Broken

Chapter Three: New Beginnings Part-Three

Sandys' P.O.V. Thursday Morning  

 I look at my watch for the third time since Richard walked out. I figured he would go outside, cool off a bit, and then come back in but it's been twenty-five minutes and I still haven't seen him.  "Why couldn't you just be happy for dad? Why did you have to argue with him?" Danny says as he gets up from the table.  "Danny wait," I call out to him but he storms out. I press my fingers against my temples trying to relieve some of the headache that suddenly sprung up.  So much for a nice family dinner. Maybe I am being too tough on Richard. I should find him and tell him I'm sorry for the way I acted.  "It's okay mommy. Danny will go get him and everything will be okay," Lana pats my arm lightly and I nod my head.  "You're right. How about we go outside and wait in the car for them?" I say cheerfully.  Lana let's out a yawn, "Yeah. that sounds good to me."  I put money on the table for our food plus extra for the waitress. She was nice to us and I was being so rude to her. I don't know what's gotten into me lately. I guess I'm just too stressed out with the move and job hunting. I just wish I could make it up to him somehow. Lana and I slowly walk to the car. She's more tired than I thought.   

Dannys'  P.O.V. 

While Lana and Sandy wait in the SUV, Danny is looking around for his dad. 

"Dad?!... Dad, where are you?!... Dad?!..." I call out in hopes dad can hear me. I start to get frustrated with mom for making him leave. Why can't she just be happy for him? I wish we didn't move. It seems like everything was okay when we were in the city. 

"Dad?!..." Still nothing. Maybe he went back inside when I came out. 

I hear a car door open and an all too familiar laugh. I turn around to see my dad getting out of the backseat followed by the waitress. Why would they be in the backseat of a strangers car? Dad starts zipping up his pants and buckling his pants. 

The waitress picks up something from the seat and starts stepping through them. Her underwear? Why would she have taken them off in front of my dad? 

After she pulls them up, she straightens her skirt and tucks her shirt back in. As she's buttoning her shirt, dad wraps one arm around her, like he does with mom, and pulls her into him. He kisses her for a couple of seconds before she pulls away. 

No! He's only supposed to do that with mom!

They talk for a minute before they kiss, she walks back to the diner while dad stands there smiling. 

He looks around before spotting me. His smile suddenly falls, "Danny? What are you doing here? Where's your mother?" 

I wanted to say something to him but nothing came out. I know he sees the disgust written on my face but I can't stop it. He kissed another woman! This is wrong. All of that just seems so wrong. 

Dad starts to walk towards me but I can't deal with him right now. 

I just can't. 

I take off running. I can hear him calling out my name but I don't stop. I run until I get to the car. I grab the handle, throwing the door open and jumping in. 

Mom turns around in her seat to look at me, "Sweety, what's wrong?" 

"Nothing," I snap back.

She gives a big sigh before speaking again, "Look, I'm sorry for the way I acted in the diner."

I cut her off when I see dad round the corner, "Just stop mom. I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to talk to anyone about anything, okay?" 

She turns around her seat and doesn't say another word to me. Dad gets in the car, he looks at us nervously before starting the car. I watch as mom reaches over, grabbing his hand in hers. She caressed his hand with her fingers. That gesture alone makes me sick to my stomach. 

"I love you, honey," She says softly.

"I love you too, baby. Forever and ever," dad tells her. and now I feel it. The familiar feeling of everything turning in my stomach and I heave forwards. 

Okay... Yep...I'm gonna throw up. 

As soon as we pull into the motel parking lot I take my seatbelt off and grad the key card from mom. The car is put in park but I am not. I throw the door open without even thinking I run to the motel room as fast as I can. I can't be around them right now. Everything in me is telling me I need to tell mom about this. 

I think I will. 

As soon as mom and I are alone I'm going to tell her everything I saw at the diner. 

I throw the door open to our room and jump onto the bed face first. I put my arms under the pillow as my face sinks into it. Mom comes to my side and places her hand on my forehead, "Do you feel like you have a fever?" 

I pull away from her before she has time to see my hot tears, "Leave me alone."

I feel her slowly get up from the bed. 

"Is he okay?" Dad asks.

"He doesn't feel hot to me. But obviously, something is wrong for him to throw up in the vehicle."

If only you knew mom. You'd be sick at your stomach too. 

"Well... I'm gonna go clean the SUV. I'll be back up when I get done."

"Mom, can I come with you? I don't want to stay here with them if he's sick..." Lana says are grossed out. I want to tell her to shut up but I can't face mom. 

"Yeah you can come with."' Mom and Lana leave the room, leaving me alone with HIM...

"Son, I think we need to talk. What you saw back there... It was nothing-."

"Nothing?" I turn over to face him, "Dad, that was not just NOTHING. You... You kissed another woman... You... You're supposed to be with mom."

"I am with your mom. I love your mom very much."

I dryly laugh, " If you love her so much then why would you do something like that knowing it's going to hurt her?" I spit back.

"And that's exactly why you're not going to say anything to her about this. It'll tear this family apart. Your mother and I will get a divorce. They'll split you and Lana up. You don't want to do that do you? Do you want to be the reason this family is torn to shreds?" He talks like this is all my fault. 

Is it? Is all of this my fault?

If I hadn't told them that I was being bullied at school then we would have never moved from the city. We wouldn't be going through all of this. 

Oh my gosh... It IS my fault. 

I put all of this stress on them. I made us move. I stressed mom and dad to the point where they're fighting and I caused dad to do those things at the diner. 

No...

I don't wanna be the reason they leave each other. I don't want to lose Lana. My tears well up in my eyes just thinking about my baby sister not being here to bug me. 

"Dad, I don't want you and mom to break up. I don't want Lana to leave and never come back," I can't help the tears escaping. I tried to hold them back. 

"It's going to be okay, son. As long as she doesn't find out about this we will stay together... As a family," Dad hugs me tight just as mom and Lana come into the room. I get off the bed and run to mom. Just as I get to her I jump. I think she's so used to catching me and Lana, without hesitation she catches me and hugs me back. 

"I love you, mom," I say as I bury my head in her shoulder. 

"Aww, I love you too, sweetie." I feel the muscles in her arms move, hugging me tighter. Normally I'd complain about it but this time... This time I feel like I never want this hug to end. 

Lanas' P.O.V. 

I feel like I'm missing something. One minute Danny is all whiney and the next minute he's crying and hugging mom. And dad... One minute he's upset with mom and then the next minute he's telling her he loves her. 

Boys... I never understand them. 

And now I feel like I need a nap from all of this. Mommy says when I sleep the time flies by quicker. If I go to bed now then it'll be morning and I'll get to see my new house. I can't wait. Staying in this smelly room is SOOO annoying. With that thought in mind, I climb on the bed and get under the covers. 

"Do you wanna take a nap?" Mommy asks Danny. 

He shakes his head as he hugs her tighter. 

"What if I lay down with you guy? Would you want to then?" Her calm voice seems to soothe Danny. 

He nods his head and mommy makes her way over to the bed with Danny. She puts him down on the bed and crawls over to me, laying between me and Danny. Both of us cuddle up to mommy and before I know it I'm fast asleep. 

I wake up in the middle of the night to Dannys' whimpers. He must be having a bad dream or something to make him act like this. I watch as he starts balling his hands into a fist and relaxing them. Mommy and daddy are outside by the sound of their voices they're just outside of the door. 

"Danny... Danny, wake up... Danny," I start shaking him. He wakes up gasping for air as he looks around. His eyes fall on our mom and then to me. With a visible sigh, he closes his eyes for a moment. When his eyes open again he grabs my hand in his.

"Lana, promise me you'll always be here with me," He looks me straight in the eye. 

"Yeah."

"No, Lana. Promise me you'll always be here with me," Danny puts emphasis on the work promise.

"I promise, Danny."

"I promise you, I will always protect you and never let anything bad happen to you. I'll never let anyone take you away from me," He promises, still holding my hand in his. 

"What's wrong Danny?" I ask with concern. Danny has never acted like this towards me. He's always seen me as his disgusting baby sister.

"I can't tell you. It's to protect you. Please trust me," Danny sits up and starts digging through one of the bags. 

"Do you trust me, Lana?" Danny stops looking in the bag and stands up straight, his back turned to me. 

"Yes."

"Promise me," He demands. 

"I promise." 

He turns around and walks towards me with a pocket knife in hand and sits back down, "Here. Give me your hand."

"What? No!" I move my hands away from him.

"Lana. You said you trust me." I mean I did say I trust him but, a knife? Really? He's out of his mind if he thinks I'll let him kill me. 

"What are you gonna do?" I ask a little curious about his actions?

"Just give me your hand Lana," I place my hand in his. 

He turns my hand over so my palm is facing upwards. Slowly he puts the blade to my palm, "This is going to hurt a little but it'll make us stronger. We will be tied together as one. Then no one can ever separate us."

I nob my head in understanding. As the blade sinks into my skin I hiss at the pain. When he's done I feel, like I can finally breathe. I look down at my hand but I can't see it through all of the blood pooling up in my palm. 

I watch as he does the same to his palm. When he's done he grabs my hand that has the cuts on it, "Here. We're gonna put our palms together. That'll seal our bond and we'll forever be together."

I nob my head again not sure what to say to all of this. As we place our palms together the door handle moves. 

"It's mommy and daddy," I try to pull my hand away but Danny doesn't let me.

"No. You can't break the bond just yet Lana," He holds my hand in his as he places the blade under the pillow, "Act like your asleep.

We both lay down, hand in hand, pretending to be asleep. Daddy walks into the room first cursing because he never can figure out those door locks. After pretending to be asleep for so long I end up falling asleep for real. 

Sandys' P.O.V. Friday Morning

I wake up with Lana and Danny in the bed with me. I look over to see Lana in the middle with Danny on the other side. His arm is stretched across Lana while his hand grips my arm. He's not sleeping like he normally does. His body is lying in a way that makes it impossible for anyone else to get in the bed. 

Now that I think about it, I look over to the other bed to see Richard sleeping. How did all of this happen without me waking up? Did Richard wake up and Danny decided to come over here? 

I look at my watch and realize it's ten till eleven. I spring up and grab my suitcase, "Richard... Richard, get up. We have ten minutes to get ready and check out of the motel before we're charged another night... Richard."

I throw a pillow at his head, "Get up and help me." 

Richard slowly gets up and out of bed, doing his usual obnoxiously loud yawn and stretch.

"We have eight minutes to get ready and leave," I remind him again. This time he looks at his watch, curses a bit, and then starts helping me pack our things. He takes our suitcases down to the SUV as he takes our room keys to check us out of the motel. 

I wake the kids up and grab my purse, "Come on. It's time to see the new house," I try to be as cheerful as I can but I know how this house looks and I'm not looking forward to remodeling the house. Well, I'm thrilled to remodel the house. It's just that I'm not looking forward to all the money that will be leaving my bank account. 

I guess this is the price I'll have to pay to give Danny and Lana a better life. 

Lana squeals in excitement as we leave the motel. She sings the whole way there. I notice however, Danny looks so serious. Like something took away his happiness and all that's left in its path is a serious, protective little boy. 

So what do you think about Richard and the waitress? I can't believe Richard convinced Danny to stay quiet.