Four Brothers Two Sisters

Naomi's PoV-

'Evelyn dead?' I thought to myself as I sat in shock on the edge of my bed, 'No. No way; it can't be true.' That was denial thinking for me, but I know Lilly wouldn't lie to me; at least about something this serious.

Evelyn was like a mother to my sister and I, not only to us but she was the boys' mother, 'How could she be dead? Who would do this to her?' She was a kind, harmless, old lady, granted she had a way of being a little unconventional and blunt at times but nonetheless she was harmless.

"What's going to happen now?" I voiced the sentence out loud, knowing that I wouldn't get an answer because no one was there to answer me. I instantly thought of Jack; then Bobby, Angel and Jerry. How where the boys taking it? She was their mother… Jack would understandably be devastated then let it sink in and then get pissed off, and Jerry was probably dealing with all the loose ends and keeping his grief to himself. It was Bobby and Angel that worried me. They were extremely hotheaded and prone to do something drastic.

I wonder if Bobby even knows. Jerry has repeatedly told me that it is 'extremely difficult' to track Bobby Mercer down.

I stood up from my bed and paced my room; denial was starting to wear off and the reality of it all was sinking in, 'Lilly has to be taking this hard, she was the one living with Evelyn…'

This whole thing seemed a little surreal; I mean just earlier today, on my way to work, I thought about stopping in to see Evelyn. I owed her an occasional visit after all of the warm meals she had provided me with, but I didn't. I didn't visit her, I had to go to work, and now I couldn't ever again. I was so stupid for not going to see her!

Jack… His name rang through my head again. The youngest and the most sensitive of the four. If he were to come back to this town I would have wanted it to be for a good reason, or possibly for me; not for his mother's funeral.

I looked at my cell phone still clutched in my hand and made one last round around my room before flipping it open and opening the contact list. I scrolled down… Johnny…No, he wouldn't be any help. Pap? No, he was probably sleeping… It was at this point that I realized that the only friends that I had were the Mercer boys and my sister…

I didn't have Jack's number; the one that I did have would have only called Lilly back… I haven't had HIS number for three years. So I left his outdated contact information in my outdated phone. I just couldn't bring myself to delete his name from it.

Bobby… Well I think he purposely didn't have a cell phone so that he could continue to be 'Mr. Untraceable.'

Angel was probably out fucking some random girl…

So I was left with good old reliable Jerry...

I highlighted his name in my phone and hesitated only a fraction of a second before pressing the green call button. It rang three times before he answered it.

"Hello?"

"Jerry?" I tried to keep the emotion out of my voice, but I could feel the tears well up in my eyes, "Hey, it's Naomi-"

"I know, you say it like you never call…" Jerry chuckled, attempting to lighten the mood.

"Sorry, if I am bothering you, I know it is late and you probably don't want any calls but I wanted to see how you were doing…" My words came out fast, almost as one sentence. I tried to pace myself but I was upset.

Jerry chuckled again, "It's alright, I just got off the phone with Lilly so I was awake." He paused a moment before continuing, "I am fine. Well as best as I can be; all things considered."

"Yeah, you have my condolences. I loved your mother very much."

"Yeah I know Naomi, so when are you going to ask about him?" Jerry knew me a little too well, but I played coy.

"What-who do you mean?" I knew who he meant but I didn't want to admit it.

"Girl, don't play… Jackie! I know you are dying to know…"

"Well… I mean, yeah, I worry about him…" That was the closest thing to a confession that Jerry was getting.

"Well, I've talked to him-"

"Really?" I interrupted sounding a little too eager for information.

Jerry laughed on his end, "Yeah, really. He is coming back for Ma's funeral-"

"Really?" I interrupted again, it came out in a squeak, only this time I didn't care if I sounded desperate.

"If you don't stop interrupting me I will hang up." Jerry threatened.

I knew he wouldn't but I apologized anyway, "Sorry, Jerry, it's just been three years since I've heard anything from him."

"I know, but Jackie," Jerry sighed, "well he is just Jack." Jerry paused again, "He's young, he needs to get his priorities figured out…"
"Well, I'll take your word for it, Jerry, you seem to have things in order."

"Hardly…" Jerry's tone had changed.

"Listen, I know things have been pretty rough- but look at what you have; a wife, who loves you, two beautiful daughters, who also love you. Lilly; who would do anything for you, and me; who loves you when I have just the proper amount of Nicotine in my system." We both laughed.

"Thanks, Naomi." Jerry said with sarcasm as his laugh came to an end.

"No problem, Jerry." I smiled into the phone and sighed, "Listen, Jerry, thanks for the info and I will help with anything that you need…"

"I know…" Jerry interrupted this time.

"But I am going to get off the phone and try to get some sleep…"

"Lord knows we all need it!" Jerry's voice sounded tired and the whole grieving process just begun and it was far from being over.

"Well, goodnight, Jerry and I will see you tomorrow…" I sighed, "Love ya' Jer'."

"Right back at you kid. Goodnight."

I smiled before flipping the phone shut. I sighed as I looked around my room, it was starting to annoy me; too cluttered and cramped.

I flopped down on my bed flat on my back. I don't know how long I started at the ceiling before rolling onto my side and reached under my bed. I felt around blindly for a minute before I found what I was looking for; a shoe box.

It was one of Jackie's old shoe boxes. I set it down on the bed beside me before lifting the dilapidated lid. Inside were things that I haven't looked at in years. I singled out one of Jack's old guitar picks; it was my favorite colour so he gave it to me. I played with it between my fingers before tossing it back into the box.

I dug around the box again, moving aside a folded poster for one Jack's gigs and an anniversary card. It was for Jack and my 'one year' band anniversary. I had nearly forgotten about it…

A smile crept to my lips as I opened the card. A piece of paper fell out and onto my comforter. The card was sweet but I mainly kept it to keep the piece of paper safe.

I put the card down and gingerly picked up the paper and unfolded it. This paper was precious to me; it was given to me in the card. On the paper scrawled in his almost unreadable chicken scratch was a song. A song for me. It was special, though I never heard it sung. Jackie kept promising to sing it to me but left before he did.

And then I was reminded why I was angry with him. He left. Without saying goodbye to follow some wild dream of becoming a rock star, granted at one time that was both of our dreams. I had to remind myself that I was holding my song before I crumpled it out of rage. I put the paper back into its protective card and the card back into the box, putting the lid back on.

The boy broke my heart and I hated him for it but I hated myself more for letting it happen. Jack and I never really came out and said that we were a couple but we did the couple things. Cards, gifts, make-out sessions, you name it; we did it, except for sex, we almost had the night before he left but he had made the decision not to. Everything was fine until he was tired of his dreams staying dreams and wanted them a reality.

I wished he had given me a hint that he was leaving but I got nothing, just a post-it note on my pillow. So I waited. I am still waiting for him to come home.

I put the box on the floor, sighed, and rolled over grabbing my pillow. I pulled it close to me and began to force myself to sleep with the thoughts of Jack and Evelyn in my head.