Broken Family

"Are you sure she's going to do this?" Amanda asked her grandmother, with a slight hint of fear in voice.

"Of course she's going to do this!" Her grandmother eased her nerves.

"I hope she doesn't!" Amanda's younger brother, Brandon said grumpily. "I even hope she never comes back! Ya' know, even if she had the right to come back to us after what she did, I still wouldn't-"
"Brandon! Enough!"

Suddenly the roars of tears from the kitchen began. Clearly Bobby had been listening to the conversation. And it wouldn't be long before those tears of horror, and pain would spread to Samantha, and she too would begin crying. But she would have no concept of what she was crying about. Obviously a one month old little girl wouldn't have any clue what horrid family troubles were awaiting her and her family.

None of these four children did.

"You can't make me move to the ocean mom!" Brandon wouldn't let go of the seats by the doors that lead to the boarding plane. "I've refused to listen to anything you tell me for the past 10 years! You'd think you'd get that by now! Oh, wait, you haven't been around half the time, so I've only been disobeying you for five years!"

"Brandon, please," The four children's mother begged. "This is not a good time, we have to catch this flight, your brother will not let go of my legs, I'd really be thankful if you would let go of the seats."

"Why should I?"

"Because your father is down there, very excited to meet you."

"A good reason!"

"You'll be the only boy in your class who's able to say you lived down there by the time you graduate." Amanda suggested.

Brandon stuck his tongue out at his know-it-all sister. Then he hesitated and let go. He playfully shoved Amanda out of the way. His mother let out a hand to guide him the doors. Not as a gesture to imply he couldn't find it, but as one to assure him it would be okay, and Brandon knew this. But the boy still refused his mother's hand. He walked right passed his mom and to the other side of his grandma. He shot his mom a hurtful, unforgiving glare.

"Has the place been kid-proved yet?" The mother said into her cell phone.

"Yes, all ready for them!" the children's father said on the other end.

"Good, the plane just took off; we should be at the house in a few hours"

"I'm excited!"

"I'm sorry I did this..."

"I was a little upset at first, but I know you had good intentions."

She smoothed her dress. "Thank you so much for understanding..."

"I just can't believe you pulled it off! Four kids, for...fifteen years?"

"Yes...and I'll be able to do anything to fix it."

"That's not-"

"I can't take undo it, I can't get that time back, I can't get any of them to get the same bond as there would be had they been by you and me all along! I'm a failure as a mother, and a wife!-" the mother broke out.

"Sandy! Enough! You can't live in the past anymore, what's done is done. It's time to move on." The father said.

"Thanks you so, so much SpongeBob." She replied.

Two rows back, Amanda sat in her seat quietly with her little sister. Samantha slept, while Amanda listened to music on her phone. She kept her wandering, imaginative eyes either, on Samantha, or out the window. She knew she wouldn't be able to take the hurtful stares of people. It didn't take a psychic to tell what they were thinking either, "What kind of animal is that?" apparently people didn't see squirrel/sponge hybrids...of course, that was no excuse for them to stare and her and her siblings. They didn't look that abnormal, for the most part, they blended in fairly well actually. It was the few disparities that made them stare. Maybe it wasn't in caution, or any other emotion that would sting the kids hearts once they noticed. Maybe everyone was staring in awe. The children were quick attractive in appearance. Samantha and Bobby were the cutest little creatures ever seen, so were Amanda and Brandon in their younger years. Now at their ages, Brandon was a handsome young boy and Amanda was a beautiful teenage girl.

The row between young sisters, and their mother and her mother, was the brothers. Which everyone else in the family feared from the moment they sat down. But above all, it was the best seating arrangement...Everyone just had to keep a good eye on Bobby and Brandon. The boys were completely opposite of each other. There was a running joke in the family that the antonym of Bobby was Brandon and vis versa. This caused these too to not get along well. Bobby was happy, and very hyper active. He also scared easily. Brandon tended to be very negative, and private with his emotions, unless they were anger or hate. Brandon was often able to be a tad more peaceful when drawing though, and he was excellent at it. Unfortunately, he had a talent and passion for drawing very unpleasant things. The things he drew looked like he had pulled them out of an zombie movie that was rated R for violence. And he also could care less on who saw these pictures, and how they reacted.

"OWE!" Brandon's shout filled the plane. "Keep your hands to yourself you little pest!"

"Oh, no!" Every other member of the family whined.

"I'm practicing my dancing!" Bobby said cheerfully.

"In an airplane seat?"

"Yes!"

"Look, if you need to dance, do it out of your seat!"

"Okay!"
Sandy sprung around "No! Bobby stay in your seat, buckled up! And please sit still." She looked at Brandon. "And Brandon, give Bobby a break! He's five!"

"Not even a five year old is normal this annoying!"

"Well can't you be more mature?" Amanda asked him.

"Yeah, that's funny Amanda." Brandon said. "Keep in mind, I draw dead bodies."

"What's going on?" SpongeBob asked on the other end of the phone.

"Your sons getting into another fight. Mentally prepare yourself for that." Sandy replied.

"Do any of them want to say hi on the phone?" SpongeBob begged excitedly.

"Anyone want to say hi to dad?" Sandy asked her children.

Brandon let out a look of disgust. Bobby said he wanted his dad to "be a surprise" Amanda said she personally didn't want to spoil the moment, and Samantha was fast asleep.

Samantha was now wide awake, and very interested to be in a new place. Sandy was trying to open the door to her and SpongeBob's house in Bikini Bottom. Who knows what SpongeBob was doing? Bobby was jumping up and down in excitement, holding his grandma's hand. But where was Brandon? Amanda turned. He was sitting on the ground behind her, playing a hand-held video game. With Samantha in her arms, Amanda walked to her brother and sat by him.

"So, Brandon, what do you think of the glass dome around the house?" She asked.

"Well, at first, I saw it and thought 'wow, mom is really crazy about our safety.'"

"No, it's to keep the air in."

"I figured that out Amanda. Then I thought 'where's the house'"

"It's the pineapple."

"Thank you Ms. DUH! Then I thought, 'wow, dad must be a fruit bar, 'cause I know mom's the nut bar!'"

"Okay, the door is open, everyone come inside." Sandy called.

"I'm good here." Brandon stated.

"Stay," Amanda said. "And I will stay with you and banter you like you complain I do until you go in!"

Brandon gave his older sister and annoyed look, "Good Bye then" He replied and walked through the door.

Once everyone was through the door, and inside the cramped little room, they shut the door, and Sandy hit a button that drained all the water.

"Mom, you can take that mouth guard out now." Sandy said once the water was drained.

"Why do you have mouth guards?" Bobby asked.

Sandy kneeled down to her son and showed him one. She explained how she invented them so land creature could breathe without a helmet underwater, and sea creatures could do the same on land. She also explained to Bobby how he didn't need on due him being half land creature and half sea creature.

The group walked through the next door, the one that lead to the inside of the glass dome. Right away there was a male sponge standing in front of them. His sudden presence startled all of them.

"Ah! SpongeBob!" Sandy said.

"Sorry, I was trying to give Gary a bath...we may need to redo the bathroom..." He said.

"Who's Gary?" Bobby asked.

SpongeBob looked down at Bobby, and smiled when he saw him. He kneeled down to Bobby's height. "Gary is my pet snail." he replied.

Bobby gasped. "I have a pet too! His name is Rocky! He's my pet rock! I'm Bobby!"

"Bobby, show us what Rocky does." Brandon said.

"Okay!" Bobby said. He sat on the ground and stayed absolutely still. He didn't even blink. Everyone giggled.

"Ah, silence!" Brandon said and tried to walk off. SpongeBob noticed he was walking away and quickly jumped up. He hopped over to Brandon's direction, stopped him, and put his hand on Brandon's shoulder.

"You must be Brandon!" SpongeBob said with delight.

Brandon slapped his dad's hand off his shoulder. "Don't touch me!" He said and ran off. SpongeBob, stood in shock, clearly hurt.

"Don't worry, SpongeBob," Sandy, who was now on the ground trying to get Bobby to stop imitating a rock, said. "It's not you, he's like that with everyone."

Amanda was getting jittery. She jumped in front of SpongeBob with a smile.

"I think it's the daughters' turn to meet dad!" She said.

SpongeBob smiled. "Amanda and Samantha!"

"Yes, that's us!" Amanda smiled happily. "Do you want to hold Samantha?"

"Yes, of course!" Amanda handed Samantha over to SpongeBob. Once she was fully handed over, SpongeBob fell to ground. Amanda asked what was wrong.

"She's a bit heavy for me; I'm not very strong..." SpongeBob said.

Amanda gasped and smiled. "Me either! I must get that from you!"

"Well, you certainly don't get that from your mother!"

"SpongeBob, should I take Samantha?" Sandy's mother asked.

"No, no, I'm perfectly capable of hold my own daughter." He replied, then Samantha playfully poked his eye. "OW...sure, you can hold her..."

They went inside the pineapple. Once Brandon finally entered as well, an argument broke out. Brandon began to yell at Sandy for what she had done, and it didn't take long for SpongeBob to stand up for Sandy. Sandy's mother couldn't stand watching Brandon fight so strongly and confidently with his own parents and began to urge him to stop. Of course, Brandon turned that around. He said that since he was living with his mother and father she wasn't the boss of him anymore. Then he stated that his parents didn't know how to parent anyhow, and Sandy defended SpongeBob. It was her fault that he had never been there.

And the argument continued, with Brandon, SpongeBob, Sandy, and Sandy's mother. Bobby couldn't ever stand conflict, the hurt him. He began to yell at everyone to stop, but none of them were really listening. His parents heard him and wanted to stop, but they couldn't let Brandon think it was okay to talk the way he was talking. Amanda finally joined. Several times she was asked whose side she was on, as she would defend both sides. She only wanted a peaceful first night together as a family. Bobby screamed louder, Gary butted in, but few understood him, and those that did, weren't listening. And with all this, Samantha was in a crying fit over the fuss.

The children went to bed that night with tear-filled hearts, and bleeding souls. Samantha had cried herself to sleep. Bobby had a similar expression to the one he would get after looking at one of Brandon's drawings, but worse. Brandon sat in his bed in the children's room, covering his head. After she put Samantha in her crib and lead Bobby to the top of the bunk-bed, Amanda went to the bathroom. She looked in the mirror and saw a beautiful, but broken girl. This wasn't how families were supposed to be. Why was theirs so complicated and upsetting? And what could be done?

Amanda stepped out of the bathroom and tiptoed downstairs. Being very careful not to wake any of her siblings. At the base of the stairs she turned the corner to the kitchen, bumping into her dad.

"Dad..." She said startled.

"What are you doing, you should be in bed?" SpongeBob asked.

"I needed some water." Amanda lied, something she hated with all her heart, but sometimes, she had to do it.

"Okay, but then go straight to bed." SpongeBob replied. "Alright?"

"Yes, I promise I will go right to bed after I'm done!" And that was the truth.

In the kitchen Amanda searched for a phone book. She had a very important call that she needed to make.