Falling Apart: Secrets

Chapter 1

It had been two months since Don had been arrested, and things were awkward to say the least. The twins were living in the craftsman with Charlie and Alan. Alex was concentrating on school and track, and was spending a lot of time with Charlie. Ande was doing anything that would keep her out of the house as much as possible, and visiting Don at least once a week after school. Charlie was either focusing on his teaching, or he and Alex were working on some project. Alan was struggling with trying to raise the twins and keeping the family together, despite missing one member. The one thing they were all doing was not talking about what happened. Ande was the only one who even visited Don, though Alex was starting to have her pass along messages.

Dinner one night was the same as it had been for the past couple months. They were all there just like every other night. Charlie, Amita, and Larry were talking some complicated math/physics stuff. Ande and Alex were unusually quiet, occasionally looking at each other. Today had been her visit with Don, Alex wanted to talk about it, but they both knew that they shouldn't bring up around everyone else. Alan suspected they were thinking about their father, so he decided to bring up something else.

"How's school going you two?," Alan asked the twins.

"Fine," they both said, both shrugging, and continuing to pick at their food.

"Anything interesting going on?"

"Nope," they both said, both shaking their heads, and continuing to pick their food. Alan noticed they weren't going to talk, so he let it go. The rest of the dinner finished in silence.

After dinner, Alex was finally able to talk to his sister. When he went in the room, she had the window open to get rid of the smoke from her cigarette, and he could tell she wasn't in a good mood. She looked over at him when she heard him shut the door. He half smiled at him, and she nodded in return.

"So are we gonna talk about it?," he asked as he walked over by her.

"About what?" He scowled at her, and she smiled back. "I'm just kidding. So what did you wanna know?"

"Well, how is he?" She looked down when he asked.

"How do you think?," she asked him sarcastically.

"D-Did he ask about me?," he stuttered out. She looked at him, saw the sorrow in his eyes. She put out her cigarette, grabbed his arm, and pulled him over and sat him on the bed.

She looked straight in his eyes as she told him what he wanted to know. "He always asks about you," she told him. "He always asks about you, Charlie, Alan, everyone." He half smiled, pleased about this, but then turned sorrowful again.

"Do you really think he murdered the guy?" This question caught Ande off guard.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well he said he killed him, but he never said anything about meaning to kill him," Alex tried to explain. Ande looked down, and Alex had his answer. "So, when are you going next?," he asked, changing the subject back.

"Probably Monday," she told him, looking back up at her brother.

"Do y-you th-think t-that m-maybe...," he was stuttering, but Ande knew what he was asking.

"Yes," she answered before he finished. He looked at her, thankful she didn't make him squirm anymore. She smiled. "He'll be happy to see you." Alex smiled at this, then got up to leave.

The next day at school Alex came up to Ande at her locker. She was putting her books in it. She could tell he was there, so she just dove right in.

"What do you want?," she asked bluntly, trying not to get another detention for being late.

"I changed my mind," he told her, looking everywhere but at her. She knew what he was talking about though.

"Oh come on Al! You're just scared." He looked shocked by her tone, and her insight. "You just think he's gonna be mad at you." Alex opened his mouth to speak, but found he couldn't, so she continued. "Well, he's not! He knows why you were mad, and he knows you're upset. Now, stop being such a baby!" He knew she was right, so he couldn't object to what she was saying. The bell rang, and they both started heading to class, but Ande turned around and caught up with Alex.

"Hey, you think you can cover for me tonight? Mike and I are going out later."

He smiled. "Always."

"Thanks." She smiled back.

After she left school Ande went over to Mike's. They were curled up on the couch watching TV. She thought he'd been acting kind of weird, so she decided to confront him.

"OK, what's going on?," she asked looking up at him.

He sighed. "I'm being deployed again." She looked down, and waited a few minutes before responding.

"When?" She was staring at the TV to avoid eye contact.

"End of next week," he said, looking down at her now. She searched his eyes, looking for something, but wasn't sure what.

"How long?"

He paused for a minute. "Two years."

"Two years?! Damn it, Mike!" She got up off the couch, stood in front of him, and stared down at him. He looked up at her. "You know what's being going on. You know what I've been through. Now you're telling me that you're gonna leave me too!" He got up and walked over to her. She hesitated, but let him hug her.

"I know, sweetie. Look, if I had any way of getting out of it or delaying it, I would. I know what you've been through. I know this is a rough time for you, but you're gonna be fine," he whispered in her ear. She was trying to control her emotions, he could tell. He hugged her tighter.

About an hour later they were curled up on the couch after they had made pretty good use of it, so to speak. They wanted to make the best out of the rest of their time together, and that meant trying to spend as much time as they could together. He looked down at her and kissed her lightly. It was getting late and he knew she'd have to leave soon.

"Want to go get some dinner?," he asked her. "I know a place." She smiled.

"Sure."

Back at the craftsman, Alan was trying to get Alex to tell him where Ande was at. He was getting nowhere. All Alex would tell him was that she was with a friend. Alan knew she was with the 21 year old marine, which made him furious. He didn't like the idea of his 17 year old granddaughter dating a jarhead. He finally gave up on getting any information out of Alex, who went on to bed afterwards. Alan stayed up past midnight waiting for Ande, who finally got back at almost one.

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?? ARE YOU TRYING TO WORRY ME TO DEATH?? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?" She had just closed the door behind her when he started yelling.

"I was out. I'm fine," she answered him calmly. She headed for the stairs when he stopped her.

"Where do you think you're going? We're not done here. Sit down." He pointed to the couch. She sighed, but went over and sat down. He paused, trying to do this as calmly as he could. "Why are you doing this? You just think that when things don't go right you can just do whatever you want because you feel like it?" This was pissing her off, it reminded her of her mother.

"You're not my father, just because he's not here doesn't mean you can start acting like you are." He looked away and took a deep breath, she'd hit a nerve and she knew it. "Now, I'm going to bed so I won't be late for school. You got a problem with that?"

When he didn't say anything, she went upstairs and went to bed. She woke up three hours later in a cold sweat, another nightmare. Alex calmed her down, but she wasn't able to go back to sleep. She'd been having the same nightmare since she was 13. Except, for the past couple months it had changed a little. Tonight it was back to the old one, no doubt triggered by memories of her mother.