Nate came running out of the house a few minutes later, throwing the bat down behind him. He picked up Addie and took Alex’s hand as he started out the gate dragging Alex behind him. Shouts came from the house. Nate turned to me. “Hold on to Jake and Josh. We have to get to the telephone booth in town by the library.”
We started walking quickly to the telephone booth and by the time we got there, we were all out of breath. “Wait here with them.” Nate said leading us all to a bench under a tree, ignoring the disapproving and questioning looks we were getting from the people of the small town.
Everyone in Silverton knew who we were and knew what kind of parent our mother was, so finding us all in a dishevelled state was no surprise to them.
The majority of the town had always looked down on us. The fact that none of us looked like each other was just one of the reasons no one thought highly of our family. To them we were nothing more than trailer trash without a trailer.
Nate and I did the best we could to keep our house, clothes and siblings clean but there was only so much an eleven year old and eight year old could do.
From where we were sat, I saw Nate pull some change and a tattered piece of paper from his jeans. He fed the coins into the phone and dialled a number. “Caleb, what’s going on?” Jake looked up at me, tears in the big blue eyes.
“It’s gonna be fine, Jake. Nate is fixing it.” I said with more confidence than I felt. Ignoring the questioning gazes of people walking past, I picked up a still crying Alex and put him on my lap, rubbing a hand up and down his trembling back.
“Alex, stop crying. It’s okay. You’re okay now.”
“The bad man hit me, Caleb. I tried to get Addie off him. But he hitted me.”
A fire burned through me. I was angry. I was angrier than I had ever been before in my life. I was angry at my mother and the fact she ignored us. I was angry at the fact we were living a life no child should have to be living. I was angry that we had to live in a constant state of uncertainty.
Not for the first time, I wished that we had a mom like the ones all the other kids in my class had. Moms who picked them up after school, packed lunches, attended PTA meetings and didn’t allow creepy fucking men around her children.
“Don’t worry bout it, Al. You did good. Real good. See Addie’s okay.” Alex’s sobs slowed to hiccups as he got off my lap and went to sit next to Addie, taking her hand in his.
Addie was four and had never uttered a word. She was a silent, withdrawn child, something which had always worried me and Nate. We had tried to coax her into talking, but she had always refused, choosing to communicate by just pointing and shaking her head.
“Who did you call?” I asked Nate when he came back a few minutes later. “Jeremy Jameson.” he said sitting next to me.
“Who’s that?” I asked Nate, “Our Uncle.” Nate said briefly. I stared at Nate blankly.
Jake and Josh exchanged a confused look before asking “We have an Uncle?”
“Yeah. He lives a couple of hours away. He said to sit tight, he’s on his way.”
“How do you know if we can trust him, Nate?”
Nate looked over at me. His face looked so much older than his actual age. “We don’t have much other choice Caleb. He and mom aren’t close. The last time he came to see her, you were still little. But she wasn’t this bad then, she asked him for money. He said we should go stay with him so he could help her, she said no. He gave me that card when he left. He said to call if we ever needed anything.”
Our mother had attempted to get clean so many times we had lost count. She usually tried to sober up whenever she was pregnant and stayed that way long enough to have the baby, before falling off the wagon again.
She had gotten worse over the years. After Alex and Addie were born she had spiralled, and her addiction had escalated from just alcohol to a cocktail of alcohol and whatever drug she could get her hands on.
The tension grew as we waited; even Jake and Josh were unusually quiet as we waited for this man that none of us apart from Nate had ever met. Two hours passed and the sky had become increasingly dark.
“I’m hungry, Nate.” Josh whined. “Me too” Alex and Jake echoed.
Nate sighed and turned to me. “How much money have you got?” he asked pulling out a couple of rumpled dollar bills. I had stolen five dollars the night before from mom’s purse when she was passed out from her usual night time routine of downing most of a vodka bottle.
By the age of five, other kids were starting to read and write, by the time I was five the only skill I had was naming my mom’s favourite types of alcohol. I showed Nate the five bucks.
“I’ll wait here with them. You go to McCann’s and see what you can get.”
Mrs McMann ran the local bakery and she was one of the few people in town who was actually nice to us. She would stop by the house sometimes with loaves of bread that hadn’t been sold during the day. As I ran up to the door, Mrs. McCann was there flipping around the sign from open to closed.
“Wait, please! I need to buy something!” I called out as I ran up to her.
“Oh. Hello dear.” She sounded surprised “What are you doing here by yourself at this time? Where’s your mother?” The silence that filled the space between us told her everything she needed to know. I looked over my shoulder to where my brothers and sister were sat.
She motioned for them to come over with her hands. When they got to where we were stood, Mrs McCann looked at Nate and told him “Your money is no good here. I do however have some sandwiches and cake that need to be finished by the end of today. Think you can help me?”
Eager nods came from my younger siblings and Nate just turned up the corner of his mouth, the closest facial expression he ever got to a smile.
We sat down as Mrs McCann and her daughter began placing food in front of us. Jake, Josh, Addie and Alex began devouring the mountain of food in front of them. “Slow down, you’re going to make yourselves sick.” Nate warned as he picked up a sandwich. “Thank you, Mrs McCann.” he said looking up at her.
“Oh, you’re doing me a favour my dears. Do you need me to call Officer Garrett for you?”
“NO!!” Nate and I shouted out at the same time. A visit from Officer Garrett meant a visit from the social worker, and we knew we would all probably be separated if went into foster care.
Mrs McCann startled and stepped back slightly at our response. I looked down at the table as Nate explained. “Our uncle is coming to get us.”
“I wasn’t aware you had an uncle, Nathan.”
“He lives a few towns over Mrs. McCann. He should be here soon, honest. Please don’t call Officer Garrett yet. They’ll separate us.” He said quietly.
Mrs. McCann’s face softened. “Alright then, dear. But if he doesn’t show up, I really will have to call Officer Garrett. You can’t be going back to a place that’s not safe for you and the little ones.”
Nate and I breathed identical sighs of relief and I kept eating, all the while sending up silent prayers to anyone that was listening that Uncle Jeremy wouldn’t turn out to be a dick like all the other men in our mother’s life.
Mrs McCann stayed with us and eventually at 9 o’clock, a big black truck and smaller blue car pulled up in front of the old library opposite the bakery. Nate stood and walked out to library to meet the people coming out of the cars.
A tall, husky man with a beard stepped out of the truck. He looked to be in his late thirties and when the light from the street light shone on his face, I saw that he had the same light brown hair and green eyes as our mother.
He looked down at Nate and spoke to him before putting out his hand for him to shake. Even from the distance I could see Nate hesitate before placing his hand into our Uncle’s hand. A small woman with blonde hair jumped out of the blue car and bent down slightly as she spoke with Nate.
When Nate nodded at something she said, she pulled him into arms and engulfed him in a hug. I could see Nate stiffen in her arms
before awkwardly patting her on the back. The three of them walked back to the bakery.
The man, who I assumed was Uncle Jeremy and the blonde woman, went to speak quietly to Mrs. McCann at the counter where she was waiting. Mrs. McCann shook their hands and smiled, nodding at them.
They walked over to us. Uncle Jeremy looked awkwardly down at us, while the blond lady beamed at us with unshed tears in her warm brown eyes. I remember thinking that she had looked like pure sunshine. The man cleared his throat, before he began to speak tentatively.
“Hello. I’m your Uncle Jeremy and this is my wife Deborah.” I saw them exchange a look as Nate introduced us all and told them how old we were.
We waited in the bakery with Mrs McCann, while Nate, Uncle Jeremy and his wife drove his truck to our house and packed up our meagre belongings.
Nate refused to tell me what had happened when he was there, but Uncle Jeremy came back fuming. Aunt Debbie looked just as angry and had tears in her eyes.
We started the drive back to their town, Nate and me driving with Uncle Jeremy and the others in Aunt Debbie’s little blue car. Uncle Jeremy told us he was going to petition the courts for custody of all of us the next day and fight to keep us with him no matter what it took.
The drive was long and awkward. I could tell Uncle Jeremy was feeling remorseful about not keeping in touch with Mom. He hadn’t known about either set of twins. He said if he had known about how bad things had become with Mom, he would have come for us sooner.
Nate was silent too. I wondered if he was feeling guilty about not having called Uncle Jeremy sooner. But I could understand why he hadn’t.
It had almost felt stupid to hope for any kind of a better life. We had gotten our hopes up each time Mom had gotten clean, only to be disappointed again.
We learnt early on in life that hope was a dangerous emotion. When it was given and then taken away, the loss of it was always like a punch in the gut.
Personally, I didn’t think our mother would put up much of a fight to keep us and I was right. She had signed over her parental rights to Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Maggie. That was the last time any of us had seen or heard from her in twenty years.
Chapter 3
Maliya
Present Day…
“Why are we up? It is too early to be up.” I complained over my mug of coffee. “Why do bakers have to be up at stupid o’clock?”
“This is much later than my usual waking up time, Grumpy” Niki said rolling her eyes “I didn’t ask you to be here so early anyway.”
From where I was sat I saw a massive specimen of a man run down the street.
Seriously? Who jogs first thing on a Sunday? Sundays are sleepy days. Everyone knows this.
“I’m here to help! Honestly, Annika. I am not impressed with the level of gratitude I’m seeing right now.” I huffed before tossing my hair dramatically over my shoulder.
“Well, Grumpy. If you’re here to help, maybe you might want to consider actually helping me?” she gave me a deadpanned stare which I returned.
“Hey! I am helping.” I gesture to the mug in my hand and Cranberry, Hazelnut and White Chocolate muffin on my plate. “I’m testing the merchandise, making sure it’s fit for human consumption.”
The muffin might have been one of the best things I had ever put in my mouth. Though I had thought that of pretty much everything my sister baked. The girl definitely had a gift. The size of my thighs were really completely Niki’s fault.
She giggled. “Well? What’s the verdict?”
I took a huge bite and spoke with my mouth full, crumbs falling out and onto the counter “Best muffin ever.”
“Ewww. LIYA! I just cleaned there!” Niki hit me hard on the shoulder before spraying the surface of the counter with disinfectant and wiped it vigorously with a cloth.
I swigged the muffin down with some of the hazelnut flavoured coffee I was drinking and looked over at her with a concerned stare.
“You know, I don’t think all this fresh air agrees with you. You’ve become a lot more aggressive ever since we’ve moved here.”
“It’s not the fresh air. It’s your face. It aggravates me and makes me want to commit violent acts against you.”
I gasped out loud and clutched my hand to my heart. “That is a shocking accusation made against my face Madame! I object!”
Niki smiled and threw the dish towel at my face. “You being underfoot at the bakery all day is driving me insane. When did you say you were starting at the hospital?”
“I have not been under your feet!”
“Oh, but you really have been. And the questions, oh my gosh, the questions. What’s the difference between baking soda and baking powder? What makes brown bread different to the white bread? Does an orange muffin count towards my five-a-day? Should we start growing wheat and grinding our own flour? Seriously. You are driving me crazy. You are bored out of your mind here!”
Her accurate impression of me over the past week made me laugh.
“Okay you bitch, you have a point. I’m supposed to start at the beginning of September.”
“What did you think about the hospital when you visited yesterday?” Niki asked pouring herself a cup of tea.
“It’s bigger than I thought it would be considering the size of the town. Everyone seems friendly. It’s much more laidback than anywhere I’ve ever worked before. But I’m just looking forward to being around patients again.”
“You’re going to do amazing, I’m sure they’re going to love you there.”
“Well, duh. Why wouldn’t they? I’m very lovable.” I placed my elbows on the table and rested my chin on my hands, gave her a fake smile as I fluttered my eyelashes.
“You’ve got a healthy ego, dear sister. Speaking of egos… We have to go see Aunt Trudy at the nursing home today.”
I groaned and buried my face into my folded arms on the counter.
“Or… we could not go, and actually have a nice day.”
“You do know the reason you two don’t get along is because you are both so similar.” Niki smirked at me knowingly and I wanted to wipe the smug look off her face.
“How am I similar to that stubborn, cantankerous old bat?”
“Do you actually want me to make a list? Okay. You’re both hard headed, paranoid, proud, volatile, and grouchy. But you’re also secretly very loving and caring under all those layers of hostility.”
“Wow.” I replied in a flat robotic voice. “You paint such a flattering portrait of me.”
“Just think, you’ve got a preview of what you’re going to be like in 50 years.” Niki teased.
I finished my coffee and walked back into the ‘Staff Only’ kitchen area.
“Great. I’m going to be a miserable, reclusive old woman with a cannibalistic cat and mind controlling demon goldfish?” I called out over my shoulder.
“Well. You won’t be alone. You’ll still have me.” Niki grinned as she followed me into the kitchen area.
“Oh joy.”
“Joy indeed! You’re lucky to have me. And stop picking on the Shadow and Freddy. There’s nothing wrong with them.”
“No cat should stare at a human that way Annika! I’m telling you. It’s just biding its time until I let my guard down and it’s going to eat me! And don’t get me started on Freddy the fucking fish! I’m pretty sure it’s the mastermind behind the ‘Eat Maliya’s Face off Plan’.”
“Shadow wouldn’t do that… There’s too much of you to eat. It would give him a tummy ache” She poked her tongue out at me.
My mouth dropped open “Oh. Em. Gee. Did you just call me fat?” I asked in mock Valley Girl accent.
“I would never.” she burst out laughing. “If I called you fat I would be calling myself fat too.”
I rolled my eyes at Niki. “You are not fat, idiot.”
“Let’s not have this argument again.” She said exasperatedly.
While I had grown to accept and appreciate my curves, Niki had never managed t
o share the same confidence.
She had always tried to hide her figure in clothing that was too big for her. Despite my ultra-creative hiding places the bitch had always managed to find the heinous garments no matter where I hid them.
“Eugh. Fine. Let’s finish up here and head on over to hell and play the role of loving grandnieces.” I conceded reluctantly. “This better get me brownie points when I die.” I said looking up at the ceiling.
Niki shook her head at me. “You are all heart Liya.”
Falling Completely (Starling Falls #1) Page 2