SteeleKizz, Inc

Cry for Help

Sean

Sean and Cara had been called to the kitchen by their father earlier that morning.  They’d barely had time to get up and get dressed before the call to attention.  Coming down the hallway and turning the corner to the kitchen, the daily drink of choice already sat upon the counter, whiskey.  Erick was rummaging through cabinets and drawers mindlessly, mumbling as he went along.  His speech was already unintelligible.  He cleared his throat when the chair legs squeaked across the floor.

“Any ways,” he said aloud to himself.  He continued doing a visual search as he attempted to talk with the kids.  “Uhm, yeah, we’re going to have to move before the end of the month.  Now that I’m not longer an officer, our time here on the base also comes to an end.  Get your things packed.  We’ll, figure, something out.”

Seeing that he’d spoken and no room for questions, he returned to his search for who knows what.  The kids sitting in the chairs across the counter, watching him stumbling and fumbling around aimlessly.  An ‘ah-ha’ sound came from him and he quickly swiped the bottle from the counter and headed to his office.  The click of the doorknob into the latch echoed into the kitchen, just before the kids spotted him taking his first drink of the hard liquor.

Cara looked at Sean shocked, a stray tear bubbled from her eye and onto her cheek.  The twins were still reeling and suffering from the sudden loss of their mother.  It was hard to know that they were going to be upheaved and to somewhere new.  Their father apparently wasn’t going to divulge where they would be going next.

“What are we going to do?” she cried softly to Sean.  She moved closer to her brother, smothering her tear trailed face into the shoulder of his shirt.  

Sean was just as speechless as she was.  He pulled her closer wrapping his arms around his distraught sister.  His own shock sent cold chills down his spine.  So many thoughts ran through his mind, but seeing the slowly growing pile of filled boxes confirmed his father’s information.  Initially, Sean thought his dad was just putting all their mom’s things in a box to hide them away, much like he hid himself away in the office.

Sean started worrying over where they were going to be moving.  Would it be close by?  Would they be in the same school?  Would they live near any of their grandparents?  They hadn’t visited their father’s parents very much, but any one they knew would be better than no one.  

Neither of them were prepared for this kind of news.  Sean looked towards the closed office door.  He could hear his father talking to someone, but it was quite muffled even though the door wasn’t very thick.  His anger grew as he and his sister grieved over their mother.  He often wondered if his father even cared about the loss of their mother or that they were suffering her absence.  The house remained a constant eerie silence.

Erick had started buying cases of liquor drink them like water on a daily basis.  His ongoing isolation in his office left the twins to their own devices in the rest of the house.  If he came out of the office, Sean nor Cara was home or noticed.  School had just started.  The two kids spent as much time at the school doing their homework or any extracurricular activities that they could participate in to avoid coming home.  The dread of coming home every evening grew darker,  especially when they didn’t know if they’d come home to find their father angry and throwing things about or worse, passed out on the couch, chair, or floor.  A shiver of fear raced through their minds wondering if they may come home to him dead.  Neither one would vocally admit it to the other.

* * *

As the weeks passed since the news of moving, Sean and Cara plotted on how to contact their maternal grandparents.  They wanted to let them know that they would be moving and if they could come talk to their dad.  Cara had explained that they would go to the office crying and upset enough to want to call home.  She would figure out a way to get their grandparent’s number so that they would call later on.  

Sean wasn’t so sure that the plan would work, but after several minutes of practice while walking to school, the plan was near to perfection.  The school day went relatively normal.  Since it was a smaller school, the twins were lucky enough to be in the same class.  Most often, the teacher would split the class up according to their learning levels.  The twins were better at different things or learned differently, except when it came to recess.  They were the King and Queen of the mountain.  The other kids in their class and grade always enjoyed playing with the twins, even though they had their own group of friends.

It was near the end of recess that Cara made a motion for Sean to run to the teacher crying claiming so and so was picking on them and that he wanted to go to the office.  Being the caring sister that she is, Cara requests to go along.  Claiming she didn’t him to be by himself.

Sean in great form took a kids comment the wrong way and stormed off in a huff to the teacher a face full of tears and broken English.  The teacher takes Sean by the shoulders and starts walking him to the school office.  Cara sees her brother upset and runs up to the teacher.

“Mrs. Rose,” she called after them.  “What’s wrong with Sean?  Where are you going?”

Her nervous eyes darting between her brother and the teacher.  The smaller lady with long flowing brown hair puts her hand on the young girl’s shoulders.  

“Someone was picking on your brother.  I thought it might be a good idea for him to have some quiet time in the office.”

The look of sympathy for the twins crossed her face.  The next comment took Cara by surprise but she jumped on board.

“Would you like to go with us, Cara?” Mrs. Rose asked.  Cara nodded quickly and took her brother’s hand in her own as they walked to the office.

The walk to the office from the back door took a bit.  Mrs. Rose talked to Sean working on trying to calm down the boy.  Most of the school was aware of the sensitivity of their loss, most were feeling the same, sad.  Their mother was a frequent volunteer and helped the kids and teachers with the holiday functions.  Many commented on how they missed her angelic smiling face.

Mrs. Rose opened the door the office and motioned for the kids to sit down.  Cara caught sight of a pen and swiftly picked it up while the teacher was talking to the secretary recommending that they call their parents.

Sean was standing near Cara as she watched on over the top of the secretary’s counter.  It was just slightly too tall for her to see over, but she would manage to do what she could.  She watched as the secretary turned to the rolodex of student contact cards and found Sean and Cara’s near one another.  She looked up to Cara as she pulled it off the track and looked at it.  She had to adjust her spectacles to get a better look at the information.  Holding Sean’s hand out of view, she gave it a gentle tug when the secretary mumbled out the names on the card.  Their father’s were first on the list and Sean fell to the ground in a crying fit.  Cara let go of his hand as she looked down at her brother, yet watching the secretary and Mrs. Rose turn their attentions to the emotionally distressed boy.  When the secretary shuffled out and around her area, she was just a few steps behind the teacher kneeling down to figure out what was going on.  

With the pen in hand, Cara quickly tiptoed up to the counter and grabbed the card, she recalled what her grandma and grandpa called each other when they weren’t around.  It happened on occasion, but not frequently.  Seeing their names listed, she etched the pen across the back of her hand and then tossed the pen and card back onto the counter.  Her hand hidden behind her as she looks on, her own tears welling up as she began to cry on demand at her own brother’s distress.

Eventually, the secretary and Mrs. Rose calmed down both children enough to make a phone call to their father.  After several attempts and no answer, they contacted the next person on the list, their maternal grandparents.  The two kids casually looked to one another giving vague signals of delight that their plan worked.  If the kids were able to continue school the rest of the day, their grandfather would come and pick them up and take them home.  

A somber look upon their faces, they pouted a nod and looked to Mrs. Rose who’s heart sunk.  She patted their little backs gave the secretary a smile.

“I think we can manage,” she says, softly.  “Let’s head back to the room.  Maybe we can move story time up a day so that we can relax for a while.  Sound good?”

A pair of excitable nods answered her question.  She gave a smile and they proceeded to their classroom.  When the end of the day came, their grandfather anxiously awaited the twins in the office.  Racing to see who would get their first, Mrs. Rose gave a wave of her hand to the older gentleman as she watched the twins rush to a familiar comforting face.  Her chest heaved as she released her breath.

Sean and Cara nearly toppled their grandfather over upon entering the office and reaching him.  

“Oh boy!” he exclaimed being overrun by two kids.  “One would think you missed this old grumpy man.”

He hugged them back, nearly emotional himself at their sudden clamoring on him.  Kissing the top of their heads, he ruffled their hair and jangled his keys.

“How about we take a ride around?” he asked.  

“Yes!” the twins said together quickly.  

“Gramps?” said Sean as they settled into the backseat of the car.  Sean and Cara placed their bags in the front seat before taking their usual spots in the back.  

“Yeah, Sean?” he replied.  He looked in the rearview mirror back at the younger boy.  He could tell that something was bothering him, moreso, that same look was on the young girl’s face too.  He steeled himself preparing for whatever they had to tell him.

Cara spoke up instead.  “Dad says we’re moving.  Do we have to?  Can’t we just come live with you and Grammy?”

Sean looked at Cara interrupting his attempt to be a big man.  He groaned and crossed his arms looking out the window.  “Dad never tells us anything important.” he huffs.

Grandpa looked ahead swallowing hard trying to come up with a reasonable answer.  “I know that this past month has been hard on you two.  I can’t say yes or no to that, kids.  Your dad is in charge now.”

His answer must’ve not settled well with the kids as they looked at each other briefly and with a rejected look turned to look out their own window.  He couldn’t figure out the best thing to tell the kids that would make them feel better or would fix the situation in their favor.  He didn’t want to step on Erick’s toes.  He felt deep down that his son-in-law was doing the right thing.  

“How about I take you home and we have a talk with your father?” he said offering up a possible solution to their worries.  “I can’t promise anything, ok?  Maybe we can work something out that you can come over and spend the weekend, like you used to.  Hmm?”

The kids gave a slow nod.  Both knew that them coming home with Gramps would not sit well with their father, especially if he’d been drinking most of the day.  Likewise, Grandpa was wondering why the school had called him and Grandma instead of Erick.  Hopefully, he’d get some answers as soon as they got to their house.