Chapter Two
Flashback
It was a Thursday. It was the evening of the Baker parents' anniversary and Nora was babysitting her younger siblings. They had promised not to be back late.
After putting her younger brothers and sisters to bed, Nora lay on the sofa with her feet up, watching TV. After a while, she found her eyes staring at the numerous pictures of her family across the walls, bringing back clear memories of her loud and messy childhood. Nora had loved being an older sister, and still did. Being five when Charlie was born, there were very few of her memories where she was an only child, and still considered the family vacations to Lake Winnetka to be her fondest moments. It had been a long time since she had lived with her family, since before they moved to Chicago, but she still considered the big white house in Evanston, although it was not where she had spent her childhood, home. It was familiar, and almost nothing could take away from that.
Later on, Nora heard footsteps heading up the stairs.
"Lorraine! Come in here!" Nora called out. She heard a loud and dramatic sigh which could only belong to her sister, who stomped back down the stairs and into the living room.
"What?!" The teenager said, standing with her arms crossed in the doorway.
"Attitude much? You're late."
"By like fifteen minutes!" Lorraine said, simply not seeing the problem.
"It's another fifteen minutes you could have been at home, like you were supposed to be."
"Whatever. You're not going to tell Mom and Dad are you?"
"Lorraine, I was your age once, I know what it's like to be a teenager and want to push your boundaries, but you need to respect the rules."
"What did Mom tell you to say?!" Lorraine snapped, dropping her bag on the floor.
"What? Nothing! What are you-" Nora said, looking confused.
"Nothing! Nora, it's fifteen minutes, let it go and let Mom and Dad enjoy their anniversary without stupid punishments! I promise I won't do it again. There, now let's get over it."
Nora sighed and rubbed her temples.
"Okay. Just go upstairs and get ready for bed." The twenty three year old heard her younger sister once again, stomping away towards her room. Lorraine's recent attitude was beginning to grate on Nora. Over the past month, any conservation with the girl ended in an argument of some sort. Some members of the family were questioning whether or not it was better to simply avoid the self-proclaimed fashion guru. Either way, something had changed, and her little sister was no longer sweet and friendly.
It was not long before Charlie came back from visiting his girlfriend, Beth in Midland.
"Shouldn't Mom and Dad should be back by now?" He asked as he dropped his bag on the floor and sat on the sofa across from Nora.
"Yeah, but it's okay, I'm just glad they're getting some time to themselves. Having twelve kids doesn't exactly give them much 'grown up conversation time'." Nora smiled. Her parents had been married for twenty four years to the day, and had been parents for twenty three, there was very little Tom and Kate Baker did not know about managing large groups. Celebrating their own achievements, such as anniversaries and birthdays just seemed to get lost along the way.
"Good night?" The eighteen year old asked.
"Pretty average. You?" Nora said. Charlie shrugged, looking away from his sister, who was worried- she knew that something was wrong.
"What happened?"
"I broke up with Beth today."
"What?! Why?"
"There was nothing between us anymore. We barely see each other, and when we do, we don't have anything to talk about. It was just… over. We were just avoiding the subject and drawing it out. Better to just get it over with…"
"Charlie, I'm sorry." Nora sat on the sofa next to her brother and wrapped an arm around him.
"I'm okay. Seriously. I just need some time to think." Charlie said, before standing up and walking to the door.
"I'm here if you need me." His sister said, to which he nodded.
Charlie heard a knock on his door and called for whoever it was to come in, shoving the pictures of himself and his now ex-girlfriend that he had taken off of the walls under his pillow.
"It's getting late, I'm really worried about Mom and Dad." Nora told him, putting her head around his bedroom door.
"Nora, they'll be fine. They're grown up enough to make their way back home. They'll just be having fun and lost track of time. Don't worry so much." To this, Nora nodded and retreated back downstairs. But despite her acceptance that her parents deserved the time, she could not shake the feeling that something was not right.
It was around 12.30pm when Nora drifted to sleep. It was barely half an hour later when the phone rang and woke the oldest Baker child up. She grabbed the phone.
"Who calls at this time of night?" Charlie asked as he came down the stairs.
"It was the hospital. There's been an accident."