Chapter 5
As always thanks for the reviews, please stay with me this fic will be a long one I hope you guys don't mind. Also what happened to Shane you all will have to wait and see what become's of him. A lot of you wondered why Rick stayed, I personally think that Rick is a man with traditional family values, I know i haven't written Judith and Carl in a while but fear not they will show up soon. This chapter will be Carl's thoughts and feelings of his parents and what he thinks should happen.
One last thing yay or nay to Shane returning? Leave me a yay or nay for his return in your reviews.
It's been nice for awhile, just nice the house is full of chatter not like silence when mom was pregnant. I know dad is not happy, the only time I see him happy is when his with uncle Daryl or me and Judith never with mom. I try to stay happy for him but I'm not, it's not a nice coming home to house full of silence. This isn't a home its just a house that I stay in, I hate the silence.
I jerk my head as I hear mom asking and crying for dad to stay, I know he isn't I can hear his footsteps going down the stairs towards the front door. I don't wanna look but I want to, I shuffle to the end of my bed and stand up walking as quietly as I can I sneak out of my door to the end of the hall towards the window. I look down and I can see mom grab dad's arm, I can't hear what they are saying but for a moment mom doesn't move she must be listening to dad before he shuts the door and drives away. I make my way back to my room when I see mom staring at the direction dad drove off, I hate this house.
It's morning now and I awake with a headache my head throbs in pain but I ignore it as I make my way to the bathroom to get ready for school. I check Judith's room and I find the little toddler sitting up and smiling. I walk over to her crib and pull her out.
"Good morning Judith, did you sleep good?" I say quietly, she smiles as I make a funny face. she starts clapping her hands in excitement. I chuckle at her antics and adjust her on my hip before making my way down to the kitchen. I walk in and I see dad sitting with his back to me deep in thought he doesn't notice that I've walked in until I open the fridge door getting the baby food mom keeps in the fridge. He turns his head and smiles half heated at me and Judith.
"Good morning you guys. You sleep alright?" He asks me taking a sip of his coffee. I 'hmm' my response and put Judith's food on the table and sit with her in my lap and start feeding her. We sit in comfortable silence the only sound in the kitchen is Judith eating and dad sipping his coffee.
"I heard you and mom last night." I say, he jerks his head up and frowns at me. "What did you hear son?" He asks. "Just mom asking you to stay again." I hear him sigh while his looking at his coffee. "How do you feel about it Carl?" I look at him shocked, this is the first time that he has asked me how I feel.
"I..." I start off but my brain goes blank, do I tell him that we are all miserable and he should leave or do I tell him to stay and hope for the best but before I can say anything mom comes into the room and looks at us and in a instant I can feel the tension between my parents. I get up and hand Judith to mom as I'm leaving the kitchen. I go back upstairs and get my school bag and I shout from the door that 'I'm walking to school', I hear farewells and I head out the door to school.
I am a few blocks away from home when I spot my friend Noah heading out of his home. "Noah!" I yell, he turns to me and waves I run to catch up to him as he waits for me.
"Hey man good morning." I say in a breath as we meet up, he turns and I fall in step with him as we continue to school. "Morning, you do the art assignment for Ms Lawrence's class?" 'Shit' I whisper under my breath forgetting the assignment. "No, I forgot about it. You?" I ask and he nods and I groan. We forget it about the assignment as we continue to walk to school at a lazy pace.
"Hey how come you didn't come to the barbecue last weekend?" I ask remembering. "Dad did ask me to tag along but I didn't wanna come." He responds. "You should have come Ms Lawrence gave me some cool comics." I say. "Really? What for and which comics?" He asks as we turn around another corner.
"I should have mentioned that Ms Lawrence moved across from my house when she first moved here and I was being nice to her son his name is Andre his a sweet little kid and the comics she gave me it's called Watchmen." We continue to talk about the comics as we finally make it to school. I see Enid and Sophia waiting for us at the school entrance, we make our way to them.
'Morning ladies.' Noah says to the girls as we exchanged greetings. We chat for a bit before classes start then the bell rings signaling us to head to class. The morning is always a rush trying to get to class. I get through the morning classes like always barely paying attention, writing notes and handing in assignments. It's recess now as I make my way to the lunch room. I walk in and I start searching for my friends, I spot them in our usual spot in the far left corner. I walk over to them as I hear them chatting away, Noah greets me with a nod as I sit down. We are chatting away eating our lunch discussing anything other than school work. The bell signals for us to return to class, I tell the group that I'm gonna see Ms Lawrence before I join them for lunch Noah asks if he wants me to come, I tell him 'it's cool' and I head to class.
The afternoon classes start and just like the morning classes I got through the motions of taking notes and paying attention. The last class of the afternoon before lunch is english, Ms Williams is Noah's aunt and she is strict as hell, she catches you not paying attention in class and there is hell to pay Ms Williams is a great teacher for that she keeps you interested what you are learning. The bell rings once again for lunch, I head to the front of the class where Ms Williams is sitting accepting assignment.
"Afternoon Carl, how did you find this week's assignment?" Ms William asks without looking up, continuing to mark papers. "Good afternoon, it was fine Ms Williams." She finally looks up with a smile as she accepts my assignment. "Ok Carl thank you, why don't you head off to lunch now." She says turning back to her work, I nod and walk out of the classroom heading to the art faculty. I make it out of the building walking at a lazy pace when I'm shoved in the shoulder by somebody.
"Watch where you're going!" I yell at the person, he turns around and I see that it's Ron Anderson he sneers at me and keeps walking. I shrug it off and continue on my way to the art faculty. I finally make it and as I'm about to knock on the door I see Michonne about to step out.
"Oh hey Carl how are you?" She stops and ask as she opens the door.
"I'm fine Ms Lawrence, I just wanted to talk to you about this weeks assignment." I say as we move out of the way of the door as more teachers leave. "OK, what is it?"
"I didn't finish it in time, I was wondering if I could have an extension on it." She frowns at me.
"Carl I gave you and everybody else in the class two weeks to finish this assignment, if you needed more time you should have asked me last week for the extension. Before I give the extension to you I need a reason." She asks with her hands on her hips.
"I... I was just busy dealing with stuff at home and I forgot." I say finally looking at Michonne. Her frown doesn't move from her face but she sighs all the same and her body relaxes.
"Alright I expect the assignment next week monday young man and no later, you hear me?" She points to me as I nod. "Thanks Ms Lawrence, I will have it done by then." She nods at me as we both turn towards the classroom.
"Oh how were the comics I got you Carl?" She asks as we casually walk down the hall. "It's a whole lot graphic than Superman, the characters are really cool though but some of the stuff I've seen is a little much." She nods her head in understanding.
"Well I was in the comic shop, looking for comics for Andre since he wouldn't stop mentioning the one comic his been reading over and over." She smiled and looked at me. "I thought because you're fifteen Watchmen would be something that you would enjoy to read and it is very mature." We make it to the classroom we stop to chat for a few minutes when I notice that I have about fifteen minutes of lunch left. I turn to leave before I remember my manners and say goodbye to Michonne.
"Well, I just wanna thank you again Ms Lawrence for the comics as well as the extension, I promise to have it done by this monday." She waves me off and gestures for me to leave as she makes her way into the classroom.
I quickly take off to the lunch room and meet up with my friends, I quickly eat my lunch in ten minutes all the while talking to Noah, Enid and Sophia. The bell rings again for the last classes of the day and as we take off to our classes, Noah tells me he'll meet me at the art class with Ms Lawrence after taking PE. As our second last class of the day finishes I make my way to the last class of the day, Ms Lawrence's art class. I approach the classroom and I see Noah waiting outside for me, I nod at him and we both make our way inside to the back of the classroom at our usual spot. The classes hasn't started yet but the room is filling with other students. We wait for Ms Lawrence chatting amongst ourselves when the door opens and in she come's in.
"Alright, settle down and get seated. Good afternoon class. Today we have a lot to do but I must remind you all to hand in your assignments at the end of class. This assignment is very important it takes up forty percent of you grades." She speaks loud and clear as the classroom settles and pay attention to her.
"OK today we will be sketching the bowls of apple's in front of you so please get out your art books and remember to not rip out pages of your book, the work you do in them counts up another thirty percent of your grades at the end of the year. Alright?" She says as everyone including me nod as we set about sketching the bowl's in books. The class goes relatively slow as the day draws to end, the sound of scratching pencils and quiet chatter in the class fills the lazy atmosphere in the room.
The bell signals the end of class. "Alright student's put your books away!" Michonne says loudly over the students rushing to leave. "Don't forget to hand in your assignments before you take off." I walk with Noah to drop his assignment at the desk and Michonne heads turn to me before she speaks. "Don't forget your assignment is due on monday morning alright?" I nod to her and me and Noah take off out towards the entrance of the school where we see Sophia and Enid waiting for us, we greet them before Enid gesture with her head. I turn and I see my dad standing next to his truck waiting for me. I frown at that, it's never a good sign when dad picks me up from school.
I say goodbye to my friends and take off towards my dad, I'm nervous as his face is downcast and sad. He notices me and tries to smile and fails "Hey dad what are you doing here?" I ask him quietly.
"I got to tell you something but not here at home OK?" He says as he makes his way to the driver seat. I nod and climb into the front as the car starts up and we take off in the direction of home. The car is stuffy and something feels off, I just wanna get out of this car. We pull up to the house and I notice that mom's car is gone, 'that's not good' I say in my head. Dad sits quietly for second then hops out and starts walking towards the house. I follow him into the house and I notice that its quiet again when mom was pregnant. Dead silence between my dad and I, I look at him an we step into the leaving room and take a seat across from each other.
"Dad what's going on where is mom and Judith?" I finally question. He looks at me with sad eyes and takes a deep breath before answering. "You're mom is going to live with you grandmother and grandpa for awhile... Son I don't know how to say this." He rubs his eye's in discomfort.
"You're mom and I are getting a divorce son." He finally speaks, he looks at me waiting for me to react. My mind goes blank for a few minutes trying to think. I open my mouth and ask one question.
"Why?" If dad's shoulders could sag any lower they do. He takes a deep breath and I watch him as he thinks of a way to answer me.
"We have been unhappy for awhile son and I wanted to stay for you and Judith." He says honestly, I nod at his answer. "I... We tried to stay together but..." He drifts off with slumped shoulders. I've never seen him so defeated, it makes me sad to see him so unhappy. I get up and walk over to him and sit next to him and wrap my arms around him and squeeze him tight, he stiffens at first then relaxes before hugging me back just as tight, we sit there for a long while just hugging, the last time he hugged me this tight was when I broke my arm when I was seven.
Eventually we break apart and just sit in silence, it's nice and quiet between us the sun is setting nearly time for dinner and just like that and my stomach has bad timing and grumbles in the quiet house. Dad looks at me with amusement in his eyes he then starts chuckling then full out laughing at my embarrassment, I get over it and we both just laugh. Laughing sounds good coming from my dad it's nice to hear for the first time in years. After our laughter has died down and we are sitting there dad suggests we go out to eat.
"Let's eat at the pizza palace." I suggest dad nods his head. "But before we go how do you feel about me and mom?" I think about it for a second and really think before I reply.
"I think that this a good thing-." I continue quickly as I can see him about to reply. "Now before you say anything let me explain alright." He looks at me and nods in acceptance.
"I think that you both getting a divorce is a good thing because you both were equally miserable and being in this house were there was nothing but silence day in and day out made me miserable. I am sad that you are both separating I am really but you haven't been happy in a long while, you laughing just a minute ago was just nice to hear than silence to be honest." I say while watching dad's reaction, I take a deep breath and relax as I feel as if a weight has been lifted off my heart.
"Why didn't you say anything son? If you felt that way before you should have told us." He spoke softly his voice ashamed. "I knew how hard it was you to talk with mom, I knew that you were they type of guy to do than talk. It was already tense enough I didn't want to stress you and mom even more than what you already were." I say honestly before he can reply I hug him again letting him know with that hug, that it's OK. He hugs me and tight again and kisses me on my head like I'm little again, I smile to myself before pushing him off me.
"Eww dad gross, I'm not little anymore." I mock glare at him as he smiles shaking his head. "C'mon lets get you fed. Pizza right?" He grabs his keys and we make our way out to his truck again. It's getting dark as the sun sets and the stars are coming out, we pull out and head to the pizza palace. I'm sitting in the car and for the first time in a long time I'm happy again, dad is humming to a tune on the radio, while we sit in silence. I'm sad that mom and dad are separating but at the same time I hope they both can be happy again.
As always thanks for the reviews. Also to that guest get out of my head... just kidding but thanks again for the reviews.
Do you guys want the conversation between Lori and Rick agreeing to get a divorce or nah? Let me know.
Next time will be Rick, Michonne, Carl and Andre eating dinner.