Author's Note - Just wanted to thank everyone for the awesome reviews! I really appreciate it, and I love that so many of you picked up on the story being told from Eric's POV.

Part 3

They were fighting again, yelling loud enough to wake him up. He wasn't sure what it was about, he was never really sure, but it didn't matter. Every time it was the same thing. First, the yelling and then the throwing and hitting. When the first object hit the wall outside his room and shattered, he threw the blankets back and slipped out of bed.

Hyde was only eight, and his parents had fought as long as he could remember. It hadn't taken him long to learn it was easiest to just disappear until they were finished. He pulled his sneakers on and pushed his window open, climbing over the sill and dropping onto the balding grass below. It was still early morning, and Hyde's t-shirt and jeans didn't protect against the chill in the air. Across the street, the neighbor was mowing his lawn, like he did every Saturday.

Even out in the yard, he could still hear his parents. Hyde settled onto the front steps, pulling his knees up to his chest to keep from shivering. His father was yelling the same thing over and over again. He always did that, as if repeating his point gave it more weight.

"Do you want me to leave, Edna? I'll leave! Is that what you want? Is it?"

"All talk and no action, just like usual!" Edna hollered back, her voice carrying even more than Bud's.

There was silence after this, and that worried Hyde. Silence wasn't normal; it scared him more than the yelling did.

"That's it! I'm not doing this anymore." Bud slammed through the screen door and down the front steps, bag in hand, not even noticing Hyde. "You hear me, Edna? I'm not doing it anymore! I'm leaving, I'm not coming back, and I won't be around to ruin your life anymore! Happy?"

"I haven't been happy since the day I met you!" Edna screamed from the doorway behind Hyde. "Don't bother coming back!"

Bud didn't even turn around, he just kept walking.

It was then that Hyde realized they meant it this time, this wasn't just the over the top yelling and screaming that happened every time Bud came home late, or didn't come home at all. "Dad, wait!" He jumped to his feet and ran after him. "You can't leave! Don't leave!" He wrapped himself around Bud's free arm, holding on for all he was worth.

"Edna, get him off me!" Bud yelled, not even breaking stride.

"Steven, come here." Edna hurried down the steps to pull him loose. "Stop it!" She pinned Hyde's arms to his sides when he tried to hit his way free.

"Let go of me!" Hyde tried to twist around and elbow her, but Edna was stronger than him. She had him pinned with both arms, if he didn't know better; it would have felt like a hug.

Bud threw his bag in the back seat of his old and rusted car, and left, just like that. Hyde refused to believe he wasn't coming back. His dad wouldn't just leave. He hadn't even said goodbye.

~*~

"Oh, well there you are!" Mom greeted me as I came in the kitchen door for dinner. "Where have you been?" Hyde and Dad were already at the table. I was the late one tonight.

"Next door, with Donna." I jerked a thumb behind me in the direction of my girlfriend's house. "We were studying!" I added, seeing Dad was about to start chewing me out for not buckling down. This was a semi-truth, we had been studying, with study breaks every few minutes, if you know what I mean. Graduation was just a couple weeks away, we deserved a break!

"Studying." Hyde repeated, laughing as he said it. "Nice."

"Shut up." I sat down in my usual chair.

"Well, just once, it would be nice to have everyone sit down to a meal together!" Mom complained, setting the mashed potatoes on the table.

I glanced around the table. "Um, Mom, we were all here for breakfast this morning."

"Oh, Eric, breakfast doesn't count!" She smacked her hand on the table. "Your father reads the newspaper, and Steven's so cranky in the morning!"

Hyde paused, his glass halfway to his mouth, a little taken aback. Mom didn't burn him very often.

"You know, she's right." I pointed my fork at him, fully prepared to enjoy this. Now that Mom had brought it up, Hyde was kind of bitchy in the morning. I'm sure the fact that he spends most of his nights hanging out in dark alleys or committing random acts of vandalism doesn't help. If he slept at night like a normal person, he'd be more pleasant before noon.

"I'm just not a morning person." Hyde defended.

"Yeah, most criminals aren't." I said under my breath, for all official purposes, fully concentrating on the pork chop on my plate. "That's why you hear about a lot of crimes that take place at 'night,' not 'just after dawn.'" Oh, I'd gone too far with that one, it was just a question of whether he'd hurt me now or later.

"That's enough, Mr. Snarky Smartmouth!" Mom shook her head at me. "So, Red, how was your day?"

"Pretty good, Kitty. Ran into your dad at the hardware store when I was getting paint, Steven."

"Wait, you were getting paint?" I suddenly realized I was about to be trapped.

"Your mother wants the house painted, remember?"

"Yeah, but Dad, I thought you were doing that... this summer." I had been counting on his doing it this summer. I could have lined up an excuse by that time. Now there was a very good chance I was about to be roped into helping paint the house, and that was the last thing I wanted to do. I needed to think quickly.

Why is it when Dad smiles, he looks evil? Darth Vader probably looks like that under his helmet. Bald and evil. He was smiling at me now, because he knew I was trapped. Maybe if I bolted for the door, I could escape. No, it was too risky.

"We're painting it this weekend, because your mother wants me to." All the time with the smiling. Resist the Dark Side, Eric, resist! "You and Steven can both help."

My eyes met Hyde's across the table. One of us had to do something fast. I could see the wheels turning between Hyde's ears, so I let him take it. He was better at lying to Red than I was. I'm guessing it's because he doesn't act guilty when he lies, and I do.

"Sounds great, Red."

What? That wasn't what he was supposed to say! I choked on a piece of pork chop, and while I was clutching my throat trying to breathe, I saw the smirk on Hyde's face. He so screwed me on purpose. Now I'm going to have to kill him. Oh, who am I kidding? It'd just backfire in my face. Everything does.

"Yeah, so did you hear all about the garage plans?" Obviously, Hyde wasn't picking up any vibes that I really hated him right now; he just kept right on talking to Dad.

"Actually, no. He wouldn't shut up about you graduating." Dad elbowed Hyde in the arm.

Hyde just gave him a skeptical glance and kept on eating.

"Well, I think it's just wonderful your parents are so proud of you!" Mom announced. "In fact, I'm going to let them know about the graduation ceremony, so they can come!" She jumped up from her chair and hurried off to the living room.

The table was kind of quiet after she left. Dad must not have had anything to yell at me about, because he was quiet, and Hyde was staring at his plate, thinking again. He didn't seem particularly happy his Dad was bragging about him, but then again, sometimes it's hard to tell what Hyde's thinking. I was starting to hope he'd give his parents another chance.

~*~

Kitty stacked the last of the breakfast dishes and carried them to the sink. It was Christmas morning, Laurie and Eric were fighting in the living room, as usual, but thankfully they were drowned out by Bing Crosby on the radio. She turned the volume up just a little higher before wiping the table off. Red was supposed to be policing the kids, so she was just going to ignore everything on that side of the door. It was his problem.

A blast of cold air blew through the kitchen as the sliding glass door opened and Eric's nine year old friend, Steven, entered. Kitty liked Steven, he was a nice boy, except for his strange habit of wandering into her kitchen unannounced and uninvited.

"Merry Christmas, Steven!" She greeted him cheerfully. "Where's your coat, sweetie? It's cold outside!" The only outdoor clothing he was wearing was a stocking cap, pulled down over his curly hair.

"It's not that cold." His sweater was too big for him, and he pushed the sleeves up off his hands.

"Have you had breakfast?" Kitty asked. When he showed up in the morning, more often than not he hadn't eaten.

Hyde shrugged.

"Have some cereal, Steven." Kitty pulled the Alpha Bits box and a bowl down from the cabinet and set it front of him at the table. "So, what did Santa bring you?" She moved back across the kitchen, pouring milk into a saucepan for her traditional Christmas hot chocolate.

Hyde threw a look of disgust her way before turning his attention back to pouring cereal into the bowl. "Santa doesn't exist. That's just a dumb lie grownups tell kids."

"Honey, you're so cynical!" Kitty set the pan on the stove and turned on the heat.

"What's cynical?"

"It means... it means you hate everything!" She couldn't think of a better way to explain it.

He stared at her for a very long moment, and Kitty started worrying maybe that hadn't been the best thing to say to a nine year old. "I don't hate everything." He said finally. "I like you."

"Oh, that is... just the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me!" Kitty hugged him with one arm and kissed the top of his hat. "Here, have some milk." She added, taking the carton from the counter behind her.

"I got a card from my Dad." Hyde told her between mouthfuls of cereal. "He's in South Dakota."

"Well, that's nice." Kitty sat down in the next chair. Hyde's father had left town almost a year ago, and he wasn't mentioned very often.

"Yeah, he couldn't make it for Christmas, but he said he'd come visit for my birthday." He nodded.

"Oh... well, sweetie, I hope he does."

To be continued...

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