Everyday, he felt the pressure of not being good enough for them. It wasn't that he didn't love them. There was just something missing. He didn't feel as if he was part of this picture. This family with its endless tea parties, proper manners, and having everything given to you at your feet. Everyday, he woke up with the same expectations. His father would scold him at the table about his manners and how he should become a doctor, so that he could have money and support his own family, while his mother would endlessly push books of literature at him, in hopes that he would become much more "educated". But this didn't mean anything to him at the moment. He wanted to be free. Soar. In his own pace.
He closed his eyes, and let out a sigh. His thoughts swirled around him as he buried his face into his hands. The ends of his black hair slowly fell on his forehead as he leaned forward on his desk and tried to make sense out of the blurred words and letters before him. It was another one of his father's medicine books that he had given him to look over. But he had no interest in it at all. Whenever he would start reading, it would turn into a whole different language he had never heard of.
There was still one part of his family that puzzled him, his sister, Amie. With her long blonde hair and bright, blue eyes, you wouldn't think she was his sister. Even though they were only two years apart, with him being the oldest, Amie acted like the world was her oyster. Their parents didn't scold her about her future ambitions. They didn't push her to be somebody else. Of course, he loved his sister, and would always be there for her, but there were times when it was just enough. Her easygoing and friendly attitude gave her a sense of confidence. But what she didn't know was how their family was feeling. She was unaware of the events. Only he knew what was going on. One day, they would do the exact same thing they are doing to him towards her.
He looked out the window, and longed to be outside where competitive vendors yelled out their products and pushed it into people's noses, where young parents walked carefree with their baby smiling happily in their hands, where elderly women sat underneath the shade to talk about today's gossip, where children ran around to play tag. But his thoughts were interrupted when he suddenly heard a knock on the door. He quickly ran towards his chair, and stared at his book.
"Anthony, Are you alright?" He looked over to the door to see his mother stepping inside the room, with her hand on the doorknob. Her hair was swept up in an elegant bun, and her eyes flickered as she looked at him.
"I'm fine," he said as he looked up from his book. "Just trying to read this book that father gave me…"
"Oh," said his mother as she sat down on an armchair. "I just wanted to make sure that your father wasn't pushing you too hard… You know, you can be anything you want…" Her eyes locked into his. He could see that she was concerned.
"I know," he said as he ran his fingers through his hair. "It's just… how can you love him, Mother? All those things he had done… the way he treats us… the way he treats YOU…" Suddenly, his thoughts were spilling out of his mouth. He needed to tell someone how he felt and he couldn't stop it from coming.
"We DO love each other…" His mother looked up at him as she looked out the window. "…but sometimes it turns out that we do this for all the wrong reasons…" He looked at her eyes and saw a different emotion that he had never seen his mother shown before.
"I forgot how lucky we were," she continued. Tears welled up from her eyes as she reached over and hugged him. She closed her eyes and blinked out the tears. "We had love."
~*~
So there's the first chappie! I hope ya guys like! I'm really liking this fic so far...
Disclaimer: I do NOT own the newsies! Nugget owns herself. ^^