somewhat calm, and was just staring at the ground.
Well this was gonna be a great two months.
My mom then comes running into the room. "Zak! Did you at least greet the guests?" she says, panting while staring at me. My eyes widen a little. "Oh! I'm sorry," I say, turning towards the guests. "Welcome?" I didn't mean to make it sound like a question, but it did, and that's when the family fell apart.
The 12 year old get let go by his mother, and went running around the entire downstairs, finding random things to play with. The two teens stayed in the doorway, looking at the oldest's phone. The 6 year old went after his brother who was running around. Rachel went to talk to my mom.
And now there was only three people in the doorway, yelling in the background, Mia latched onto my leg like if she let go she would die, and a 4 year old, who has now come up to me. "Hi Zak!" she says slowly, trying to pronounce it correctly.
Her name was Mika, and she was the calmest out of her whole family. Surprising, right? Well, it's true. She's also the only one other than me and my mom who Mia actually communicated with. I could feel Mia lose her grip on me a little.
"Hello, Mika. Would you like me to take your sleeping bag for you and carry it to Mia's room?" I say, seeing how she has both a backpack and a sleeping bag and is about to drop it.
She thinks for a second, trying to process my sentence, before nodding and handing me the sleeping bag. I use this as an excuse to take Mia upstairs.
I hoist her onto my hip, swinging the sleeping bag over my shoulder. I slip past my mom and Zarro screaming at the smaller kids and up the stairs. I reach Mia's room automatically, as it's at the front of the staircase, and walk inside.
Mia's room was small, and only had a bed, dresser, and some stuffed animals. There was also a small mirror, but it was so small it could fit in a pocket, so it didn't do much.
I walk over and place Mia on her bed, and she lays down, her head slapping down on her pillow. I take out Mika's sleeping bag, and start unwrapping it. I put it in the usual corner it goes to, leaving enough room so that they can fit another sleeping bag and still walk.
I glance over at Mia, who's now starting to fall asleep. I take this as my cue to leave, and slip out of Mia's room and towards my room. I walk in and automatically walk over to my bed. My bed is right next to the wall, and it's more of just a mattress on wood, there's no backboard. But that means I can sit against the wall whenever I want, and that's what I do right now.
I then feel my phone vibrate in my pants pocket. I forgot I even put it there. I pull it out, seeing a message from Darryl.
Darryl: Hey, I wanted to make sure you were good since you kinda just ran out earlier.
17:34 PM
Zak: yeah I'm all good, thanks for asking.
Now
We message each other for around 5 minutes before I get called downstairs and tell him I have to go. I stuff my phone back in my pocket and walk downstairs. Somehow, everyone is somewhat calm. The two teens are on the couch, still looking at the phone, and the other three are at the small round table we have, probably waiting for food.
"Where's Mia?" my mom asks, sounding a little angry as to why I didn't take her with me. "Sleeping, why?" I say.
She narrows her eyes at me, and goes to talk. "And I'm not waking her up, so don't even get started," I say, glaring at her. She glares back before sighing and turning towards Jake. "Did you make the Mac and cheese yet?" she asks him, and I walk over to the kitchen to get a glass of water. I hear him scoff.
"Uh, no. Zak told me he would do it this morning," he says, and my eyes fill with anger. That was a complete lie. I wasn't even here this morning! Angry, I ignore him and go back to getting water, but my quiet doesn't last long before I hear my mom yell even though I'm two feet away from her.
"ZAK! DID YOU MAKE THE FOOD?!" she screams, and I exit the kitchen. I stare back and forth between her and Jake. "Not yet, I was working on it now.." I say once I see Jake glare at me.
Then I go on to starting to make food I didn't even agree to make.
———
You thought we were done? Hah! Nope!
Darryl's POV
After Zak stopped texting me, I got pretty lonely. I eventually turned on the tv and watched random shows that were on at the moment. But it got pretty boring, so I thought more about the moments from earlier.
Why would Zak cut? Did he have another mental breakdown? But he never acts like that, so who made him like that?
Questions swirl in my mind, and I only get pulled out of my thoughts when I hear my phone ring. I pick it up, realizing it's my mother. "Hello is this Darryl Noveschosch?" I hear an unfamiliar voice say on the other side of the phone. "Yes..." I reply skeptically. (Ha, get it? Skeptically. No? Okay-)
"Well I'm here to inform you that your mother got into a very bad car accident, and may not survive."
———
I guess I said earlier I wouldn't leave it on a cliffhanger, but I had too as it's the only thing that gives me motivation to write. Anyway, I didn't expect this chapter to be so long. I wanted to originally make it 1400 words for the 14, but that didn't work out for me. Anyway, hopefully you enjoyed this long chapter.
Expect more angst. After all, what's a story without angst?
(Im gonna start adding this new thing at the ends of chapters)
Thoughts?- comment them here.
Constructive criticism?- comment it here.
Ideas? (book ideas or chapter ideas)- comment them here.
Word Count: 2457