Dwayne walked in his front door, and straight to Olive's room. He knocked on the door, even though it was partially open already. "Come in," Olive called to him. Even though it was late, she was still up, on the floor drawing a picture. Dwayne walked in and sat down on the floor next to her, resting his back on her book case. "Dwayne? What happened to your hands? Are you ok?" Olive went over to him and touched the bandages.
"Its nothing, I fell over and got them scraped a little bit. That's not why I'm here. Listen, I have something really important to tell you." Dwayne took Olive's hand and walked her over to the bed they sat down together. "Ok, Richard and mom probably don't want me telling you this right now, but I think that it's important for you to know." Dwayne sighed; this was going to be harder then he though. "Well, my dad is coming up for a little while, and when he leaves, I may go with him, you know, permanently." Dwayne turned away from Olive; he couldn't bear to look at her.
"What! You're going to leave? Why?" Olive was crying, and Dwayne could hear her voice shaking.
"It's complicated, but I'm sick, I'm really sick, and your dad doesn't like me. He doesn't want me around, so I'm going to go somewhere where I can feel loved all of the time." Olive put her arms around Dwayne's neck, virtually strangling him.
"Please don't go, you said you wouldn't leave me here with these people! Take me with you!" Dwayne turned to her, a single tear welling up in his eye.
"I can't Olive, you have to stay with your parents, I will still see you, just not as much. Besides, I am not a good influence on you, really, I'm not. I do all of these bad things that no one knows about. I just- I just have to, I can't stay here anymore, not with Richard." He wanted more then anything to be able to take her with him, but he knew that he couldn't, it just couldn't happen, even if it was the best option.
"Can't your dad just stay here with us?" Olive asked.
"No, he can't. He has a job and a house back in Florida, and he can't just drop all of that. Even if he could it wouldn't help things at all. I still have to go with him." Dwayne took Olive in his arms. She cried and cried, not able to even think about how life would be without Dwayne around. He had always been there for her, no matter how uncaring he had acted, he had always protected her from things, and supported her.
"I don't understand why still. Do you want to go?" she asked. Dwayne couldn't answer that verbally, so he just nodded his head yes. Olive cried harder, and Dwayne pulled her head into his chest, cradling her in his arms.
"I'm sorry Olive, I'm really, really sorry." A few silent tears streamed down his cheeks. Olive and Dwayne lay down, both crying, Olive loudly, Dwayne as softly as possible. Eventually, Olive fell asleep in Dwayne's strong embrace. He lay awake, just holding her, hoping that she would come to understand this.
They were both woken rudely early the next morning by Sheryl rushing in. "OLIVE! Frank says your brother never came home last night, have you talked to him? Have you seen him?" Her eyes rested on Dwayne, who was right next to Olive. "Oh thank god, Dwayne, don't ever do that again. We were so worried!" Sheryl rushed over and hugged him. He pulled away. "Oh please Dwayne, don't be like this, your father is coming in tonight, just be on good behavior for him, ok?"
"It's not him that I have a problem with." Dwayne glared at his mom. "I'm taking Olive to tennis camp later, so she needs to sleep a little longer so that she has enough energy. Let's take this somewhere else." Dwayne stood and walked out of the room, his mother in tow.
"Why didn't you at least check in with Frank or me when you came in?"
"I didn't feel like I needed to, I was here, and I didn't want to talk to anyone." Dwayne shoved his hands in his pockets.
"Here, let's take a walk." Sheryl opened the front door, and Dwayne followed her out of it. "You went and talked to Olive though?"
"Yup. I told her about dad, and everything."
"You did what? Dwayne, you should have left that to me and Richard to tell her when the time was right!"
"Well, I thought that she had a right to know the full truth. Not the padded version that you would have given her, the version that made dad the monster and not me. I wanted her to see this as my decision, and she never would have if you and Richard had told her. You know it." Dwayne turned and stared his mom directly in the eye.
"Well, yes, we would have padded it down a little bit, but Dwayne, she's 7, she's not going to understand you just up and leaving one day, and not coming back."
"You're right, she doesn't understand, but at least she knows its coming and she has more time to let it sink in. Things are going to be a lot different when I leave, and she needs to be able to get ready for them when they come."
"That is true, but you still shouldn't have told her without telling me first. I would like to know when you are telling my daughter things like that. Besides, nothing's final yet, you still may end up staying here with us."
"Don't hold on too tightly to that hope mom. I'm going with dad; you know that you can't win. I don't want you raising Olive's hopes that I'm going to stay, promise me that you wont raise her hopes mom?" Dwayne looked seriously at her.
"I promise, it probably is for the best that we don't give her false hopes, but you know, all of this could have been avoided if you just stayed with us! Olive looks up to you, and she needs you and…" Dwayne cut her off again.
"Mom, do not start on this again, not right now, ok? I am not a good role model for her, I'm sick, ok? Really, really sick." Dwayne yelled at his mother, and the heads of the two other people on the mostly deserted street turned.
"Dwayne? Honey, what do you mean by sick?" Sheryl was worried.
"I have a-a problem, a really bad problem."
"Do you want to talk about? At least tell me what it is, I can try to help."
"I cant, I just can't, but you can ask Uncle Frank, tell him," Dwayne sighed. "Tell him that I told you to ask him, because I think its time that you knew. Also, if you wouldn't mind, will you thank him for me? I don't really feel like talking to him right now, but he'll know what for. He did me a big favor yesterday, and I just got mad at him." Sheryl just looked at him with an open mouth. She knew that this was a big step for her son.
"We should go back now. I need to talk to my brother." They walked back in silence, and Sheryl went to go find Frank. Dwayne stood outside the door to the room they were in, and listened to Sheryl scream when Frank told her, and started crying. Dwayne closed his eyes, and bit down on his lip. He heard Sheryl get up, and he walked away from the door. He hid behind the bathroom door, and watched her emerge, her face stained with tears.