Disclaimer's Note: No, unfortunately I don't own the television show Even Stevems:-(
Ren Stevens sat on her brother's bed, hugging her legs close to her chest. She allowed her tears to flow freely from her eyes, staining her perfectly smooth face in the process. She managed to choke back her sobs and weep silently.
Louis walked slowly up to her, putting a gentle hand on her back. As Ren raised her eyes to look at his face she noticed he too had been crying.
"I'm...I'm gonna run down to Tawny's for a little while. I don't know how much more of this environment I can take. Seeing mom and dad like that...I just don't know if I can..."
Ren nodded empathetically. "I know what you mean."
"Are you gonna be alright?" Louis asked his sister in concern.
Ren nodded slightly, staring at what appeared to be nothing. She shook her head and brushed her hair our of her face.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'll be fine. You go ahead." Ren smiled in reassurance, but not fooling Louis for a second.
"All right. I'll be back in a couple hours." Louis told her, giving Ren one last squeeze on her shoulder in consolation.
Louis wiped his face with his hands, getting rid of any remaining tears that were still there.
"See you later." Ren whispered to him, then realizing that he was already halfway down the stairs once she said it.
Ren closed her eyes and placed her head against her knees. Not able to stop the flow of tears that escaped, she cried.
She stayed in that position for a long time, ignoring anything around her; which was probably why she didn't notice a figure standing in the doorway of her brother's room.
For what seemed to be no particular reason, Ren lifted her head. Her eyes searched the now dark room and she gasped when she glanced at the doorway.
"Oh..." She breathed in relief. "Twitty...It's only you."
Twitty nodded.
"Well...um...Louis isn't here right now. He went over to Tawny's. He actually shouldn't even be back for a couple hours more...Who let you in?"
Twitty cleared his throat. Suddenly it had started to feel dry.
"Um...Your mom answered the door. She told me that she didn't think that Louis was here. But...um...I heard what happened and I just wanted to say that I'm sorry."
At this point Twitty was working his way closer to where Ren was sitting on Louis' bed.
"...And...I know how close you were to your grandfather...I don't really know what else to say. I really am sorry."
Ren stifled a laugh. Twitty was so sweet sometimes.
"Thank you, Twitty." She said softly.
Twitty gently sat down next to her in the middle of the bed.
There was a moment of awkward silence between the two of them until Twitty noticed Ren's fresh tears running down her cheeks.
"Ren? It's gonna be okay. I know that people hate to here this...but...something's were meant to be. Maybe he finally let himself go in the hospital because he knew you guys would be okay without him. I mean, I know it's gonna be hard for a while, but, eventually you're gonna pull through it. You're strong, Ren. So is your whole family."
"Twitty..." Ren choked through her tears. "How...How can you say that? What gives you the right?" She demanded.
Twitty was taken aback. He thought that what he just said might give her atleast a little reassurance. Sure, nobody likes to hear those things about someone they loved but...he was only trying to help!
"What gives me the right to what?" He asked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.
Ren looked at him in astonishment for a moment before answering.
"My grandfather happened to love us all very much, Twitty. If he were to have a say in when he died he would never have chosen now. No, he would have waited forever, just to avoid our pain. There was a saying that he used to say to our grandma. I'm not sure where he got it from but, it went something like this: 'If you were to live to be one hundred, then I'd live to be one hundred and one day so I'd never have to live a day without you.' He never spoke a truer word in his life. Do you really think that if he had a choice in when he died he would have chosen now? Do you think he would have left my grandmother completely shattered and helpless...?"
Twitty sat listening to Ren break through to him and noticed that she was shivering.
"Ren?" Twitty attempted to interrupt her.
"Do you think that I'm some type of selfish pig?"
Wow. Twitty did not expect that coming.
"What?"
"Do you think that I'm so perfect that I don't care that my grandfather is never coming back? That I'm really going to tell my family to get over it and move on? How strong do you think I am...?"
Twitty now noticed that Ren was no longer shivering. She was shaking.
"Ren?" Twitty attempted to interrupt her once more.
When Ren didn't relent, Twitty tried to pull her against him.
"No! Stop it Twitty. I do not need your sympathy. I'm a big girl now."
"Shhh. I know. Just relax Ren. I never meant to offend you. I'm sorry."
"No, no, no." Ren whimpered. "Stop."
"Ren, it's alright. Calm down. I was only trying to help. I know you're not like that. I know it. Come here."
Feeling comforted by the words Twitty spoke and the soothingness in his voice, Ren closed her eyes and allowed Twitty to pull her into him. There she was able to bury her face into his shoulder and cry. Twitty stroked her back and whispered into her ear.
It didn't take long before Ren had comfortably fallen asleep.
Ren awoke and glanced at her alarm clock next to her bed.
"One-o-three." She murmured.
She sat up and searched her environment. How did she get in here?
The last thing she remembered was being in Louis' room and being held by Twitty.
'Wow.' Ren thought to herself. 'What a night. Twitty?'
Despite her astonishment at what Twitty had done for her, she couldn't help but smile.
'Alan Twitty. With his arms around me?'
Thinking back to only a couple hours ago brought back the reason as to why Twitty held her in his arms.
'Grandpa.' Ren sighed and ran a hand through her unkempt hair. She stood up and decided to get a drink of water before attempting to sleep again.
Ren walked down the darkened hallway as quietly as she knew how, careful not to disturb anyone. The last thing anyone in the house needed was to be deprived of a good night's sleep just because Ren needed to get some water.
As she tiptoed down the stairs she suddenly felt a rush of cool air pass over her. She shivered.
As she hit the last step she noticed the window by the door was wide open.
Although, without a doubt, it made her feel uneasy, she decided to make it her responsibility to shut it. She made her way over to the window and, before slamming it shut, she decided to stick her head out the window and see how nice it was. Ren relaxed as she felt the cool air hit her skin. She turned her head slightly and searched for the moon. She spotted it hiding behind a group of trees. She smiled. That was more like it.
Ren backed her head out of the window and closed it.
She sighed and continued her way into the kitchen. Not bothering to turn the light on, Ren felt her way in the cabinet for a glass.
"Ah ha!" She exclaimed.
Ren grabbed her chosen glass and brought it over to the sink with her. She ran the water, waiting to fill her glass until she felt the water was cold enough.
As Ren sipped her water she heard a bang. It wasn't a tremendous bang, but it was loud enough to make her heart stop, even if only for a second.
Ren gently placed her now empty glass in the sink. She really didn't want to walk around the corner but she knew she had to in order to get back upstairs. She also knew that was where the noise had come from.
As she came closer to where she had to turn, she grabbed an umbrella. Though she knew it wouldn't be able to do much damage, she knew if she used it the right way, it would be able to do just enough damage for her to run to the telephone.
Ren rounded the dark corner and stifled an expected scream and, without full realization, slammed her umbrella on top of the figure's head.
Lucky for him, Ren wasn't all that strong.
An "Ow." And a thump were the only two things that Ren heard before she realized that Louis was lying before her on the ground.
"Oh my gosh! Louis! I am so sorry! I had no idea that was you! What are you doing down here at nearly one thirty in the morning anyway?" Ren nearly hissed, trying desperately to regain both her breath and a heartbeat.
"I could ask you the same thing." Louis replied, barely hiding the smirk that was forming on his face, due to scaring his sister so bad.
"I'm gonna kill you Louis." Ren whispered as she leaned down to help her little brother up. "In case you need to know, I was getting a drink of water."
Ren looked at Louis expectantly.
"Well?"
"What?"
Ren rolled her eyes. "Why did you come down here? Just to give me a heart attack?"
Louis smirked alittle.
"I couldn't sleep. I've been up for about an hour playing video games. Doesn't seem to work. It's like, no matter what I do, nothing seems to take my mind off of..." Louis' voice trailed off. "God Ren! Is it wrong for me to want to take my mind off of him for even a minute? How sick is that? I mean, he just died and I don't want to think about him?"
Louis' voice began to crack. "Oh great! Now I'm gonna start crying again!"
"Shh. Louis, it's alright to cry. It's okay." Ren pulled Louis into a hug and allowed him to cry on her shoulder, just like Twitty let Ren.
After a moment or two, Ren pulled back. "Are you okay now?"
Louis nodded. "Yeah, I guess I just let my emotions get the best of me. Sorry."
"No problem, Louis...Listen, I'm gonna go to bed now. I don't know about you, but whatever you decide, just don't wake up mom and dad."
"I think I'm gonna try and go to bed too."
As Ren and Louis started off to their separate bedrooms, Ren paused in the middle of the staircase.
"Holy geez, Ren. What's the big idea?"
Ren turned around to face Louis.
"Louis...What time did you get home?"
"You mean from Tawny's?"
Ren nodded.
"Um...About ten-o-clock. Why?"
Ignoring his question, Ren asked one of her own. "Where was I when you got home?"
Louis looked at his sister in confusion. "You were in your bedroom, and Twitty was just leaving. Why do you want to know?"
Ignoring him once again, Ren responded with a simple 'thank you' and 'goodnight'.
Ren walked off to bed, thinking about how Twitty must have picked her up in his strong arms and tucked her into bed while she was sleeping.
She was gonna have to thank him for that.