The Red Path (DrTrollinski & buildingaspaceship)

[DrTrollinski]

(1x1 RP)

 

[DrTrollinski]

Friday, May 29th, 2015.





"Come on, don't be a dick." Michael said. Believe it or not, but this time he actually wasn't talking to his brother. His brother had gone off somewhere with one of his friends (he'd told his family he'd be going over to a friend's house after school for a while) - Now what was Michael doing? He was trying to get money out of someone. Yep. Calling people a dick is a great way to get money, Michael. Then again, Michael was a bit of a brute, too, and was always sorta' the bully of the two brothers over the years. He was good to his brother, though, but nowhere near as good as he was to Maddie.


His friends looked up from washing his hands and sighed at him. "You follow me into the bathroom, and you stand there tryin' to get money out of me? C'mon, Michael... I ain't a dick. When are you gonna' pay back everything else you owe me, eh?" He asked.


"For Christ's sakes, Carlos... I'll get the money off of Daniel, or something. Look, it's Friday today, and this time..." He sighed and looked away. "Look, I wasn't gonna' tell you, but I just wanted to do something nice for my little sister. I wanted to get some popcorn, y'know, the nice packaged kind. I was gonna' buy some drinks and rent a movie, too. Just for tonight. Can't you help me out?" He asked. Carlos turned away from the sink and wiped his forehead - Okay, Michael knew how to make people feel bad, too. He put on a tone that made him sound all sad, and then that was it, they were hooked.


"Fine." He grumbled, reaching into a pocket and withdrawing three ten dollar bills. "Michael... Don't forget to pay me back. My parents think I'm spending all the money on drugs." He smirked, Michael just burst out into laughter as he took the money and patted him on the shoulder.


"Carlos. You might be a hell of a lot richer than me, but I love you." He grinned and ruffled his hair. "I've gotta' pick up Maddie, though, so I need to run, okay?" He said, spinning on one heel and dashing out of the bathroom before his friend could even say anything to him. He was right out of the school, and he was running as quick as he could just to get to Maddie's elementary school on time. He was wondering what she was doing - Maybe she was doing Art class, or Math, or Science. He knew it was one of those, because he kept up to date with her stuff all the time.


But wait, first he had to go to the other stores. He didn't have a bike, so he was double-timing it. Maddie knew to wait at the office for him if he wasn't there on time, and he never expressed that more. He didn't want his little sister getting snatched up off of the street by some predator just because he wasn't there to get her on time. It was as much for her safety as it was for his sanity, but more for her safety, really. He was running, running faster than he thought he could run, right until he got to the general store. He walked into the store clutching a ten dollar bill like it was the last bit of money he was going to get all year. He knew the store did a cool deal on Fridays. He never bought movies fully as that was too expensive, but he happily rented them and returned them two days later.


The deal on in the store was for 'Movie Night' (he and Maddie did 'movie night' every now and again) - You could get two big bags of popcorn, and one large bottle of any type of soda for only five dollars. He didn't really think about how much money Carlos gave him, but he'd be sure to put it to good use. Alongside the popcorn, he picked up some M&M's - He had a cool idea for the popcorn.


Daniel, the innocent one. Their father may have been sober at the minute, but Daniel could still give less of a shit tonight. He was going to a friend's house, a chance to get away from their abusive father for once. He knew Mikey would keep Maddie safe, and he was grateful for that. For some reason, their dad always seemed to have something out for her, but usually it was Mikey that stopped that from happening - He was the one to beat their dad back into his place and made sure he passed out on the couch before he could do anything too drastic. Tonight, tonight was Daniel's night. It was time to go and hang with his best friend and his friend's older brother. He'd get cooked a nice meal and all, then they'd have a good time until it was time for him to go home.


Mikey, though... Let's just hope he could get to the school on time. He got to the movie rental place within five minutes of leaving the store with a bagful of shopping. He just needed to get the movie now - He'd taken Maddie to see 'Frozen' in the movie theater a while back when it was released, and he did his best to make sure she forgot about that because he absolutely hated that movie. Let's see... Something suitable for a kid...


Rio. That was something they hadn't watched yet. He snatched that up and paid, then went zooming off towards her school as quick as he could.


Let's hope he could get there on time. She'd be safe if he didn't, but still, he wanted to be there for her on time today.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

Max pulled his bag onto the surface of his desk with minimal effort before throwing his tatty old textbooks inside. They were second hand, hell, they were fifth hand. Everyone else had their own sparkling new textbooks, but he had to borrow his from school and give them back at the end of the year, once he was done with them. Course, he always copied out the notes as best he could into a 50 cent notebook back at home, in microscopic writing so as to conserve space, but still. Tatty textbooks didn't make you very popular.


Of course, Max had friends, one of which reached out and grabbed him by the arm so they could pull him from the classroom. He had no reason to go home straight away, or rush there. He could walk home if he wanted to, he didn't even have to catch the bus to get home quicker today, considering Daniel was at a friends house, and Maddie and Michael would be home together anyway. He supposed he might need to get a bit of a wriggle on so that he could cook them dinner before heading off to work, but he didn't have to be that quick.


Every night was a struggle for him. He got home from school at 3pm, and he started work at 5pm. He couldn't be late, he couldn't even risk losing the job, but he needed to cook dinner for his brothers and sister, and his dad too I suppose. He'd take his homework to work with him, or do it while he cooked, but it all depended on the task and whether or not it could be done while multitasking with the stove on. He'd be at work until 10pm though, and then when he came home...


He allowed himself at least an hour to do something fun, he deserved that much at the very least.


"Did you watch that episode of Stranded yesterday?" Scott asked, eyes wide with anticipation. Brightly clothed and blatantly gay, he was a difficult guy to call your best friend, especially because he was always... He was always socialising, being energetic and being a handful. A gossip, an attention seeker. Why was he his best friend? He couldn't get rid of him in freshman year, and I guess it kind of just stuck.


Marnie, his other friend, nodded her head in excitement, her black curls bobbing as she did so. Now, Marnie... Max would get Saturday's free, and he'd usually spend them with his brother or just watching TV, but a lot of the time he went to parties (thrown by Scott, of course), and she would be there. They'd hooked up a few times, and I suppose some would consider them a bit of an item, but Max wasn't extremely interested in her. She was just another person that he couldn't get rid of, though, he did enjoy her company lately, now he'd got to know her.


"No, man, and I don't even wanna hear it. I swear, if you ruin it for me I'll punch you in the balls and make sure Danny doesn't come to your party this weekend." He rolled his eyes and slowly boarded the school bus that they had reached. Scott and Marnie climbed on behind him and walked with him to one of the seats in the middle, and the two of them both proceeded to squeeze onto the seat with him.


"Hey, about my party, are you sure you can't come this time? I promise you'll have fun!" Scott pleaded, widening his eyes and pouting, his hands clasped together in a praying motion. Max simply declined and then looked out of the window, but Scott soon started begging. This was going to be an interesting ride home.


-


Maddie was staring down at her painting, every so often glancing at her pink hello-kitty bag, unzipped and revealing a similar style lunch box and a barbie sat on top. She never went anywhere without that thing, it was her favourite one, perfect and pretty. Blonde haired and blue eyed, it shattered every girls body images, made them want to be perfect just like it was. Maddie wasn't really one of those girls, she didn't want to be perfect like it, she just wanted to play with it.


She was only seven, after all. It was about perfect families, not perfect body image.


Anyway, she was staring at her painting with narrowed eyes. She didn't want to crease it by putting it in her bag, but she didn't know how she was going to get it home if she didn't. She supposed she could always leave it here over the weekend and then try and figure it out on Monday, but she knew that Miss Winston always lost things, and she'd just be in the same situation on Monday again, so she probably needed to take it home today.


The painting was of a butterfly. You know, the kind that all children do where they fold the paper in half and after painting colour onto one side, so it goes onto the other symmetrically. It was already creased, so she didn't know why she couldn't crease it again, but it just made sense not to. She decided the only way she was going to be able to get it home would be to carry it in her hands, so that was what she was going to do.


She zipped up her bag and put it on her shoulders before picking up the painting and bolting out of the classroom. She had been in there for a few minutes deciding on what to do with it, so Mikey should be there now, but if he wasn't then she would just wait in the office, like he told her to. By the time she got outside, she had rolled the sleeves up of her frilly blue cardigan and was squinting around to try and look for him.


The most upsetting thing was seeing other little girls and boys being picked up by their mommies, and she didn't understand where her mommy was and why she couldn't pick her up instead of Mikey, not that she was complaining. She just didn't think that it was fair that other kids had mommies and she didn't. There was a boy in his class that had two mommies, so why didn't she have at least one?

 

[DrTrollinski]

"You gotta' be kidding." Daniel laughed as he sat down on his friends bed and kicked his shoes off. This friend of his, Davis, he was a good liar. Actually. He was a really bad one, but it was fun to laugh at him because of it. He'd make up lies about just about everything if he had the chance, and today, he was taking that chance well because... Well... Because he could, I guess. He loved lying, but only to big himself up - He'd never lie to people directly, if that makes sense, like... He'd never lie about liking someone, or lie to someone if they asked him to hang out. He wouldn't lie in that circumstance, he'd be honest. Daniel was lied there on his bed now, watching him prance about the room while talking about another one of his wild Thursday night adventures.


"I'm not even kidding. My brother hired two of the best ones from the street and we both had 'em all to ourselves, all night." He grinned at him, and Daniel just burst out into laughter and instantly shook his head. Okay then, Davis. I suppose you invited them into your gold-plated hot tub in your basement, too? He didn't know why he was such good friends of his. He'd never really done anything... Major with him, really. Literally, they'd been to a couple of parties that his older brother had hosted (yes, they sneaked alcohol just that one time), but that was about it. Plus, alcohol wasn't so great to Daniel. He wasn't a fan of it at all, especially with how it had made their dad.


The biggest shame was that Davis' older brother, Marcus, had heard what he'd said. He was the next one to come in, and Davis got the roasting session of his life. He was insulted left right and center by his older brother, all about how he was too much of a child to even go near a woman, and too weak to even lift a girl's skirt, and all that. The brother tried to keep it clean as much as he could because of Daniel being there, but Daniel honestly didn't care.


He was loving this.


--


I might catch up on Stranded later. Michael thought to himself. He was one of the watchers, too, after some sort of hype went through the class about it. It was a new kind of TV show, but that wasn't the point. The bit he was up to, they'd been on the island for a little while, and the last episode ended where the dear old dad by the name of Eric had walked out of the plane - The episode cut out as you saw four of the natives (or savages, whatever) run from the trees. It was an intense ending, and he was really surprised that he hadn't had last night's episode ruined for him already. He was thinking about that while he was waiting for Maddie to get out of school, and he was thinking about the characters a lot.


I suppose that... Isaac was his favorite, actually. Only because he kind of reminded him of himself - Isaac seemed like an angry guy that loved his younger sibling with all his heart - Well, sound familiar? Yep. Only in this case, the younger sibling was Maddie. Ah, well, he could worry about TV later on. Today, they had some movie to watch and a good night to have - He was in a great mood, actually. He wanted to see Max when they got back, just to say hi while he made himself and Maddie something to drink.


He was wondering why he didn't take the chance to use the bathroom himself while he was waiting for the opportunity to beg Carlos into giving him money. He didn't mind walking back on a little bit of discomfort, but hey, what did it matter? It didn't. He was here for one thing, and that was his sister. He always did wonder what she thought of the fact that all the other kids got picked up by their parents and she didn't. He tried to take on the role of both parents for her, while Max took on the role of both parents for... Well, him and Daniel. They all kind of knew that Mikey had Maddie covered. He didn't like it when others called her Maddie, either, I don't know why, he just didn't. He despised it, in all honesty.


He stepped past a crowd of the parents as the kids started to exit the school and he kept an eye out for Maddie. Hm. Where was she... Ah! There she was! He spotted her silky dark hair shining out in a crowd of other kids the same age as her - He knew that she could see him from where she was, so he lifted one arm up into the air and started to wave at her for a few seconds, giving her the most warming smile he could manage. He didn't really have to try and force that smile, though, seeing as she just made him naturally happy. He had the bag of shopping in one hand, so she'd probably seen that, too.


She had a charm on him that no one else seemed to have. I don't know why.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

Max finally managed to escape from the school bus and Scott's torturous beginning when it got to the stop where he usually got off. He wasn't actually near his house, no, he hated people on the bus seeing his house so he usually just got off and walked for the rest of the way in silence. Sometimes Scott would come over, but Max would force him to stay outside of the house, because, well, where could he really go? There were only three bedrooms, none of which actually belonged to Max.


There was Daniel and Michaels room, which was too small to have another bed in there, and then there was Madeleine's room, which he just wouldn't be sharing considering she was a seven year old girl, and she needed the space to play freely. Then, there was their fathers room, which only had a dresser and an uncomfortable bed in the middle. Thankfully, this doubled as Max's room when his father was too drunk to get there, which was often, but he couldn't hang out in there or have any decorations.


Not like Scott. Scott had his own bedroom, his own decorations, his own bathroom. He wasn't astoundingly rich, but to Max he was. Anyone with more than they had, in his eyes, were privileged and rich.


As he walked he kept his head down, counting his steps in sets of four, mumbling to himself under his breath. Not talking, but songs. He couldn't sing for anythin', but it didn't mean that he didn't enjoy songs. He couldn't listen to any on the way home because the only capability he had to do so was with the CD player, which was in the kitchen/dining room, where Max spent most of his home time. He had a small collection of CD's from friends for birthday's or for Christmas, along with the other things Scott would get him, like books or t-shirts.


He usually just threw the t-shirts out, though.


When he reached the street that he lived on, he looked up and around at the surrounding houses. All of them, grey concrete slabs with cracks in the driveway, their front yards colourless or lifeless. At least theirs was half decent, though it wasn't like Max had enough time to tend to it. There was a small flower patch that Madeleine and Mikey had planted there last summer, Madeleine's Marigolds, as it was. The rest was green, grass or bushes, but a lot of the bushes needed a trimming that they weren't going to get, and the grass was only mown every so often.


Max looked at the house that the family rented and sighed, shutting his eyes and squeezing them tight, stood in the middle of the driveway. When he opened his eyes, he was going to see a castle, he was going to see a mansion with fountains and sports cars, and a man waiting for him to take his coat, which was actually designer, and not from the good will shop down the road. But when he opened them again, it was the same grey, the same dullness, only this time there was a mans silhouette in the window, the curtains drawn but slightly opened at one end, his father peaking out at him.


Max raised a hand and waved, almost expecting one back, but the curtain just shut and the silhouette disappeared.


-


Madeleine hadn't been scanning the crowds for long when she saw Michael, and seeing him lit up her entire face as she set off sprinting for him, her painting waving like a flag in her left hand. When she reached him, her arms opened wide and she wrapped her hands around his middle, resting her head against his stomach. She wasn't so tall, probably one of the shortest in her class, not that she minded. To others it was a competition, but to her it was okay. She could hide in better places when they played hide and seek, so it was more to her advantage to be smaller.


She pulled away from the hug rather quickly and excitedly, and she grinned up at him, but this was it, it was time for their walk home, and Michael probably wouldn't get a word in edgeways.


"Mikey! Mikey!" She started, and then she waved her painting in front of his face, proud of it's bright colours and symmetry. "Miss Winston says that she thinks it's the best one in classes! Even better than Anna's, can you believe it? Anna is a really really really good artist, so if my painting was better than hers then I must be one too! And Miss Winston didn't even help me with my painting, but she did help Anna with hers, so that means that mine is extra better!"


She pulled her painting away from his face and then grinned up at him. She was actually missing a tooth at the moment, well it had half grown back, one of her canines, because it had fallen out. Madeleine still believed in the Tooth Fairy and Santa, even the Easter Bunny, so these traditions had to be continued even if they were short of money, which they could never be for Madeleine.


She pointed down at the bag with her free hand and started jumping up and down. "What's that, Mikey?! What's in the bag?!"

 

[DrTrollinski]

One thing Daniel had a habit of doing is worrying. He worried about everything, really. He worried more about his family, though - Sure, he loved his father, but he was still tremendously scared of him. He was terrified of what he might end up doing, and it was all a big scare to him, really. He didn't want to come home one night and find that he'd butchered everyone when Max wasn't around. He didn't want to go home to being a complete orphan with no siblings and not even a bad parent. He wouldn't be able to live that way, and even though they were happily playing an Xbox One game in Davis' room, it wasn't all joyful for him. Forget about what you know about worry, because Daniel's level of anxiety took things to a whole new level. You just don't understand, but please, let me help you understand it a little better.


"Excuse me a sec, man." He stuttered quietly, followed by standing up and quickly making his way out of the room. He rushed to the bathroom once he was out of sight and locked the door behind him. This bathroom was bigger and better than the one they had at home, but he wasn't complaining. He'd have a bigger house when he was older, he knew he would. He was going to study hard like his mother had always told him too, and he was going to have a nice house with a good stable family like he wanted. He wasn't going to let go of his brothers and his sisters, but he wanted something new when he was older, that was for sure.


So, soon enough he found himself gagging over the sink in the bathroom; literally, he wasn't having a good time. This happened if he got too nervous about something - He'd come very close to vomiting, sometimes he'd actually manage to pull it off, but he didn't like it when that happened. He hated it, because it caused more problems than were necessary. When he was done gagging, though, he splashed some water on his face and quickly calmed himself down.


They'd be fine. They'd be fine. Mike won't let them get hurt.





It's funny how you consider your twin brother, who was older than you by about thirty seconds, the better defendant on the family. Deep down he knew that Max was more capable, but y'know, that's just the way things were. He made his way out of the bathroom once again and returned to the room as if nothing had ever happened. There, he was fine. He was always fine.


--


Things weren't quite so depressing on Michael's side. In fact, they were extremely joyful again - He saw Maddie running with open arms to him and instantly ducked down in front of her so he could pull her into a huge hug. Ah, it was nice to see her again. He felt all of the stresses of the day just melt away. Ah, he felt like she was safe, even though she was safe the whole time at school. He didn't want to let her go at first, but of course he had to. He was wondering what other parents were thinking, and what kids were thinking of Maddie, too. He was meaning to ask her if she ever got any questions, but he didn't think he'd be able to bear the heartbreak.


What a good brother.


Where are that girl's parents?


Why does the brother have to do his father's job?





If only people had the nerve to ask or try and get help for them, maybe they wouldn't be stuck with an alcoholic dad living in some pathetic shit-hole of a house. Sorry. That was Mikey talking there - He didn't like getting all angry in front of Maddie, so he quickly brushed that thought aside and looked at her when she started freaking out about her painting. He could only laugh and smile at her. "Well, I always knew that you were the best there was, so that teacher musta' took a while to realize, that's all." He grinned at her and winked before playfully ruffling her hair. Ah, her hair was so fine, just like their mother's.


He took hold of her hand after looking at the painting and quickly tried to distance them from everyone else. No one was giving them funny looks or anything, Michael just didn't like being around hordes of people.


Hordes.


Ha. Ha.


Anyway. She was freaking out about the shopping bag now, so he couldn't keep her out of that until they got home. He decided that seeing as they were only a fifteen minute walk away, he could tell her to get her all hyped up for it. He got to spend some good old brother-sister time with her tonight.


"Well, Maddie..." He smiled as he looked across the road from both directions before walking her across it. "In the bag... Y'know those movie nights we have sometimes?" He chuckled. "Today I got some stuff. I got some orange soda, two bags of that sweet popcorn that you usually have, and I've got... Well. I've got a little surprise to go with the popcorn as well - I also rented out a movie that we haven't seen yet, so we can watch that once we've had dinner, y'know, settle down in my room, get the popcorn... If Daniel's back on time, he might be able to join us, too." He said in a rather cheery tone, just so he sounded happy and excited.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

Max sighed and then walked up to the front door of his house. He didn't want to go inside, he didn't want to have to face reality and responsibility. He was happy in his life, that was for sure. I mean, he was happy with his brothers and his sister, he was happy with his friends and his social life, but... He wasn't happy at home. He wasn't happy with the situation with their father, and their missing mother. Well. She wasn't missing, no one was looking for her. They knew perfectly well where she was.


Off with some other man in a land of make believe, most likely.


Max hated her. He might not show it, but he hated her with a passion. No one leaves like that, no one leaves someone as unstable as their father without at the very least taking the kids away. But at the same time, he understood. Why stay if you're unhappy? He could only understand leaving their father, he couldn't understand her leaving her kids, and he never would be able to.


He pushed open the front door and looked inside before he went in. He never wanted to take that final step inside, just because it was routine. He would do this every time, he would come in and he'd cook, and go to work, and then he'd watch TV or read for an hour, and then he would sleep, and do the whole thing all over again. His life was patterned by money and meals and concern for his siblings, even if two of them were now perfectly capable of looking after themselves.


He didn't bother calling out to their father that he was home, he already knew that he was thanks to the wave outside. Where was he, though? Was he... Was he watching TV? No, he couldn't hear it playing. What was he doing?


His question was answered when he properly walked inside the home and looked at his father, sat on the couch with his head in his hands and a beer can in front of him.


"Dad?" He didn't know why he even bothered, because he didn't get an answer. Instead of pressing further, Max abandoned his school bag by the door and walked into the kitchen, over to the CD player, and searched for a CD to listen to while he cooked for his family. What did he settle on? Naturally, the upbeat Revolver album by the Beatles. He needed something to brighten his day.


-


Maddie's face lit up even more, she was like a sun in the middle of the day, bright and shining down on everyone. Except, of course, she was looking up at Michael, considering her age and size. She looked up at him and grinned widely, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "Really, Mikey?" She began to jump up and down on the spot, and then stopped walking so that she could pull him into a tight hug, before letting go after a small moment had passed and skipping on slightly ahead of him.


"Is it a Barbie movie, Mikey?" She asked. It was a well known fact that she loved everything Barbie. She had around five dolls, and while that wasn't as extensive as the other girl's in her class's collections, and she would always want more, that was all that they could get her. Other times she ended up with cheap plastic dolls that were around a dollar from a charity shop, but on birthdays and Christmas's... She'd usually get something Barbie.


She was still skipping, but every so often she would stop and wait for Mikey to catch up before skipping ahead again. "I don't mind if it's not a Barbie movie, but I really like them. Jessica was talking about all her Barbie movies that she has, and all her dolls. She has a lot of dolls, even those Monster High ones. I want one of those, Mikey, they're so cool!"

 

[DrTrollinski]

"You really don't look well, man." Davis sighed a little. "It's happenin' again, ain't it? You want my brother to give you a ride home?" He asked. Daniel looked at him with a sense of guilt and quickly shook his head, sighing to himself a little. Davis knew he felt guilty, but if Daniel felt guilty, you know that you couldn't change that until he did something to change it. Daniel agreed on one thing, most times this happened, and even though dinner was early in this household (at least within the next hour) he knew he had to stay for at least that so he could spend some time with his friend and just have a bit of a good time on a Friday.


"No... I'll stay for dinner, then I'll walk." He sighed, chuckling nervously as he walked over and sat down on the bed, shaking his head. "You know what I'm like, Dave... Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." He said. Davis went over to sit with him and put an arm around his shoulders, patting his furthest one while smiling at him. Davis was a good friend. Sure, he was a bit of an idiot, but he respected people and knew if something was wrong, and he knew when people were doing things out of a selfless manner, which is exactly what he saw here.


"You don't have to stay, you know." He smiled a little. "But I'm glad you are. Let me go and get you a drink, okay?" He said, patting his back as he stood up and wandered out of the room and down the stairs. Daniel smiled to himself once he'd left, happy with how his friend was treating him. He decided to just lie down on the bed for a minute seeing as he still felt a little faint. It happened plenty of times at school, and usually, if he threw up he wasn't allowed to leave because his parents weren't there to pick him up. Or his dad wasn't, rather.


It wasn't until he started middle school that he was allowed to make his own way home. He hated doing it, but hey, it happened, didn't it? He got over it, and when his friend came back to him with a glass of blackcurrant juice, he was a bit happier. He sipped on that, and within ten minutes, they were laughing and playing Xbox games like they usually would.


--


"No, my favorite sister, it is not a Barbie one." He laughed and hugged her back with one arm, chuckling as he did so. He continued walking her along as they spoke. It really wouldn't take too long to get home, ten minutes or so from where they were. "You know I love playing Barbie with you and all your other dolls, but you know that the movies aren't something I hold in my favorites." He laughed a little and winked down at her. "Nah, but it's a movie we haven't watched yet, so there's that. Think, if you eat all your dinner tonight, you can have extra popcorn! Sounds great, huh?" He asked. He had to sound cheerful, you know? He needed to encourage her to eat everything, because he really didn't know how long it would be until they ate again, as depressing as that sounds. Sometimes, Michael would secretly sacrifice bits of his breakfast and sneak it onto Maddie and Daniel's plates, just because he'd rather have them eat.


They might have had lunch boxes and so on, but think, they could also get school meals for free based on their income, which is what Mikey and Daniel did. They did that because it was... Well... It was better that way. They actually liked school food, but they knew that Maddie liked to go and sit with her friends at lunch (and she didn't exactly have a twin to wait for her while she was lining up to get food), so they sacrificed the lunch box game to her instead. Sure, the food they got at school wasn't always great, but it was good enough. For a middle school, I mean.


Mikey always tried to teach her about what she had to value, but for some reason, I think he knew that she already knew most of that. He'd learned a lot from having her as a sister, and he knew how hard it must have been for a little girl to grow up without a mother, so he did his best. He didn't view Max as a father or an uncle like Daniel did, he just viewed him as a brother that did more than society said he was supposed to. He appreciated it, yeah, but he didn't want it that way. He wanted a normal family. He swore to himself that if he ever found his mother after what she did, he'd rip her fucking head off. He hated her. He hated her more than anyone - He was the one that had the dark thoughts about her, he was the one that said he'd never forgive her no matter how much money or happiness she brought back to their lives.


He promised. He'd kill her if she ever came back, regardless of the consequences.


Mikey's misunderstood in bad ways, too.


His sister was skipping ahead and getting nearer and nearer to where they lived, and she was talking about Barbies. Again. He laughed and ran a hand through his hair. "Well, Maddie... I'll have to see if I can get you another Barbie sometime, but you've gotta' be patient." He smiled. "I'm not rich, ya'know, even though I wish I was. If I was, I'd buy you every single Barbie thing you could think of." He laughed and winked at her once again.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

Max sat down at the small, circular dining table and put his head in his hands similar to how his father did it. He was waiting for someone to come, or for someone to distract him, but he knew that he should be cooking food now. He knew that by 5pm his brother and sister would be wanting it, that they would both want to eat before he left. He needed to eat too, and shower, and thinking of that he needed to pay the water bills before the hot water got turned off. No one enjoyed cold showers when there should be hot water available.


And he was sure that Madeleine wouldn't enjoy a cold bath, either.


All these thoughts entered his head. Water bills. Rent. Food. Jobs. School. Whoever had given him the impossible task of pulling a family up a steep hill? His mother, that was who. She was to blame for all of their problems, but Max wasn't like Michael, he wouldn't kill her when he saw her. He'd just ask her why. To him she wasn't even his mother anymore, she was just a woman who gave birth to him, stuck around until he was thirteen years old, and then fucked off to be someone else's mom.


He pushed himself up from the table and walked over to the kitchen sink, washed his hands thoroughly, and then walked over to the fridge. What was for dinner tonight?


There wasn't so much choice. He hadn't been grocery shopping in two weeks, so he wasn't really able to have a proper meal prepared. There were leftovers, enough for the actual amount of them that were eating tonight, but only if Max grabbed a candy bar from the gas station. And he didn't really want to class a candy bar as his dinner for the night, so, no. He'd make something fresh.


He grabbed a load of vegetables from the fridge and took them over to a counter, holding them in one arm while, with his other, he made space to put them down and work on them. He then grabbed a cutting board and began to chop up onions, potatoes and carrots. What was he gonna make? Some kind of mince beef broth thing. This was usually what they had when they were getting low on supplies, but he could get some more tomorrow, maybe. I mean, tomorrow was the 30th, and that was when they got their allowance of $100.


It was supposed to be for rent, but he'd rather feed his family.


-


"But Mikey, if I eat all my dinner then I won't have any room for extra popcorn, will I?" She asked him, almost curiously, before looking down at one of the cracks in the pavement and frowning. She wasn't sad, she was just thinking. "'Cos Anna said today that she'd eaten all her dinner yesterday and couldn't eat the chocolate cake her mommy had got her to celebrate her sisters birthday. So, if I eat all my dinner, will I have room for the popcorn?"


Maddie's life was quite influenced by her friends. She was never a leader, she was always a follower. I don't think anyone at school really took her so seriously either. She was more energetic and playful than the rest of the girls, and she had never been invited to any of her friends birthday parties.


In truthfulness, it was their mothers who didn't let her come. She wasn't allowed to go to anyones houses after school or any of the sleepovers that they had, because their mothers had heard about where they lived somehow, and so didn't want someone who lived in that area to be around their children. Of course, the children didn't know that, and they never would.


"Would you buy me the submarine Barbie? Or... Or would you buy me the princess Barbie?" She asked him, when he said he would buy her some if he was rich. She knew they weren't rich, she knew that they didn't have the perfect life, but she didn't know quite how bad it was.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Dinner was being served for Daniel and he was really quite enjoying it, as it happened. He couldn't complain about it at all, he was just enjoying it - He didn't usually get to eat this well, but that's how things were going for him now. He was having the time of his life at his friend's house already, and as soon as they got called for dinner, he couldn't wait. He had a hot meal, and a big one, one that he was sure he'd never get when they were at home. He knew that they couldn't afford to give everyone massive meals at home, so this was really appreciated. Parents can be selfish sometimes, but Davis' mom and dad knew about Michael and Daniel. Did they stop Davis from seeing them? No. They cared, so they wanted to invite them over for dinner, they wanted to feed the whole family if they could, but everyone knew that that was just a dream. It was, sadly, and that's all it would ever be.


They'd tried inviting Michael around, too. But he had to take care of his sister, as per usual. Goddammit. Daniel always felt bad - How many times had he offered to pick up Maddie after school? How many times had he promised that he'd get her home safe and make sure she ate her food? How many times had he said he'd play with her right until the moment that Michael got home? He'd said it so many times, more times then he could count, but it was always a mystery to them why Mikey never allowed it, why he never let Daniel go home and do his job for just one night. It was a mystery - Dad wouldn't hit them... Right?


Tonight, he was given steak, fries, peas, and grilled tomatoes. He had his steak medium-rare every time that he came here, and he always had a huge spoon of mustard on the side of it. He didn't like mushrooms or anything like that. They may have been poor, but he'd never be able to keep mushrooms down or even try and swallow them without puking his guts up, so he always refused mushrooms when he had the chance. This steak dinner, though, this steak dinner was great.


Once he was done with the meal, he'd nip off to use the bathroom, then he'd head home to join everyone else. He was really hoping that Max remembered he was staying at a friend's house for dinner - He really hoped that Max knew that the three of them could have more to themselves tonight. He hoped that that was the case, because he didn't want a dinner put aside for him that he wouldn't be able to eat.


--


It sort of broke Michael just a little bit, to hear of that, to hear of all the fun and happiness and chocolate birthday cakes. A birthday cake. When was the last time he and Daniel had even had one of those? They never got one this year, just a couple of gifts for each other that they'd saved up for, and a gift or two from Max, whom of which had put aside the extra dollars over the course of Christ knows how long to save up to get them at least something. That wasn't what he cared about, though - It was the fact that Maddie was so innocent and saw everything as just... Well, simple things. She didn't complain about not having this glamorous lifestyle that everyone else was leading, she didn't cry about the fact that she couldn't get more toys.


She just accepted it.


Michael quickly caught up with her and pulled her close to his side as they walked along, keeping the quickly saddening smile on his face as best he could. He cleared his throat just so that his sadness didn't shine through, then he spoke to her. "You're a growing girl." He said. "You're gonna' need all that food, so that all the little builders inside ya' can make you grow tall. One day you'll be taller than me." He chuckled and gently squeezed her shoulder.


"And think, we're going to have a little bit of time after dinner, anyways. So you can let the dinner go down, then we can have the popcorn after." He chuckled. "Let's just hope we don't get sick from it, because we really don't want that. Still, I know you. You're like a bottomless pit, you are." He grinned at her. "Try and eat everything you can tonight, but don't force yourself because I said so. I just don't want you going hungry, that's all." He smiled down at her.


They were almost home now. He crossed her over the road, and from there, it was just a straight walk down to get to the house. Ah, hell began. He didn't need to see his dad, because he hated him just as much, too. He wished him dead, as well - He didn't need him. He didn't need his mother. He just needed his brothers and Maddie. That was it. He didn't care about his parents anymore, because they stopped being his parents a long time ago.


He hated to think what his mom was doing. Did she have another boy, just like him? Did she have another daughter, too? Just like Maddie?


Bitch.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

Max was slicing away at the carrots effectively, and he'd started to feel in a better mood thanks to the joyful tones of the Beatles sounding through the kitchen. He had to work with the kitchen door shut, and the music on low, but that didn't stop him from mumbling along to the words he knew, and he knew all of them. He didn't have many CD's, like I said, but he listened to one every time he cooked. It was a way for him to escape the hell that he was living in, just by immersing himself in the music.


The current song playing was Yellow Submarine, and, I mean, can you really not sing along to that? He was grinning as he did so, slicing the carrots, but being careful not to chop one of his fingers off or something. God knew they couldn't pay for a damn medical bill on top of all of the other bills and rent he had to pay. No, he didn't want to think about that, so instead he just shook his head and continued on with the carrots. When they were done, he put them into a pan, but didn't put any water on. Instead, he got out the mince from the freezer and put it in the shoddy old microwave for five minutes to defrost.


While that was going ahead, he got some gravy granules (the cheap and unappealing kind, but Max actually kind of liked it) and poured that into water, enough for four people. Him, Michael, Madeleine, and his father. He still had to feed him, as much as he didn't actually want to feed him, or he'd die. He didn't reckon he even knew how to work a stove anymore.


He poured the gravy into the pan with the vegetables, and then took the mince from the microwave and put that inside the pot as well. There, that was the broth actually prepared, now it just needed to cook. He suspected that his siblings would be home any minute now, so they would have chance to do whatever it is they needed to do before dinner, and then they could eat, and then Max could go.


-


Maddie grinned up at him and clung onto his arm, "I'm gonna eat every last bite of it, Max has made, and then I'm gonna eat all my popcorn, and all your popcorn too, because I'm gonna be bigger than you when I'm older. I'm gonna be... I'm gonna be as tall as a house. But not our house, no, as tall as... As tall as a mansion! As tall as a Barbie mansion!" She laughed and then jumped up and down, shaking his arm with her. She was usually like this on walks home, energetic and jumpy.


To her, the rest of the night meant that she could be with Mikey, and that was exciting to her, but this was Friday... That meant that she got to spend two whole days and nights with him, because it was the weekend. If he didn't go out, of course. If he went out then she would just play in her room, or take one of her only owned DVD's (a gift from their grandparents) into Daniel and Mikey's room, and watch that while she waited for him to come back.


She didn't like it when he wasn't there, though. She was scared of their father, and there was no doubt about that. She was terrified of him, she always had been. He'd always been a monster to her, always been drunk and loud and violent. She'd gotten quite a few bruises from him in her time, from when he had pushed her away or smacked her too hard. She was only delicate, and he was strong, she would break easily if he got really bad.

 

[DrTrollinski]

He flushed the toilet and took a long deep breath before walking over and washing his hands in the sink. Okay, he was okay now. Well, he was always okay, he had been okay for most the time he'd been here, but he wanted to get home. No, he wanted to run home and make sure that everything was okay. It's great, really, because dinner was so early here, like I'd said before, so in an odd little way he was really happy that he could be home sooner. He was actually dreading the time that they broke up for the Summer break, though, because he'd be spending around two months with his father. He was waiting for CPS to knock on the door and just move them all into one nice house with a nice family, but that never happened. Ever. He was done wishing for that a long long time ago, but hey, he'd have a good life later on, like he'd promised himself.


He went downstairs and said goodbye to everyone, and he noticed how nice the older brother and the parents were, how fake they were. They were only nice to him because they knew his situation, not because they liked him. He didn't like fake people, but then again, wasn't Michael sort of fake, too? He always did things different. Instead of showering after gym class, he'd come back during lunch so he could shower by himself. Instead of taking off his shirt in front of people when he had to go to bed, he'd go off to the bathroom and do it - He'd say he was okay, but was he? Michael was fake, but Michael was family. He loved Michael like there was no other.


He knew he'd be home after Mikey and Maddie, but he didn't mind. He was hoping that would be the case, really, he liked getting home after them because he knew that Michael had a little routine when he got back that sort of went uninterrupted - He always did a few things to ensure the health and well-being of himself and Maddie, and they were just small things that no one else would really think about that much. Daniel appreciated it, though, because Daniel knew it was all for a good cause.


Even if Michael was an utter prick sometimes.


After he said goodbye, he began to speed-walk home. He had a little bit of homework to do, but he'd do that during the day, tomorrow.


--


Another reason why Michael hated his father. With every bruise that his sister got, she only gave a thousand more tears that Mikey had to sit there and hug her about, he had to rub her back and let her sleep in the same bed as him for some nights, just because of how terrifying their father could be. Wall side. He always let her sleep wall-side. He had his arms around her and he made sure that she was sheltered, right through the night. He'd sit up for an extra half hour so that she could get off to sleep, and so that he could make sure his father didn't come into the room. He didn't want that. He didn't want him coming in and doing anything.


With every bruise, there was only more shouting.


With every dropping tear, there was only more shoving.


With every conflict, there was only more injury.


"Oh, you'll be taller than that." He grinned down at her as they neared the house. "So much taller. Think, I can pick you up now, but in a few years time, you'll probably be to pick up me." He laughed. Ah, they were home, they were home and he had a feeling that they were going to go through hell, but it would also be quite a nice weekend, hopefully, because they were going to watch a movie tonight and it'd all be okay. He just didn't like the smell of whiskey that hit him once he reached the front door.


He pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked it, keeping hold of Maddie's hand as he guided her inside. "Alright, sis." He looked down at her and smiled. "You know the drill... Go use the bathroom if you need to, regardless, go and wash your hands anyway. We don't need any germs making you sick, do we?" He said, gently pinching her cheek between his index finger and thumb in a playful manner. "You do that, and I'll go into the kitchen and get you a drink ready." He smiled at her.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

Max was stirring the broth when he heard the front door open and close. He only heard it faintly because of his music, but he heard it none the less. It wasn't like the house was big enough, or had thick enough walls, to not notice every sound that went on in the place. Someone passed gas in their bedroom in their sleep, you could probably hear it. Regardless, his ears twitched and he looked up, and then walked over to the cupboard that had glasses in it.


He knew Michaels routine, he knew that the first thing he was gonna be doing was getting her a drink before he did anything else for anyone. The whole family had routine, it was susceptible to change, but it was a routine nonetheless. Their fathers routine was drinking, sleeping, and watching TV. It happened the same way every day, whether he knew it or not. The moment he would wake up, he would drink to get rid of the hangover, he would lay on the couch for an hour or so with an old book, and then he would drink even more and watch TV.


Max... His routine, well, we'd already discussed that.


And, as for Maddie...


Well. She followed Michaels routine, or the one that he had set out for her, at least. School, home, toilet when she got there and then she'd get a drink. She'd do whatever during the time that Max had left till the meal, maybe homework if she had any, and then after that she would play with her dolls and avoid her father, staying in her room or in Mikey's room.


Max had gotten out the glass that Michael always gave to her, one of their best glasses with pretty flowers on it, a glass for Mikey, and then a glass for himself. He wanted a drink too. So he walked over to the sink with his glass and got himself some water, but that was it, and sipped on that while he stirred the broth again.


Maddie nodded her head at Mikey with a grin on her face, and then looked at their house. She hated it, not that she could ever really express this opinion. It wasn't what she wanted, what the other girls had, what they talked about. It wasn't like Barbie's house, and it wasn't like the houses in the films. It smelt funny, it looked funny. There was a problem with the toilet, you had to press extra hard to get it to flush. The water was sometimes cold in her bath, and she got a draft through her window even when it was shut.


It wasn't so noticeable to others, but it was noticeable to her.


Still, she walked outside with Mikey, clutching his arm but keeping the smile on her face. When inside, she listened to her instructions, saluted him, and then ran off to her bedroom to put her bag away, get her Barbie out, and then go to the bathroom. She wanted to put her painting on the fridge, somehow. They did have magnets, alphabetical ones, so it would be possible. God knew they needed something cheerful in there anyway.


She ran inside her bedroom and over to her bed. Everything was pink. Well, the walls were a slightly off-white, the carpet was a strange and sickly yellow, but still, the rest of it was as pink as she could get it. The bedding, the flower shaped rug, the small dolls house that Max had managed to bring home from a charity shop for her birthday, and she'd cried when she got it because she was so excited. It wasn't big enough for her Barbies, but she made it work.


She even had various shoe boxes that were coloured in and decorated with tissue boxes that made some kind of makeshift dollhouse, but they were abandoned in the corner. They were the ones that Mikey had made her, and though she didn't use them so much anymore, she wasn't throwing them away. No, that was the Barbies 'expensive holiday home' apparently.

 

[DrTrollinski]

He didn't get far down the driveway before he started to regret his decision. He was walking out early, again, and he couldn't help but think about how he made his friend feel when he did that. He didn't want to leave. He wanted to trust that his brothers could take care of things, so he spun on one heel and instantly ran back to the door, knocking on it a few times. He knocked rather heavily, and soon enough, Davis came and opened it up and stared upon him. Daniel gave a weak little smile and managed to just say one word, "Hi." And that was just it. That was all there was to it, and Davis looked at him for a few moments, seeming a little puzzled, but soon nodded to him.


"Hey, Dan... Did you forget something inside?" He asked.


"No... I..." He sighed and looked away. "I'm really sorry." He said. "I always leave so early, and it looks like I'm just coming here for the food and that's it. I... You know how nervous I get, how much I worry about my family and all... But... Nothing ever happens and I keep on worrying." He sighed. "Can I come back in? I can... I can stay until late tonight. Well, kinda' late, at least nine o'clock'ish so that I can get back home for nine-thirty." He said, but he had tears in his eyes. He quickly blinked them away and looked back up at him.


Davis just smiled and nodded once, followed by reaching out and pulling him into a bit of a 'bro hug'. "You idiot." He chuckled. "C'mon... Don't get all tearful on me, I don't want you crying on my shoulder." He said. "You know... You know that it doesn't ever hurt me if you leave early. We still spent some time together, you know that." He smiled and pulled him inside, shutting the door behind him. "You're... An honest guy, Dan." He said. "That means a lot. You know that you just... Well, speaking the truth, tellin' me if you're worried or upset or whatever, you know... You know that means a lot, don't you?" He asked.


"I... Yeah." Daniel shrugged, smiling weakly.


"You only ever lied to me when we were about twelve, and that upset me, but hey. Who cares, right?" He chuckled. "Come on. Let's go play the Xbox for a while." He smiled a little and slowly climbed the stairs, and Daniel happily followed behind him, without a single worry on his mind. It was a great feeling actually.


But tonight. Oh, tonight, he should have just gone home.


--


First thing Michael did. He was in a good mood, so why not? He walked up to Max and quickly pulled him into a hug, patting him on the back a few times. It was more of a friendly hug rather than an affectionate one, but that was just Michael. Michael was odd in the sense of how he treated people. He expressed his love in some very odd and unusual ways sometimes. What could you do, though? You need to find a way to treat people like that, because if you outline them, they only get worse, and that's just terrible - Why would you want to do that to someone? Surely you'd just want to talk to them and make sure they felt... I don't know. Included?


He filled up Maddie's glass with the water and then filled up his own with some, too. He placed them both on the kitchen table and smiled at Max. Maddie wasn't back just yet, so if she wasn't around, he had a different kind of vocabulary that wouldn't offend her in any way. "Max... I'll talk in a minute, man. I've been really busting for a piss since I got outta' school, so just bear with me, okay?" He smiled weakly at him and nodded, but picked up Maddie's glass once again. "I'll take this drink into Maddie." He said. "I'll be back in just a minute." He said, quickly speedwalking out of the kitchen and down the small hallway. He went to Maddie's room and knocked on the door, smiling at her as he walked in and went and placed the glass down on her night stand.


"There's your drink there, sis." He said. "I've gotta' go pee, okay? Then I'm gonna' go to talk Max about the day, and I'll call you when dinner's ready, okay? Once we've had dinner, we'll watch that movie together." He smiled and quickly retreated out of the room and went into the bathroom, locking the door behind him. He quickly went to the toilet and relieved himself, and good lord, he promised himself he'd never wait to go that long ever again. Once he was done, he flushed the toilet and washed his hands before he left the bathroom and meandered back to the kitchen. He wasn't going to leave Maddie for too long, obviously.


"So, Max..." He slowly walked over and sat down at the table, sipping his drink. "How was your day?" He asked. Michael was almost like a mob-boss in the way he acted. "Anything interesting happen? Met any bitches yet?" He asked, a sly little grin on his face as he asked. It was only a joke, obviously.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

Max was kind of shocked when Michael hugged him, but he didn't question it or say anything about it, because he was his brother and the main thing here was that he, who usually didn't hug him, was actually hugging him. He loved his brothers, both of them. He loved his entire family, even if his siblings were the only ones who were really considered as his family. He liked to show it, but it was usually to Daniel who he showed it to. They were the closer ones, and Mad and Michael were the other close ones.


It was still nice to be with each other like this, though, even if it was only short. He knew that he wanted to go see Mad first, so he wasn't surprised, and he just agreed and turned back to the pot. To be honest, he didn't really expect him to come back, but, still. It'd be nice if he did.


Maddie looked up when Mikey came into her room, and she smiled at him. By this point she had put her bag on her bed, and had placed her picture neatly beside it. She always made her bed, every morning after she had woken up and Mikey had helped dress her. She could dress herself, but she made a fuss most of the time, and liked it when Mikey dressed her. When she saw him, her face lit up again, and she took the drink from him.


"Thank you!" She sang, and then took a few big gulps before putting it down on her bedside table and opening up her bag. She pulled out her lunch box and then her Barbie. Some other girls brought their Barbie's to school with them, but they changed their Barbie's clothes every day. Maddie could do that, if she wanted to, but only three times. She only had four Barbie's, and one of them didn't have clothes, so.


When she heard the toilet flush, she quickly ran down the hall, barefoot now that she had taken off her trainers, and dived into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. She wanted to use the toilet quick, really, really quick. She hated using it here, because sometimes her father would barge in on her and yell at her until she had left, and she didn't like that. So she always did it as fast as she could, washed her hands thoroughly with soap, and then she darted back into her bedroom. Her door was left open ajar, but she didn't bother going into the kitchen. She wanted to do something first.


Max looked at Michael and laughed, sipping at his own drink. "Hell no I didn't. You wouldn't believe it, man. I've grown up with the people in my school, and it's like the pretty girls have gotten uglier and the ugly girls have gotten prettier, which is hell to me, cos I was a dick to the ugly girls in middle school. So, no, no bitches for me. 'Part from Marnie, she still wants me." He laughed and then shrugged. "She's going to this party tomorrow, at Scott's, and she wants me to come so she can have a piece of me."


He turned his back on his brother again and inspected the pot that the broth was cooking in. "What about you? You had an interesting day? Or was it just another boring day in the detainment camp?"

 

[DrTrollinski]

"You know how it goes." Michael smirked. "I go there, I sit at a desk, I throw a pencil across a room, I get sent out of class." He chuckled and shrugged and took a quick look around with a little sigh. "Sitting there, wanting to just jerk off but not being able to." He added on quickly, but instantly laughed loudly right after. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I don't think about that sort of thing at school." He said, pausing for a moment. "Much." He whispered, grinning again as he leaned back in his chair and quickly chugged down a little more water. He heard Maddie running into the bathroom, and he was hoping that she was okay. He knew that dad could be a bit of a dick at all times - He didn't know if Maddie locked the door, but he wasn't sure. If she locked the door, her dad would easily get more angry and decide to kick the door in instead.


"I don't understand that." He sighed. "How you ain't got yourself a girl." He shrugged again and sipped his water. He tried to make humor out of the bad, and that was one thing that was good about Michael. If you couldn't laugh at something, what was the point in trying to cope with it? You needed to be able to cope with it, or you'd just sink into some sort of pit that you couldn't get out of. That's why Michael always seemed to be such a 'go-with-the-flow' kind of guy. "Think, you could bring her back here, serve her some vintage water and buttered bread, then you could push mine and Daniel's beds together so that you could have a little bit of fun." He grinned and eventually started laughing once again.


He was wondering how Daniel was, right now, they couldn't afford cell phones so they didn't have constant contact once school finished, once they left the house, even. Michael left a little bit earlier to take Maddie to school first, then he'd make his own way to his school and would hopefully meet Daniel at the gate - Both schools hosted breakfast mornings, so usually, on a couple of days of the week it was worth heading out a little bit earlier and getting there on time to get some breakfast. For free. Even if it was only a piece of toast with some jam on it, it was still food, and food was a good thing to have.


"How was Daniel this morning, anyway?" He asked. "I didn't really get a good chance to talk to him today. He doing alright? I know he's a bit stressed out about some biology homework that he needs to do, but that's about it." He said. Ah, Daniel. He was always getting stressed about everything, he was always panicking and always acting like the world had turned upside down on his head. "I and Maddie are watching a movie I rented after dinner. A friend gave me some money, so I got popcorn, and... Rio, I think it's called." He smiled a little. "I hope Daniel's doing alright, though... My brother, honestly, he's the only guy I know that would worry about burning boiled eggs." He smirked again and looked down at the table as he sipped his drink.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

Max laughed and nodded his head. "Yeah, I'm sure you totally don't think about doing that at school. Man, I think everyone does. I've walked into the bathroom at school a few times to hear a guy who was actually doing it in the stalls. Fuckin' disgusting, I mean, come on, at school? Of all places?" He laughed and then shrugged his shoulders, but moved onto Michaels next... Topic, if you like. "I do have myself a girl. I have Marnie wrapped around my little finger, like I said. She'd do anythin' for me, I don't see why though, it's not like I treat her special. Maybe I'm good in bed, who knows." He winked and then looked back at the pot for a minute.


See, it wasn't like he and Michael didn't get along. Sure, sometimes they had their differences, but ultimately all four of them were in this together, the only thing that they all had that could pull them through this situation. Would Max be going to college? No. He wouldn't be. He'd be staying home so that he could look after the rest of them, so that the three of them could go to college. If he could ever afford it. It was expensive, really expensive, so he didn't know if they could ever dream of it. At the very least he wanted Mad to have that opportunity.


"Yeah, Daniel was fine. I helped him out a bit. I mean, I may not know a lot about biology, I don't remember much, but if I try... I can be a little bit helpful, you know?" He smiled and looked back at the pot, it was about ready to start serving up now, thankfully, as Max was getting rather hungry and actually wanted to eat sooner rather than later. He turned the stove off and then pulled the pot onto the side, before searching around in a draw for four bowls, a serving spoon, and some forks. They didn't really need knives for broth, there wasn't anything that you had to cut. "Rio... That one about the birds... In Brazil?" He asked, looking back at him for a moment, before then continuing to dish appropriate servings for his siblings.


An appropriate child size for Mad, a bigger serving for Michael, a moderate serving for himself, and then a... Alright... Serving for his father. He'd give that to him, first, before he served anyone else's.


"Have fun with that. I can... I can try and bring back some soda for tomorrow, from the gas station, if you want? I don't know, but I can try." He looked at Michael again and then pushed the pot away. There was still enough left for a few days, which was the beauty about broth, so he put the pot lid on it to keep it hot, he'd put it into a container and in the fridge after he ate. He picked up his fathers bowl and fork, and sighed. He had to actually interact with him, now, so, that would be fun, wouldn't it?


Mad was still in her room, so it wasn't like he had to serve right away anyway.


"I'm just gonna give this to dad, I'll serve in a second." He nodded at his brother and then walked out of the kitchen and into the living room.


There he was, sat there in his dressing gown and sweat pants, his expression... Vacant, his hair thinning. He had a beer belly, a constant shadow of facial hair, and a look in his eye which was either hopelessly depressed or hopelessly angry. Max put the food down on the coffee table for him, and slid it over. "Dad, broth. I didn't think that you wanted to join us at the table so-"


"You're right, I didn't." He growled, and looked up to meet Max's eye. That was enough for him, so he backed away and into the kitchen once more.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Ah, sure." He said. "I know, dude. There was some guy in our school that did that, too. I know him, too, really nice guy and all, but believe me..." He sighed. "When you go into a bathroom to piss, the last thing you want to hear is hand-against-thigh over and over again - It really ain't nice, but I'm a nice disgusting guy myself, so I didn't say a word to anyone else." He said, sipping his water as he looked over his shoulder towards the exit of the kitchen again. "I just sat there in shock for a while once I got back to lesson." He laughed loudly and shook his head a couple of times. He was wondering if Maddie was okay. There wasn't a moment in time when she wasn't on his mind, he even dreamed about her sometimes, and if he got up during the night to use the bathroom, he'd always check on her before he went back to bed.


"Good in bed." He laughed and gave a fake mockery noise by making a 'pfff' sound with his bed. "You? She'd probably snap you in half, man." He smirked. "Plus, I don't think you'd be able to get away with it here. You'd have Daniel knocking on the door and panicking about something, me screaming at dad as per usual, and Maddie... Well... She'd just be fast asleep." He chuckled. He still was the one to call her Maddie. Like I said, he didn't like it if anyone else said it. It was odd, really, but what could you do? You couldn't really get angry at the guy for it, because it was just his way of life. His sister meant the world to him, just like his twin brother did, but he wasn't as nice to his twin brother because he'd had a whole fourteen years of him, right at his side - Daniel should have been independent enough by now, right?


"Yeah. Don't let the old prick get too close." He said right as he walked out of the room. It was there that his hate for their father shone through - sometimes, he was the only one to tell their dad how they all really felt about him. The worst thing he ever said to his dad was where he spoke about how much of an inconsiderate asshole he was, and told him how he ruined their life and made everything bad for them. And then he committed the worst sin possible against his dad.


He hit him and said 'It's no surprise mom left you.'


Yeah. That's when he got hit around the face. That was the one thing their dad wouldn't condone for. He didn't like it if you did so much as talk about their mother, in a good or a bad way. He was a dick, and Michael hated him with a passion. If he could get away with it, he'd gladly slit his throat. Michael was a bit of a psycho, really, he was almost heartless. His only soft-spot was Maddie, and occasionally Daniel.


Once he came back he looked at him and sighed, but smiled nonetheless. "Nice to see you're alive." He chuckled weakly. "You wanna' call Maddie in?" He asked as he shuffled his chair a little closer to the table and rested his arms on the surface of it.