Sorry this took longer than usual, but it was really hard to write the first couple of paragraphs. They kept coming out all awkward and stilted. Anywho, this combined with the deadlines I set myself means that this chapters a little shorter than usual, but I hope you enjoy it anyway :)
John stopped the truck outside the house, and looked across at his son. John-boy was sitting completely still, staring dead ahead. His hands were on his lap, but they balled into stark white fists.
"You ready?"
Barely perceptibly, John-boy tilted his head forwards, then back.
"Alright, then."
John opened the door and got out of the truck, but John-boy did not follow suit. John moved around the truck and opened the door for him. For a full ten seconds, father and son looked each other straight in the eyes. John-boy stepped out of the truck.
The second the front door opened, John-boy was hit, just as he had feared, with a wave of reality. Jenny was dead. He barely noticed as his father stepped in the house, barely noticed when he turned back to see what was wrong. He barely noticed that he staggered back a couple of paces before he fell, and barely noticed as he hit the floor.
"Time for breakfast, children!"
Despite the cheeriness in her voice, Olivia's face betrayed her worry as she carefully watched her children go past her to the table. John came and stood beside her.
"John-boy, breakfast!" she called, when he did not appear.
There was silence upstairs.
Olivia made to go up and get him, but her husband gently caught her shoulder.
"Leave him be, Liv. He's had a hard night. You can bring him some breakfast after."
Olivia lingered on the stairwell uncertainly, but she did not protest as her husband led her to her place.
The children were all looking at them silently.
"Something wrong with your stomachs?" asked John, amiably. "Come on, get eatin'."
Olivia knocked on the white door. In her other hand she balanced a carefully assembled hearty breakfast on a tray.
"John-boy?"
He did not answer her.
"I brought you some breakfast," she said, coming in.
John-boy was sitting in his chair, still in his pyjamas. He did not react when she came in.
"John-boy, if you don't get dressed soon you'll waste the whole day." She set the tray on his lap. Still he stared straight ahead, unblinking.
"John-boy…?" She touched his shoulder gently, and then shook it.
John-boy's eyes focused and he turned his head towards her, expressionless. She took a plate from the breakfast tray, some toast, and offered it to him. He stared at it blankly, then slowly raised his head so that he was staring straight ahead again. His eyes clouded once more.
"What are we going to do about our son, John?" asked Olivia, sadly. She and her husband were stood in the kitchen. John-boy was in his room, but everyone else had been sent outside.
"Which son?" John's affability was not nearly as convincing as usual.
"John I'm serious." She sat down at the table. "He spends the day hiding out in the woods and then comes home and collapses. Now he's sitting upstairs all alone, staring into nothingness as if there's something there."
John rested his hands on her shoulders. "He's lost someone close to him. I know how bad that feels."
"You've never lost a girlfriend."
"No," he conceded, nodding. "But I've lost a brother."
Olivia looked up and smiled apologetically at her husband, but did not relent. "He hasn't even cried. I just know that if he did he'd feel better."
"I think he would too, Liv. But sometimes you just feel to empty inside to cry."
"Empty. You know, that's the perfect word to describe John-boy right now." She shook her head. "But what can we do about it?"
"You know…" John rubbed his chin. "I reckon I might just have a solution. It would be painful for him though, Liv. Emotionally I mean. But he'll feel better in the long run. What do you think?"
Olivia folded her arms. "I think you better tell me about this plan of yours first."
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