They say that it is always darkest before the dawn. They say, that whatever bad that has happened to you, will pass. But will it really pass if you're the father of the Akron AWOL? Will dawn come if the price is the constant media attention, due to something that was entirely your fault? Will it pass? Will it ever pass?
Kirk Lassiter doesn't know. He doesn't know the definite answer, but, if he's honest with herself, does he want to know. He craves the anonymity of two years ago, the peace of two years ago, and the arguments of two years ago. He craves it all: the good and especially the bad. Like a form of homesickness, only home is the past. He wishes for days when Connor didn't come back home looking like an Frankenstein, when Lucas didn't drown his sorrows in playing the Electric Guitar, when Claire didn't act like she was OK. He wants the person he knew two years ago, the one that wouldn't stay up just to watch the sun rise, day after day, just to be sure that dawn comes, that the darkness is over. But for Kirk Lassiter, the dawn never comes. He is in eternal darkness, striving to seek the sun for it to shine on him.
He wants the last two years to fade away; he wants to think they were a dream. But he's in forties, and he knows they're not going away. It is OK for Claire to dream; it's how she copes with this. But it isn't for him; not by a long shot. So he heads down to his garage and starts to fix what is fixable-ordinary household devices, printers, etc. It is his way of coping, of dealing with it, and if he can deceive himself, then it is the past he is correcting. But reality always sinks in, and it always slaps him in the face.
Then, there are rumours of a rally. Rumours that Connor might be there. But then the call came. "You're Connor's family right?" Silence ensues. "Thought so. I'm having a rally in November. I don't know if Connor's going to come, but it'd make him feel better if he knew that you came." Silence on the speakers side, until in an almost heavy, weary tone "Trust me on this-even though you have no idea who you are. Though Connor never mentioned having a little brother. Just how big an idiot was he?" It's Lucas that answers- "A big one." The speaker, Hayden Upchurch, hangs up afterwards.
Then comes the day of the rally. The most embarrassing moment they'd ever had, but it was Connor's face that proved it's worth. He holds tight, almost like he never wants them to leave, like he wants them to be his again, even though he probably hated them. No words are needed, the silence says everything. He doesn't forgive them, but he does love them enough to save them from certain death. For Kirk Lasstiter, that is enough. Dawn has finally come after two years of being in the dark.
For Kirk Lassiter, the dark has passed. Dawn has arrived.
AN: Published in May 2015, short little piece about the lassiter dad. Read and Review please!