Chapter 1: Ricky

The alarmclock on his bedside table woke Ricky up in the midst of a dream about a girl with long chestnut hair. Startled by the sound, Ricky breathed out heavily as he came to the realization that he was in his bed. He sighed deeply as he swung his legs out of the bed snoozing his alarm clock. Oh how he he hated these mornings, where memories of Amy came rushing back in. For the most part of his day, he was able to shut off his thoughts about her, but at night, his mind was unguarded and she would pop right in again. At first, these dreams had been vivid, remembering specific things about her, and they had been a lot more frequent than they were nowadays.

Same went for John asking about his mother. The first few weeks after she had left, he would constantly cry or ask about his Mom. Ricky tried to keep in touch with Amy through skype, so that his son wouldn't think he wasn't important enough, and he always tried to make sure to tell him that his mother loved him, and that she would return to him when she was ready, but when the weeks started to turn into months, and the skype calls became less frequent, he started to stop talking about Amy as well. It hurt too much to think of her, and speaking her name was like knives cutting into his heart. It was worse than the cigarette burns his father had given him. And after a while, even John gave up asking about his mother, now, he was perfectly fine with it just being him and his Dad, not wondering about a Mom, although all the other kids in his class had a Mom ánd a Dad.

After a long inhale of fresh air, he finally got up out of the bed when his alarm clock started playing the annoying beeping sounds again. Time to wake up John to get him ready for school, he thought. He couldn't believe his boy was finishing up with grade five already, he was so proud of his son. As he made his way over to his son's room, he made a stop at the kitching, pressing the button for the coffee machine, then walking into his son's room, gently calling out his name.
"John buddy, wake up, it's time to go to school."
The little boy stirred in his sleep, clearly not planning on waking up. Ricky smiled, he was so much like him, even the way he slept reminded him of himself, one arm underneath the cushion and one arm pulled up in front of his face while sleeping on his tummy. Ricky reached out, gently shaking his son, so he would wake up.
"Come on bud, let's get ready, I need to open the shop in a few minutes and the bus will be here soon."
Finally the little boy opened his eyes, Amy's eyes and smiled. He was always in such a good mood, it was a joy for Ricky to be his father.
"Good morning, Daddy," John spoke.
"Good morning, Son, did you sleep well?" Ricky asked, turning for the closet to grab John's clothes for this morning, making sure he also grabbed clean underwear, as his son had a habit of being lazy and not chaning his underwear.
"Yeah.. Last day of school. Will you come pick me up today?" the boy asked, hopeful for a positive answer.
"I'll try buddy, what time is school out today?"
"At two, but I need to bring home a lot of stuff and it's easier than taking the bus."
"I'll be there." Ricky promised, although he would have to find an employee to take care of the butcher shop by himself for that period of time, but he couldn't say no to his son, not when he rarely asked to be picked up.

A knock on the door ended the conversation, as Ricky raised an eyebrow. Who could be at the door at this time in the day? He glanced at the Angry birds clock by John's bed. 7.30. He still had time to open the butcher shop so it couldn't be some angry customer who knew he lived above the butcher shop.
"Hang on buddy, let me get the door and get dressed, okay?"
"Yeah Daddy."
Ricky smiled at his son, ruffling his hair so it pointed every way they could possible go, then made his way to the front door.
"Hi, how can I h-" he didn't finish the sentence, as he spotted the girl in front of him. Well, he could no longer call her a girl, she had grown into a beautiful young woman, although she looked just the same in a way.
"Hey Ricky, can I come in?" Amy Juergens spoke.