All Falls Down
Part 2 of 3
By neka lopez aka klutzy kay
They mess with the balance. They seem to have a ripple effect on the foundations he's built his life on, and day after day Dan tries to clean up the disarray they always seem to be leaving behind before Deb and Nathan even have time to notice it's there.
Because he knows if they were to ever realize what's been going on all these years Deb would surely leave, and Nathan would soon follow.
Yes, they most definitely do mess with the balance.
And in his denial he asks himself how and why they distract him so, but truthfully he knows. He's just not willing to admit it.
Dan can't concentrate when they're around. He can't keep up with the normalcy of the very world he's created, and nothing could scare him more than that does.
Because when they're around, so close yet so far away from him, all he sees is them. Not Deb or Nathan or the rest of the world, just them with their second rate clothes and that unfathomable happiness they display at every turn.
And in place of Nathan's next game and the latest small business he's buying out, all he can find himself thinking about is how much the boy has grown, with his awkward, gangly limbs and a voice that's suddenly too deep for recognition.
But that's not mentioning the thoughts of her, with her dark brown hair curtaining her kind, beautiful face and her warm eyes sparkling just like they used to... just like they used to when she looked up at him.
As said before, Dan really can't concentrate when they're around.
And he will never say it, but it's then, in those quick, fleeting moments and a series of desperate, furtive glances, that he starts to think that it's not just them that are messing with the balance.
Because maybe if he were stronger he wouldn't let them.
To Be Continued in Part 3 of 3