Authors note: Hi there shoelaces! This is a story that's been festering in my brain for months it's Lofty' s backstory but its become so complicated it needs this prequel type thing (that's what happens when you let an idea grow for nearly a year)
I sat in silence in the front of my Dad's car as we sped towards the therapists office. It hadn't been in the car with him for years, he hadn't been sober since my first stepmum Hannah left him nearly twelve years ago.
My Dad, who was a widower had met the beautiful blonde at the local pub. From the night they met I could see a difference in my Dad. He had been single since my Mum died when I was two and Hannah had been single since her own boyfriend died leaving her with their five year old daughter, Leah.
The pair soon moved in and I tried to adjust to my new step sister the best I could. Leah was blonde like her Mother, tall for her age and the liveliest little girl I had ever met! Leah' s early life had been pretty unsettled. Her and Hannah moved every few months so she never really made any friends but after about a month or so she began to really come out of her shell.
Then Hannah dropped a bombshell. She was pregnant.
A calm fell over the new family for the next nine months. Dad got into the property market to make some extra cash, Leah settled into school and according to her teacher she was 'a pleasure to have in class's. I began my third year of secondary school and Hannah... well Hannah started disappearing. About once a week, she said she was going to a 'pregnancy support group'. We believed her of course but as her due date got closer she began to disappear more and for longer. Between us my Dad and I cared for Leah, picked her up form school and took her to balet as well as preparing for the baby.
Hannah went into labour one sunny Saturday morning in late August. After what seemed like a century I got the phone call from my Dad telling that the baby had been born and I should bring Leah to the hospital.
When we got to Hannah's room she was propped up on a bed, Dad was holding the tiny bundle, grinning.
"She doesn't look like a Megan" I remember Leah saying as she peered at the baby. I took a step closer. No, Megan, the name we chose for her months earlier didn't fit the tiny baby. "How about Annie?" Leah suggested.
I doubt Leah was serious as Annie was the film she had been watching the night before but Hannah smiled weakly and said "like the song 'Awkward Annie' I love it!".
We stayed for a little while longer before heading home. Hannah and baby Annie got out of hospital the next day. In hindsight the last few months had gone a little too well. Something was bound to go wrong and I will never forget the day it did. The day that changed our fate.