Hello everyone. Happy Casualty day! Here is just a small a chapter that I thought I would throw in, based on a flashback Cal had when seeing Thomas break down. Don't worry I won't leave you hanging too long, I'll post another chapter later on tonight continuing where I left off last night on quite a mean cliff hanger. Until then I hope you enjoy this update, please let me know your thoughts as always, thanks, Kayxxx :)
Flashback: The Usual Thing
The two young boys sat side by side on the couch in their living room, where they usually did. They weren't loud or talkative, they weren't arguing or fighting like they usually were, they were quiet, sat awkwardly still almost statue like, it was as if they were scared to make a crease in the couch by sitting on it. Their whole house was silent, which was unusual it was usually bursting with love. Their eyes were fixed on a chair in the corner, a chair where their father would usually sit, it was now empty. Though still marked with the shape of his body where it would usually relax, every night at the usual time.
This silence was bound to end some time, but which of the brothers would be brave enough to break it?
It was the younger of the two. "Caleb?" Ethan whimpered.
"Yes?" Cal replied.
Though now talking, their eyes were still fixed on the empty chair.
"He's really gone isn't he?" The younger boy continued.
"Yes Ethan, he's gone" the older boy swallowed hard.
"...I miss him" the small boy answered as tears began to slowly trickle down his face.
This, was the first time Cal had taken his eyes of the empty chair all night. He looked down at his younger brother who cried, so simply, but so heart achingly. They were only tears...But why did it feel like each tear his brother cried was pouring into his heart? Drowning it in a tsunami of sorrow and sympathy. He had never seen his brother cry, well other than when he'd taken a tumble and scrapped an arm or a leg when he were younger, who doesn't cry then? He had never seen his brother properly cry. He cried as though he'd lost a part of himself, a part that he knew; only now, he would never get back. Cal put an arm around the younger boy who buried himself into his embrace, continuing to weep.
"Me too Eth, me too" he whispered in reply.
"I didn't think he was really gone because I couldn't imagine him not being there but he is gone, his chair, it's empty" the boy wept, his voice muffled by his brother's embrace.
"I know" his brother replied.
Hours passed. Ethan still cried, hugging onto his brother tightly it was as if he were holding on to everything he had left in the world, every memory he'd ever treasured, every lesson he'd ever learnt, every mistake he'd ever made, every laugh he'd ever given off, every bit of love he'd ever felt for anyone and anything...everything. It was as if all of this was wrapped up in this one person who had been there to witness through it all, and from this moment onwards he was adamant to never let him slip away.
The crying had stopped, but only because the young boy had fallen asleep. Cal let out a breath that he hadn't even realised he had been holding in, "What if this never gets better?" He thought to himself in dread, "what if he wakes up and he's still crying?" He continued. He sunk back into the couch and closed his eyes, still with his brother in his arms, and prepared for the worst. Though he would only know when tomorrow came that this was not a preparation that needed to be taken out, things would be fine, Ethan would be fine. Everything would go back to normal. They'd sit side by side on the couch as the usually did, they be loud and talkative, they'd argue and fight like they usually did, in the house that was quite the opposite of silent, as it usually were, bursting with love. Years went by how they should do, how they usually do, though that chair in the corner of the living room would always remain empty, which weirdly enough, became the usual thing.