A much needed talk
Bluey and Bingo were brushing their teeth, trying their best not to think about what happened and to not be sad, they weren't succeding... Their ears were down, tails not wagging, a sad look in their eyes, they didn't want to be sad any longer, but they couldn't and because of that, they were mad at themselves, that wasn't helping them.
"This is so annoying! Why do we keep thinking think about it?! About that, about everything?! Why do we sometimes feel normal and sometimes fell sad?! I don't understand what i even feel anymore... We just need to grow up and stop acting like babies and just... just be... be happy again..." Said Bluey with tears running out of her eyes, she had a tight grip on the sink, trying her best to stop thinking about it. Meanwhile Bingo had nothing to say, she was staring at her reflection. She tried to console her sister, but Bluey just brushed her off. It seemed that both of them felt all sorts of emotions every single time they were awake, sometimes happiness, boredom, anger and more. One thing was for certain though, they always felt sadness.
Brandy however had one thing on her mind, properly seeing her old friend, John. She had been thinking about him since she saw him at the store. The sight of him alone, felt like everything was going to work out, but she knew that wasn't the case.
"John, John, John... You have no clue how much i missed you, all that time after what happened, years... The fact you even did slip out of my mind suprises me, it makes sense because during that time... I felt something... But then that happened and now this... Just reminded me of you and how i lost you for all these years... I- Okay Brandy, focus up, just a couple more hours and you can have a proper chat, one that the both of you definetly needed." Brandy was leaning down on the balcony railing, coffee in hand, looking out at the sky and talking to herself. She felt excitement, happiness and a bit of anxiety, which she herself didn't understand considering she didn't feel anything like that when she saw John at the store and when she messaged him, maybe it was because they would talk about everything that happened or maybe because of something else. To say the least, she didn't know.
There's a quiet knock on the bedroom door. "Dad? Are you awake?" Max said quietly.
John wakes up, feeling like shit and a mild case of laziness to get out of bed.
"Dad, wake up." "In a bit, let me just... Rest my eyes for a minute..." John said quietly in a half-awake voice, cleary not wanting to get up.
"That's what i say to you when i don't want to get out of bed and do you let me sleep?"
"No... I don't..."
"Exactly, so get up, we will go and visit your friend that you haven't seen for a long time, don't wanna be late for that, now do we?" Max said in a taunting voice.
John just shrugged and stayed quiet.
"Is it because you don't wanna get up or is it becaus-" "It's because i don't want to get up." John said before Max could finish his sentence.
"Sure... So... You have no excuse. Get up and get ready."
"Since when were you so eager to meet someone else?"
"Oh i don't want to meet her, but i don't want you to be late in seeing a friend."
"That's very nice of you Max, since when did i raise someone so determined and caring?"
"I don't know, i guess i'm just nice." Max chuckled as John finnaly started to get out of bed.
"Turn on the kettle." John yawned.
"Okay." Max said as he went to the kitchen and turned on the kettle.
John went to the bathroom, he looked at himself in the mirror just thinking about meeting Brandy and how much they will have to catch up on.
"Oh god... Why do i feel anxious? I already talked to her and it went well, i think... You can do this John, just be yourself and talk to a long lost friend you missed so much and... Okay that isn't really helping, perhaps just, nah just stop thinking about it and it will be fine." He used the toilet then took a shower.
Max was sitting in the kitchen, just looking at the kettle thinking about how it will be when he meets his fathers friend.
"I hope she's nice, dad did say she is nice, gotta believe him i guess..." The kettle was done boiling, Max went and poured the water in two cups, one for tea and the other one for coffee.
He took the tea and sat down at the table, waiting for it to cooldown. Just as he was waiting, John came out of the bathroom.
"Your coffee is on the counter." Max pointed.
"Thanks bud." John gave his son a high-five.
"Of course dad."
John took the coffee and sat down.
"Scared to meet her?"
"I think i should be asking you that. You always get up early, so why sleep-in now?"
"Jesus, everyone is a dectective apart from me" John thought. "I gotta be honest... Yeah i'm afraid to meet her." John looked down at his coffee.
"Why? You were best friends, did something change?" Max got curious for the reason of why John was afraid to meet Brandy.
"I... Well... I guess? I don't know... It's just been so long and it won't be like just having a small chat, there will be a lot of thing to catch up on, a lot i don't want to be reminded of."
"Talking about something bad that happened with someone you trust will help you."
"Your therapist say that?"
"Yeah... I like her. She is very nice and helpful."
"I know you do bud."
They drank their tea and coffee, John made Max a sandwich to eat and it was about time to start heading to Brandy.
Brandy had been loading the dishwasher after Bluey and Bingo were done eating. The thought of John never escaped her mind, she was getting more anxious as the hours started to turn into minutes, minutes into seconds and seconds into-
*ring* *ring*
The noise startled Brandy as she knew who it was and she definetly knew that she wasn't ready to open up the door, but she wanted to. She went up to the door, breathed in a huge breath and then opened the door.
"Hey Joh-"
"Hello ma'am, i want to tell you about our newest product."
Brandy was severly annoyed, not only that it wasn't John, but that it was a salesman of all things.
"Not interested, bye." She said as she proceeded to close the door. The salesman put his foot in between the door and frame and asked her to just give him a couple of minutes.
"Please ma'am, you will not regret listening to what i have to say."
"No, i think i will regret it, so leave." Brandy gave him a death stare, reminiscent to Chilli's.
"Please ma'am-"
"Shut your mouth and leave, or you will be eating out of a straw for the rest of your life, prick."
The salesman moved his foot away.
"Okay, sorry ma'am, i just wante-" Before he could finish his spiel, Brandy closed the door.
"You really like to play with my emotions huh god? The chance of that happening is more rarer than me... Whatever, no time for jokes, the next doorbell ring better be John or i swear, whoever else they will be, won't be walking for months after i'm done with them."
Brandy went to the living room to cool-off. She saw Bingo who was asleep holding floppy, while Bluey was doing her best not to fall asleep. Brandy sat down next to Bluey.
"How are you doing kiddo?" Brandy looked at the TV that was turned off.
"Tired..."
"That's all?"
Bluey didn't say anything else.
"You can say anything to me, i will listen."
"It's... sometimes it's... I don't know how to explain it..."
"It's okay, it's okay, just try your best."
"Sometimes i feel, normal and sometimes i feel sad, i don't know why! And i hate it, it just... Will i ever be happy again?"
Brandy didn't know what she was feeling towards what Bluey said, only thing she knew was that it wasn't good.
Brandy hugged Bluey and said. "Of course you will be happy again, it will just take time, you just need to try and one day you will suceed. I promise..." As the words left Brandys mouth, Bluey hugged Brandy back and asked whilst trying to hold her tears back. "How- how do you know?"
"I know what you're feeling Bluey... It destroyed me, but one day i realised that it wasn't how i wanted to feel and i tried and tried until i suceeded and felt happiness again, but..." Brandy didn't know if she should continue.
"But what?" Bluey asked.
"But nothing... I was happy again and i know that you and Bingo will also be. It might not be as soon as you wish it to be, but you two will be happy again, trust me, you will."
Bluey didn't know whether to believe Brandy or not, but she wanted to be happy again like she was before the accident, she had no choice, but to believe it, to believe she will be happy again, that she won't be feeling normal then sad or any other type of emotion, she just wanted it to be like how it was, happy.
*ring* *ring*
"This better be him." Brandy thought to herself.
Brandy got up from the couch, Bluey following suit, curious as to who it can be, since Brandy seemed so interested by it.
Brandy opened the door to see her friend and as she already figured out, a child.
They both immediately hugged eachother. Meanwhile eyes had been locked between Bluey and Max. They both just stared at eachother, unsure of what to say, before Bluey just said a simple "Hey." Max unsure on how to respond, shyly stepped behind his father. Bluey looked down at the floor, thinking if she did something wrong.
"It feels a lot more weird to meet you a second time after so long and not the first." Brandy said with excitement mixed happiness.
"I know, it feels weird indeed, oh and since you somehow already managed to figure out that i had a son, here he is." John put his arm around Max.
Brandy noticed the eyepatch, but kept quiet as she didn't want to make the kid akward, she then leaned down and offered him a handshake which he accepted.
"Nice to meet you, what's your name?" Brandy said.
"Max." He quickly responded.
"That's a nice name. Say, how old are you?"
"I'm 10 miss."
"Ah, just call me Brandy, no need for all this fancy talk."
"Okay ma'am."
Brandy chuckled a bit and then introduced Bluey to them.
"This is Bluey and she has a sister named Bingo, she is sleeping right now." Bluey and Max just stared at eachother.
There was awkward silence.
"Welp, let's go inside, shall we?"
"Oh, yes of course." John said.
Inside the house Bluey went to Bingo, whilst Max stayed with his father.
"Tea or coffee?" Brandy asked.
"Tea, i already had coffee."
"Okay." Brandy noticed That Max stayed with John and so she proceeded to ask him "And what will you have?"
"Nothing, i already drank some tea."
"Okay, but if you want anything, don't be afraid to ask." Brandy reassured him
They sat down waiting for the water to boil.
"Sooo..." Brandy was unsure of what to say. "How has it been?" She awkwardly asked.
"It's been, well... A lot happened." He leaned in and quietly said. "A lot that i don't want to remind him of."
Brandy nodded as she thought of a way to get Max away from them so they could talk in private.
"Hey, Max?" Brandy said.
"Yes?"
"I think you should get to know Bluey and Bingo, they are very nice, i promise." Brandy said whilst giving a fake smile.
Max looked at John who just nodded.
"Okay..." Max said as he began walking to where Bluey and Bingo were.
As soon as he left the room, they started to talk.
"Nice smile."
"I had to make him go away somehow, i hate lying so i had to give a fake smile."
"That you did, but back on topic, it hasn't been good."
"I'm listening."
"Where do i even begin? I guess after the fire. For a long time life just continued, but any of you weren't around me, it was boring and pretty deppresing. Until one day i met someone... Someone who i never should have met. She helped me with what i went through and it went beyond that, we were in love and it felt like it would last forever."
"What was her name?" Brandy asked.
"Jessica, her name was Jessica, the biggest mistake of my life."
Brandy saw that John wasn't comfortable in speaking about this, so she grabbed his hand and said. "You don't have to talk about it, you don't."
"I came here to talk, to catch up, to get back what we both lost, so i'm not going to chicken out and not say what happened."
"Okay, okay..."
"She had family in Sydney and as we were toghether for years at this point, we decided to move there and get married and we did, it was the most happiest i had felt in such a long time. I wanted to have that feeling forever, but life doesn't work like that..." He placed both of his hands on his face.
Brandy just stared, unsure if to ask what happened next.
"We bought a house, we have been saving up for it for a while, but we did and we were both excited as to what will happen next, but looking back on it... I should've been scared. One day Jessica found out that she was pregnant, i was happy beyond believe, but she... Well, she hated it. She never wanted to have kids and i was fine with that, but it happened so i just went along with it. I had to convince her so much that we should keep him, i didn't want the chance to slip away, i wanted to give him what i never had, a family. I managed to convince her, it was difficult, but i did. She was never happy after that. She never smiled at him, she never even cared to name him, she never did anything with him, but i guess one day she started to... To... Hit... Him... And other... VILE... Things, i started to notice something changing in his behaviour, a black eye appeared out of nowhere, an excuse i never believed, but i wanted to believe it, because the other option wasn't the one i wanted, but it was the one i got. One day, when i got back from work i saw Max sitting on chair, crying, with one eye sliced and Jessica staring at him with a knife in her hand, covered in blood, she then notice me and started to threaten me if i came anywhere close, she would slice his other eye, i felt, so many emotions, anger, disbelieve, sadness... And when she turned away from me i leapt at her, to try to get the knife out of her hands, she stabbed me twice in my shoulder, god, it hurt so much, but i managed to get the knife out of her hands and then she startled to stranglle me, tried to push her off, but i couldn't, since my arm was hurt... I thought i was gonna die there, i saw darkness, but then... I... Max stabbed her, MAX STABBED HIS MOTHER!" John started to cry. "And i couldn't do anything to stop it..." Brandy went to hug John and started to calm him down, it hurt her to see him like this and what happened to him and his son, "If she would still be alive, i would kill her, that bitch deserves nothing, but pain." Brandy thought to herself. The kids came to see why John yelled and just saw Brandy hugging him, Brandy quietly said for them to go back.
After a while they finally calmed down and were ready to talk about what happened to Brandy after they seperated.
Earlier
Max entered the room that Bluey and Bingo are in. Bingo was still sleeping, while Bluey was laying down on the couch, looking up at the ceiling.
"Hello..." Max said. "Are you okay?" He asked, curious why Bluey was just looking at the ceiling.
"Huh? Oh yeah, i'm just thinking about something."
"Oh... Sorry for not saying 'hi' earlier, i.. uh.."
"It's okay. What's your name?"
"I'm Max and you're Bluey, right?"
"Yup." Bluey got up from the couch. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you wearing an eyepatch?"
Bluey could tell by the look on his face that he didn't want to talk about it.
"You don't need to tell me, i understand."
"Yeah... Okay... You uh..."
"What?"
"You look tired. Did you go to sleep late or something?"
Bluey thought for a second before saying. "Yeah, something happened and i went to sleep late."
"Well if you want to sleep, i can leave." Max offered.
"No, it's okay, i don't want to fall asleep."
"If you say so..." Max didn't know what to as Bluey did not seem interested in talking to him.
Suddenly there was a yell in kitchen, it managed to wake Bingo up and Max was already rushing out to see what it was, with Bluey and Bingo also getting up and going to see what the noise was.
Max was concerned as to what happened to his dad. They saw Brandy hugging him and when she noticed the kids she queitly said. "It's okay, go back, he'll be fine."
Max wanted to go to his father, but Brandy gave him a look that he understood fully and just went back to the room where Bluey and Bingo were.
"What was that?" Bluey asked.
"Nothing." Max sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall.
"Who are they?" Bingo asked.
"I don't know, he is Brandy's friend i think and he is his son." She queitly said.
"Oh... What's with the eyepatch?"
"He doesn't want to talk about it."
Bingo looked at Max, wondering what happened to him. She went to him and sat besides him.
"Hey." Bingo said.
"Hello.."
Bingo thought about what to say, she knew he didn't want to talk about what happened so she thought of something else.
"What do you uh... What do you like to do?"
"What?"
"Like, do you like drawing? playing? reading?"
"Reading. I like reading."
"Oh, that's nice, what's your favourite book?"
Max chuckles and says. "I actually don't have a favourite book, there are a lot of books i do like."
Bluey sat next to the other side of Max.
"Who taught you how to read?" Bingo said
"My dad. He teaches me a lot of things."
"Like what?" Bluey said
"Cooking, fixing stuff and plenty of other stuff also."
"That's nice. What else do you like to do?"
"Uhhh... I think i just like reading."
"Oh cmon, you have to like something else besides reading." Bingo playfully said.
"I don't know, cooking is pretty fun i guess? Drawing too."
"See? You like more stuff than just reading."
"I guess i do."
The room was quiet as a funeral, no one knew what to say, Bluey and Bingo were curious what happened to Max with his eye, but they didn't want to pry into his personal life, whilst Max is happy that someone he is talking to, doesn't find him boring and lame.
"I'm sorry." He said.
"What?" Both of the sisters said simultaneously.
"I'm sorry for being so boring and not really talking."
"Hey, i don't find you boring, do you Bingo?"
"No, i would never find you boring, i think you are very interesting."
"Really?" Max gave a little smile.
"Yes, of course! You just need to... Uhh... How is it called again?" Bluey couldn't find the right words.
" 'Get to know you' "
"Yeah! You just need to know us better and you won't be shy."
"I guess i won't, what do you two like to do?"
"I like to make up a lot of different games and some-"
Brandy and John
"I'm sorry you had to go through all of that." Brandy said whilst her arm was over his shoulder.
"I still think about it everyday... If i just wouldn't have convinced her to keep the baby everything would have been fine."
"Don't blame yourself, just... Don't..."
They both sat there, drinking tea, before John asked.
"So what happened with you?"
Brandy thought for a second and then thought some more and then more.
"Hey? you good?" John asked.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, just thinking about it all."
"You don't need to say it, if you don't want to."
"No, it's okay, you already told what happened to you, it wouldn't be fair if i didn't tell what happened to me."
"Okay, but i will understand if you won't want to continue."
"Thank you. Now... After what happened, i didn't have anyone, but my family so i focused on being with them, but it was hard, it never felt like i moved passed it, never felt like i escaped the feeling of guilt, so i decided to join the army and-" "Wait, wait, wait. You joined the army?" John was very surprised that Brandy out of all people would join the army.
"Yup, i told myself it was to try new things, to find something i like doing, but it reality, it was just to run away from what happened an try to forget it... It worked, until i had a break and had to come back, then it just started it all up again."
"How long were you in the army?" John asked.
"About 6 years, it was hell of a time in the barracks that's for sure, but one day, someone pissed me off so much that i beat their asses in front of everyone... Least to say i got dishonorably discharged and was let out back out in the world with nothing to do, i got my old job back and just thinking of what to do, i didn't even have any of you, so it was more boring than before."
"So what did you do?"
"I started dating here and there, hoping i would find someone, i met a few, but they didn't last, until i met someone who... well you know, it was a feeling that i hadn't felt in a lifetime and just... Yeah..." Brandy goes silent. "I'm not sure how to continue." She said.
"You don't have to." John reassured.
"I will, i just need to think how... Okay... Straight to the point i guess... My sister chilli gave birth to Bluey." Johns face got hit with realisation.
"I- I mean- w- what? Are you saying that she is-"
"Yeah... Yeah... I am."
"I'm so sorry, i- i just..."
"There's more."
John just looked, eyes wide, giving a slight nod.
"Before, when i was with him, i found out something and it made me do the same thing as when i joined the army, i didn't talk to anyone and i mean anyone, not even my family, not even the person i loved, no one."
"W- what was the reason?"
"I found out that... I couldn't have kids..." A tear left Brandys eye.
John put his head on the table. "Nothing can ever be easy, either something bad happens to you or someone you know."
They sat there in silence, thinking about everything and nothing at the same time.
Brandy sighs and continues telling her story. "What hurt the most was that my sister had another child, Bingo. It hurt me so much to see her having the perfect life that i knew i couldn't have and i got into and arguement with her, we didn't speak after that... For a whole 4 years, we never spoke, we did nothing, i was being a bitch, blaming everyone else and then feeling sorry for myself. The person i loved couldn't deal with me the way i was, so he left... I don't blame him, he did the right thing. Then, one day, i recieved a phone call, i picked it up and i heard the voice of my sister, she invited me to come over and talk about everything and just, fix our relationship... To be sisters again and we did, the first time i came here, i felt so many emotions i can't even list them. It was so hard to see her kids, i tried leaving multiple times, but something always happened and i couldn't, thankfully. After all the stuff that happened, i felt happiness and just wasn't caring about nothing else, in that moment when i was dancing on the stairs, i felt happy."
"I'm not sure if i should even ask you this..." Brandy already knew. "I'll tell you. It was their anniversary and someone had to look after the kids, so i volunteered and it all went smoothly, until i heard my phone ringing... Chill and her husband, Bandit... They had died, in a car crash... And worst of all, Bluey and Bingo heard it... I was... Just... So over with it all... All the shit that happend... I though i was starting to move on from it all, i thought that nothing bad could happen anymore, but life always has it's tricks. I'm taking care of the kids now, a job i don't think i'm fit to do, but i'm doing it nonetheless, it's been hard John... All the stuff, i fear if i ever feel like i'm moving on and just being happy that life will find some way to fuck it all up again and that i start back from square one again... I just want all of it to stop, i just want to raise the kids so they would have a good life and not constantly feel sad and isolate themselves because of what happened to their parents... So that they wouldn't repeat the same mistakes i did."
...