Lily Cannibell's Family

Chapter 1

I was lying in my bed. Dad was making up a story for me.

“Once upon a time, there was a lovely kind princess called Lily. She had lots of friends, but one day everyone was missing. She found her dad lying on a grassy field and together went to find everyone…”

The story was interrupted when we heard mum on the phone. She sounded like she was gossiping with a man, since she kept on saying ‘Dave’. Dad was frowning a little. His black pointy hair seemed to droop in a frown like his face. After his session of frowning, he carried on with the story, and in the end we saved everyone and lived happily ever after. I fell asleep instantly dreaming of dad’s story.

It was seven in the evening. I was sitting on the couch, when a knock on the door made mum screech in excitement. She opened the door and there was a man there. The man came in. He was wearing a pink top and jeans. Then Dad came in the room and messed up my hazel brown hair, and cuddled me, his pointy black beard pricked me a bit. Mum introduced the man called Dave to the family. He had stubby brown hair and hazel eyes. Apparently he’s a good friend of mum. I couldn’t stop noticing the nervous glances. Dad was all stern looking at Dave. That night in bed after Dave left I heard mum and dad shouting. Then a big slapping sound, mum was obviously crying and I could hear dad saying a lot of apologies. I ducked under my pink unicorn covers hoping something dreaded didn’t happen. I tried all night to get to sleep, but mum's wailing kept me awake. I was scared. The next morning wasn’t pretty, mum’s eyes were swelling with tears, her short blond hair was all wet and dad was screaming at her. He saw me coming in my purple top and jeans and gripped me tightly around my arm.

“Come on Lily we are leaving this dump,” He commanded sternly.

“NO, leave Lily alone, she’s staying with me!”

“Mum, dad what’s going on?” I asked nervously

“Fine Kate you better not regret this, because I’m never coming back,”

“DAD NO!” but he had already left.

Mum tried to comfort me, but I just pushed away from her. I locked myself in my room. What now is she going to marry that Dave, I’m going to hate him anyways.

Mum did end up marrying Dave. I was the flower girl all pretty and ‘sad’. We were in the glorious countryside, but I thought it smelled. I screamed whenever I stood on something lumpy thinking it was animal droppings.

“Come on, Lily, cheer up. You look beautiful. You are going to love your new family, okay?” Mum smiled.

I was always in a grumpy mood that day. I even stuffed my piece of cake in Dave’s face. He just laughed. But mum wasn’t really happy about it, so I mucked her pretty red dress up with mud. In the end mum got extremely angry, so the wedding ended an hour early. When we got home she didn’t talk much to me, but grounded me for a week, I was only allowed to read books. In the morning Dave insisted taking me to school, but I ran away from him and walked to school by myself.

I shall tell you my daily routine, when Dave was around. I'll wake up in the morning, ready to be bribed with kind favours from Dave. Next I'd, go to school in a hurry so Dave wouldn't start making silly suggestions of what we should do after school. Talk how much I hate Dave at school, then come home with a man that I hate buying me ice cream on the way. Do homework, have dinner, go to bed dreaming of dad.

It has been a month since the wedding and I found out that I liked starting arguments with Dave. This afternoon he wanted to read me a story, then insisted on writing a book together, but in the end I couldn’t take it anymore.

“I don’t care! I hate you, leave me alone!” I cried.

“Oh sweetheart I’m sorry, I just want us to get along,”

“You’re not my dad, and you’ll never be!”

“Oh dear what’s going on here, Dave dear what’s wrong,” Mum came bustling in her purple pyjamas.

“He’s trying to take over the family,” I shrieked.

“Please, Lily I’m just trying to be kind. You know I’ve been married to your mum for a month now. We are family now, ok?”

“Well, I hate you,”

“Enough!” Mum yelled.

“Please Lily, cooperate with us. We are having enough trouble with you,”

“But mum-”

“No buts Lily,”

I drooped of into my room.

Ever since the argument I haven’t talked to Dave once… I hate him, that’s for sure. I just want my ‘real’ dad back. This evening mum seemed determined for us to get along.

“Lily, sweets will you pass dad the napkins?” Mum suggested.

“What did you say?” I said sternly.

“Will you pass dad the napkins?”

“Stop thinking I’m going to like him, because I’m not,” I stomped of to my room.

I slammed the door, and fell on my pink bed. I was so frustrated. I got out a lovely novel called ‘The Railway Children’ it was truly amazing, dad gave it to me. It was about three children losing their dad because he was convicted of a crime, then at the end happily getting him out of prison. I thought about my dad, it was hopeless I’m stuck with Dave forever now. I spent a few minutes wondering about my dad, where is he, will he come back, does he still remember me or love me? Suddenly the door opened. ‘He’ came in.

“Hey sweets,” He chuckled nervously

“What do you want Dave,”

I turned around my back facing him. My pink unicorn covers weren’t useful when I tried hiding under it.

“Look Lily I know we aren’t getting along well. I just want to talk about it… like is there anything that I do to upset you?”

“So you want to talk it out, huh. Fine then, I’ll tell you. You are trying to take mum away from me, control the whole family, and say you’re my dad!”

“What sweetheart, I’d never do such things. I love you so much,”

“GO AWAY!” I screamed.

Dave left the room in a hurry. After a few hours of crying I fell asleep, dreaming of reuniting with dad and kicking Dave of a cliff.

Sunday was casual, forced to go shopping with Dave, and then we go to check out mum’s store, she works at a shoe shop. Afterwards we went into a bookstore. Dave brought me a diary, it was light purple with squiggly pink edges. I wasn’t planning to ever use it. Dave then wanted to cut his stubby brown hair completely bald to show his support to people with cancer. After that, it was time for us to go home so we hopped into the car and went home. When we got home I threw my new diary on my blue desk purposely, and thought about dad again.

“I miss you dad,” I said sadly.

It’s all Dave’s fault dads gone. I just can’t stop being so angry and mean to him, I sometimes felt sorry, but I don’t care about dad thieves. When mum came home she said it was sweet that Dave brought me a diary and that I should write in it, I just ignored her.

The next morning when I woke up, mum came bursting in the door. She made me go to school early, I got there at eight o’clock. I felt something was terribly wrong. I went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. My perfectly groomed hazel hair and my brown eyes, I was normal, but mum didn’t seem normal. When school started I couldn’t believe how happy I was, I was away from Dave. I told my best friends Sammy and Cece about the chaos.

“Come on Lily he sounds like an awesome dad, he can’t be that bad,” Sammy said.

“Maybe you just miss your dad too much,” Cece suggested.

I thought about what they said after school when I started to walk home. Mum suddenly pulled up. She told me to hop in and seemed like she was in a hurry.

“Aren’t you at work mum?” I asked.

“Not today sweets,”

“Where are we going mum?”

“You’ll find out,”

“Are you okay? You seem to be in a hurry,”

She didn’t answer. Something was definitely wrong. We went down a road I’ve never been on. Then parked at a motel, mum rushed into room four and I followed her in. Dave was there too, they both looked worried.

Chapter 2

Mum doesn’t talk to me much, neither does Dave. We’ve been in the dreaded motel for days, and everyday mum picks me up then goes back to work. I hate my life. I even feel like hanging myself sometimes. ‘Dave is the worse person ever’ is all I could think of. I enjoyed my days not talking to Dave, but not being talked too, was way too harsh. On a Thursday night we had a really late dinner, so I decided to finally break the silence.

“Why won’t you talk to me, mum,”

Tears just streamed down her pale cheeks.

“Tell me, Dave, please tell me!”

He just stared at me and sighed, then carried on eating dinner.

“TELL ME, NOW!!”

“I’ll tell you Lily, just don’t, just… argh,” mum cried harder.

“Your dad, he…he is coming for you,” she cried even harder.

I couldn’t believe it, dad still loves me, he wants me. I walked of forgetting about dinner, I looked at the blank diary Dave brought me, lying on the couch. I hesitated picked it up and wrote:

Thursday

Today I learnt that dad still loves and wants me back with him. I miss dad, and I wish life was normal again.

I looked up at the time, it was almost bedtime. I was ready to go to bed in a flash, ready to dream of returning to dad. I got to sleep in the bedroom, so mum and Dave had to sleep on the couches. I fell asleep.

Dad was standing in a luxurious room. It had long pillars on the side and a huge colourful mat in the middle. We went outside to a garden filled with pretty pink roses. We were gazing at a palace next to the garden. We were playing the most fun game ever, where you had to jump off a cliff and fly. Then I woke up. Dave. What! Dave woke me up. He did it like he was my dad. I went to school in Dave’s green car, but mum sent me to school so it was okay. When I got to school, my instincts told me to find Cece and Sammy. I hanged my bag and went to find them. I looked on the playgrounds on the field and the classroom. I couldn’t find them. Then I saw someone very familiar near the office. DAD! I ran towards him, and gave him a big hug. Cece and Sammy were there too, they were smiling at me. Dad hugged me in return and I started talking about Dave. He asked where we were staying since we weren’t at home, so I told him. I also made him promise to visit me sometime, and one day take me with him to where he lives. He then said he had signed me out so we could spend a day together. I ran back to get my bag, and of we went. I got into to dads red car and waved bye to my friends. We went to the zoo.

“Okay Lily, you always wanted to come here when you were little,”

“I love you dad,” I snuggled him.

We went in. First we went to see the monkeys, they were climbing like crazy, then we went to look at the big cats. At the end of the day we went to feed the giraffes, their long tongues snatched the leaves out of my hands instantly. When we got on the car we realized it was four o’clock, mum probably be dead worried. Dad drove to school, I directed him where to go from school. We got out of the car, dad hesitated when he knocked on the door. The door opened to reveal Dave. He wasn’t so pleased to see my dad, but let him in anyways. Mum was on the couch sobbing away, dad rushed to her comfort, but mum just cried harder. She started pushing dad out of the room and telling him to never come back. Dave told me to go to my room quite sternly, I was scared to argue. So I sat in my room helplessly. I got out my diary and wrote:

Friday

I met dad and we went to the zoo. It’s all my fault I’m not going to see dad again, no in fact it’s Dave’s fault in the first place. Dave was really mean to me today because I went to the zoo with dad instead of going to school.

Mum came into the room and sat next to me, her face still dripping with tears. She hugged me.

“I’m sorry. You can buy anything you want when we go shopping,”

Once mum left the room, I cried. I cried even more then mum. Tears slowly trekked down my cheeks, how am I ever going to be happy again? I got on the computer and did something risky. I searched up a map for our town. If dad wasn’t allowed to visit me, I’ll visit him.

Chapter 3

I copied the map into my diary. I packed everything I needed, a torch, food, drink and clothes, then I came to a picture of dad, mum and me.

“I’m coming for you dad,” I whispered.

Then slipped it into my bag, in the morning I got up early. Mum made sure dad wasn’t around when she sent me to school. When mum left I got out my diary and started my search. I arrived at the mall which mum worked at, I avoided it as I carried on. On my journey to the town square I met some kids about my age (10), one had dark hair and brown eyes, the other had hazel hair like me and brown eyes.

“Hi there,” the girl with dark hair said.

“I’m Emma, and this is Amber. Do you want to take a stroll with us in the park?”

I thought it was weird, but dad might as well be sobbing in the park.

“Hi I’m Lily, um, are your parents here?”

“Yes, we’re just on our way to the park. You want to come,” Amber said brightly.

“Umm ok,”

Off we went. On the way Amber and Emma were telling heaps of stories with happy endings, just like dad. We entered the park. There was a fountain in the middle with beautiful carvings of dolphins, and a lot of fancy shaped bushes. I looked around hoping to find dad, when suddenly I saw someone familiar. DAVE. He was talking to a girl with red curls and pretty blue eyes. I hid behind a tall oak tree. I tried to signal my new friends to stay away from Dave, but they were all confused. So I ran off, I looked at my map. Dad certainly wasn’t here, but Dave had a lot of explaining to do. I felt evil intruding in his privacy, but he’s evil himself too. I looked at the directions on my map. I truly couldn't do this anymore. Leaving my friends behind I went back to my old house. It was occupied. I was so tired I knocked on the door without thinking. The door opened and I fell in and was fast asleep. I heard faint noises, my sight was blurry. A face I knew was staring at me, it had hair that was dyed turquoise and had green eyes. My sight returned to me, I stared around realizing I was on a bed in an almost emptied room, then I looked at the face.

“Aunt Lorrie!” I announced happily.

Dad came in the room with a cup of water.

“DAD YOU’RE HERE!!” I squeaked

“You gave us quite a fright there,” He said.

I took in some water, but was way too happy to take it all in. Dad was in my reach again. Afterwards dad called mum saying I had came too our old house, and she was to let me stay for a night. I was so happy like I was about to explode. We played some board games and watched our favourite movies. When we had dinner, I told dad from the very beginning of the morning of what happened so far including ‘The Dave sightings’. We had a good laugh of photos of me when I was a baby, one was me tumbling down the stairs because my jar of jelly beans and went rolling down the stairs. We came to a picture of a baby boy laughing, and I caught a glimpse of “ - 2002”. Dad quickly flipped the page over.

“Who was that dad?”

“No one sweets just umm your cousin,” he said nervously.

I didn’t want more trouble so I tried to forget about it. I got into bed and let dad tell me a story. He told me a story of a family reuniting. I wished that would happen to our family. I fell asleep.

I dreamt about the happy times together as a family. We were all rolling down a grassy field. Suddenly Dave came and ruined everything. He locked us all in cells.

I woke up. How could I even sleep through that, I got up and slipped besides into Aunt Lorrie’s bed, seemed to be awake because she cuddled me close to her.

“Everything’s going to be alright Lily. Just remember your real family,” She said as if she was a kid too.

Chapter 4

I woke up in the morning and felt all fuzzy.

“Morning, sleepy head,” Aunt Lorrie greeted

“Where’s dad?”

“He’s gone to work. Your mum is going to pick you up after school,”

“Oh,”

I was quite disappointed. I was so sad I burst into tears. Lorrie tried to comfort me but it didn’t work. It wasn’t just the fact that I’m leaving dad again, I was going to going to be gone forever. Mum’s going to go somewhere where dad won’t find me, and change schools. I’ll never see my friends again. I went to fetch my diary, and expressed my feelings to it:

Saturday

I’m probably going to leave dad, this time for real. Mum is going to move to another motel, I’ll have to leave school and my friends. I don’t understand why mum likes that Dave. Plus yesterday I saw Dave at the park talking to another girl. I hope he was cheating on mum.

I got into Lorrie’s car, and we went to school. On our way there I would hear whimpers. I asked Aunt Lorrie if she was okay. She kept silent until we got to school. She waved bye and left. On my way to class I met Sammy and Cece. They were so happy to see me. We got to class to meet Mr Walter. He started talking to me about all the work I missed. He said so much the bell went for school to start. We did maths and reading and the last thing we did was writing. I got out my writing book and started to write my own story:

Once upon a time there was a little girl. She liked to dance. She was so good at dancing, one day she was dancing in her room. Then suddenly a magical spark started surrounding her. She entered a magical world full of gold. She danced and danced whenever she wanted, she just had to come to her magical world where she had everything she needed. She was happy, the happiest girl in the world.

I thought it was lame that I wrote that sort of stuff. Once the bell went I took my time walking slowly to mum’s car. I was almost there when dad suddenly pulled up. They both hopped out of the car. Mum looked at dad. She nodded in defeat.

“Sweets, you might as well go home with dad,” Mum announced.

I was quite surprised. I got into dad’s car. We were silent the whole way.

Finally at seven I broke the silence.

“Dad, why did mum not want to take me home?”

“She went to visit someone,” His voice was a bit shaky.

I was immediately brought to the photo of my cousin. I looked at him.

“Who,” I demanded.

Dad would never lie to me. If he did it was pretty obvious. He hesitated and walked away. I didn’t want to bother him, so I trotted off to my bedroom. I was puzzled, what was so important about my cousin, that mum would just leave me. I haven’t heard much from Dave either, I don’t care anyways. The next day I got up and ready to go to school in a flash. We were going on a trip to the beach. I was so excited, last year mum didn’t let me go. So I’m hoping this year I can go. In the holidays we never get to go to the beach anyways. Mr Walter came up to me.

“Morning Lily you're here early. Guess you came to find out if you’re going. Well I’m afraid not,” Mr Walter said.

His orange moustache and hair seemed to droop. He tried to cheer me up, but it wouldn’t work.

“Mr Walter, why am I never allowed to go to the beach,” I growled.

He looked surprised.

“Your parents didn’t tell you,”

I finally thought I was going to get some answers.

“What. Tell me what?” I begged.

“If your parents wouldn’t tell you then I shouldn’t either,” He walked out of sight.

I sloped off to a quiet corner and sobbed. Everyone tried to cheer me up, even the principle. I was really stubborn so no one could get me out of the corner. Mum had to come in the classroom to collect me. I got into mum’s car and Dave was there too. He gently hugged me. I didn’t want him to let go. I didn’t want to make mum any sadder. I didn’t want to lose Dave. I did love him, I was use to him. In fact Dave suggested going to the beach. I was so happy I could go. I also got to go with Cece and Sammy. We brought some ice-cream and played around in the water. I bonded with Dave so well I was ready to make a commitment that Dave can be my stepfather. Cece and Sammy’s mums came to pick them up at the beach, which left me and Dave. We settled ourselves on a bench, Dave held my hand tight.

He spoke in a gentle tone “You won’t be seeing me anymore,”

He just left me sitting on the bench. Lifeless. Wounded.

Chapter 5

What just happened to me? I sat on the bench motionless. Took off my shoes and slowly strolled down the beach. The soft golden sand between my toes and the whistling wind, the ocean then sings its calming song. Tears slowly rolled down my eyes. I was right all along, he was evil, and I thought he was good at the last moment. The sun was setting. I was still lost on a beach far, far away from home. Dad, I want my dad. I did the first thing that came to my mind. Smile. I laughed, tears still rolling down my cheeks. Laughed and laughed. My wish did come true, I was happy. I stared out into the sea, but it wasn’t at all what I wished for.

Chapter 6

I woke up my hair was all sandy. I was lying on a bed. It was a white bed. My surrounding had white walls and a red chair on the side of the room, next to a window. A woman with red hair and green eyes, wearing a white uniform came in.

“Morning darling, how are you feeling?” She asked.

I stared at her.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m, I’m fine,” I replied nervously.

“Ok, are you sure you aren’t feeling dizzy or anything?”

“I’m fine,”

She nodded and walked out the room. I looked at my clothes. They were a white and blue stripy shirt and pants, they were rather floppy. I was in a hospital. Suddenly the woman came back holding a cup of water and some porridge.

“Eat up, you look really hungry,”

I ate my breakfast in a flash. I didn’t realize how hungry I was. Soon a few more people came in. Two looked like they were policemen. One looked like a doctor and the other was the lady I first met here.

“Ok kid, we are going to ask you some questions,” An officer said in a gruff voice.

I just nodded.

“Do you know where your parents?” the other officer said.

I shook my head. The officer looked disappointed.

“Do you know where you live?”

I told them where my dad was living, and soon I was in a police car being sent home. There were a lot of radios inside.

We got to the door and the policeman knocked on it. Dad opened the door, he was crying. Suddenly mum came rushing out behind dad, and hugged me ever so tight.

“We were so worried about you,” Mum sobbed.

Dad was crying a bit to.

“You need to take care of your kid,” The policeman said.

“NO, it was Dave,” Mum argued clutching tightly on me.

Dad nodded in agreement, staring the officer straight in the eye. The officer looked at me in my mothers arms. I nodded a bit.

“He ditched me,”

Later after I had my shower, mum, dad and the policeman were having a serious talk about Dave. I hoped that Dave had to stay in a cell forever. I wasn’t allowed to be part of this conversation, but I over heard the officer saying that they’ll be keeping a watchful eye for him. This was how my wish was supposed to come true. So now the police is on his tail. Excellent! Once the long talk ended and the officer was gone, mum went to cook dinner. She saw the time, it was eight o’clock. She instead decided to order some pizza.

The pizza delivery came and we sat down on the table. Dad looked at me and gave me a weak smile. Then he handed a extra cheesy slice of pizza.

“Eat up,”

After dinner, I went to bed. My bed was plain with the dull colour of white.

I was stepping on beautiful pink clouds. Suddenly Dave was charging at me across the sky, holding something that looked like a baby in his arms. He stopped in front of me shoved the delicate sole into my hands. Ran away laughing like a villan. I peered into the face of the child. Everything started rotating and I fell out of the sky, into a steel room. It was dark inside. In the middle on the room was a book. The light shined on it. Still with the baby in my arms, I opened it. Full of pictures of a baby. I looked at the baby. His eyes were closed, I flipped the page. The photos looked like the baby. I reached the last page. On the last photo, there was four numbers, 2002. I felt the child's heart. It wasn’t beating.

Chapter 7

Woke up sweating all over. It was just a nightmare, I breathed deeply. The room was dark with only a tiny glimpse of light. I opened the lamp, I stared at the clock, it was four o’clock. I snuggled down my blanket, and thought of Dave, and the baby, I shivered. I lay there scared, and dazed, until my eyes were too heavy and I fell asleep.

I woke up nine in the morning, I missed school! I was in a hurry, I got changed, then rushed down for breakfast. Mum and Dad were sitting at the table, each drinking a cup of coffee.

“Morning darling,” Mum greeted.

“Morning. Mum I’m going to be late to school. No, infact I already am!” I exclaimed.

“Sweetheart, we’ve told them you’re not going to school today,” Mum said.

“We are going to spend some quality time together,” Dad announced.

I looked astounded. I nodded my head slowly. I sat down on the couch.

“Come on, eat your breakfast,” Dad said handing over the bacon and eggs.

I smiled. Once I finished my breakfast, I thought of the poor helpless child. I wanted today to be the day I spent with my family. So I tried to put the child business behind me.

We went to the public indoor pool. when we entered we surprised to see there was only a few people there. Slowly walking on the slippery ground we got changed. Once we were ready to get into the water, we dipped our foot in, and it wasn’t that cold. Once our whole body was in we decided it was actually pretty cold. We spent a lot of time throwing a ball back and forth, squirting water at each other, playing tag, and jumping into the water to see who could make the biggest splashes, of course dad won. But time had to travel so fast we were already on the car, giggling and gossiping like we were teens.

“Ye had fun didn’t ye. Leaving me out ye giggly mut,” Dad joked poking me.

We got home and relaxed. When it was bedtime I fell asleep, exhausted. There it was again, the same dream.

Now since I do not wish to tell you my boring daytime or nighttime I will skip ahead ten nights after having the same dream, of the poor child.

I got out a ragged red photo album the same me and dad enjoyed together after my search, flipped through the pages, and smiling at them. They brought good memories back. I frowned when I got to the page of a baby, laying soundlessly in a crib, the date at the bottom saying 2001 - 2002. Mum saw me, she looked rather scared.

“Who is that?” I demanded.

Mum gently sat down next to me. Strapped her arms around me, getting watery. Dad was biting his lips. Then he walked away, mum’s face look like she was going to drown in her own tears.

“COME BACK HERE YOU COWARD! TELL YOUR OWN DAUGHTER WHAT YOU DID YOU … you coward,” Mum fell to the ground.

Dad nervously came in, and saw mum. He was horrified, he looked at me then dashed for the phone. An ambulance came and took mum to the hospital.

Chapter 8

I was sitting on the green metal chairs, worried and confused.

"Daddy why did mum faint. What does she want you to tell me?"

"I.... Err. Something terrible happened, a few years before you were born," he gulped.

I looked at him in the eye with curiosity.

He gulped again and walked into the men's bathroom. The doctor came out, and invited me in. I walked into a room with white walls and wooden floors, there was a window that lit the whole room. Mum was lying on the bed, I walked towards her. She kiss me on the forehead, and sighed heavily.

“I know your, father is guilty of this crime,” She sighed, trying to hold back tears.

“You probably know the child’s dead,” Tears started to leak from her blue eyes.

“Mum, don’t tell me. I don’t want to know,”

She struggle to keep a straight calm face, but burst into tears. The doctor came in and told me it was best to leave, and that mum was under a lot of stress at the moment. Mum kept on insisting I stay but, the doctor wouldn’t allow it.

So I went outside, dad was there too. Crying really hard. I’ve never seen him cry that hard before. I walked next to him. He stood there moaning.

“I’m so sorry Lily, I’ll tell you all about it,”

“I don’t want to know dad,”

I trotted off to dad’s red car. He followed me. We got in the car, dad still crying. I thought it must of been really hard for mum living with the man that killed her own son. No wonder they divorced.

Once we got home, I went up to my room. How could dad do this? He’s innocent, I know it. I want this to stay as a mystery to me. I don’t want to know.

The next morning I took another day off school. Mum came home, but this time she was hold a pile of what seemed to be towels in her arms. She smiled, dad came downstairs to say sorry, but when he was next to her, he laughed.

“Oh, Kate you do make me happy,”

Dad lifted the pile of towels. Then I saw it. I rushed up into mum and hugged her. It was a baby.

“Where did you get it from?” I asked.

“I adopted it,”

Dad carefully put the baby in my arms. I looked at it’s cute face, it had brown hair and tiny arms and legs that kicked around gently. I hugged it.

“What is it called?” Dad asked.

“Dave,” Mum said.

"That's what his parents call him," She added.

I cast my eyes upon the baby.

“No, mum. Don’t call him Dave. He’s too innocent to be Dave,”

“Why don’t you let your father make up a name,”

“I got one, how about, Andrew,” he said.

And so my new little brother was called Andrew.

The first night he was crying and no one could get to sleep. Mum kept on waking up and feeding him, or changing his diapers. In the morning no one had a good nights sleep. Of course I still had to go to school, so it was a very tiring day. On the other hand mum, was feeding him and changing his diapers constantly, dad was at work with a sleepy head. When I got home from school mum had managed to get an hours nap.

"Mum are you okay?" I came in the kitchen, kissing Andrew on the head.

"Of course sweetheart. I'm going to raise this baby till he graduates college,"

I got an apple and took a big bite.

"Good luck with that," I said, not so encouragingly.

I went up into my room, unpacked my bag and sat on the bed. Now I had a baby brother, wasn't that awesome! I went downstairs again, asked mum if I could play with Andrew.

"Oh alright, be careful," She replied.

Mum carefully past crying Andrew into my arms, I sat with Andrew on the couch, holding one of his brown teddy bears.

"Hello, I'm Mr Bear, and I'm going to eat you," I said in a gruff voice.

I took one his dolls, and made it punch Mr Bear.

"You shall not eat baby Andrew," I said in my bravest voice.

Mr bear ran away. Little Andrew was safe and sound, I handed him superhero doll. A toothless smile formed on his face, he started making a happy gurgling sound.

"Looks like someone is laughing," mum came in smiling.

I smiled back. Andrew was still gurgling. Mum came and took him from my arms. Mum sighed.

"You are a lot of trouble aren't you," mum said tickling him under the chin.

"Aahhh," He gurgled smiling.

"Lily can you get the mail, I've been too busy,"

I nodded. I reached the mailbox, and got out two letters. One wrote "To Lily" with hearts at the end, the other was to mum also with hearts at the end. I flipped both of them over a few times, it didn't have a stamp. I took the letters, skipped back into the house. Handed mum her letter.

"What is this," she murmured, and opened it.

I opened mine too.

Dear Lily

I know you'll be disappointed, but I can not let your mother live with anymore stress. When baby Andrew grows up, tell him that his foster father was a big coward and jerk. I know that you don't want to know the truth of your big brother's death, but you deserve to know. I have been thinking of telling you ever since you were born. I can't keep in the guilt anymore. So here is the truth.

Your big brother was called, Jerry, he was quite the eater. One day when your mum was at work. I took Jerry to the beach. That time I didn't have a job. Once I got there, there was a man half buried under the sand. He asked me to help him, so I left baby Jerry near the waves. I wasn't thinking much then. Once I dug out the man, I went back for him. He was gone. I told the lifeguards and went home to your mum. Of course she was very angry at me. The next morning the lifeguards contacted us, and said they had found his carcass, dead in a rock pool.

Your mum was the woman that wanted to forgive every sin. So she gave me a second chance. You. After a while I guess the pain started to effect on her more than ever. I feel I cause most of it just by being around her, so I have cowardly fled to Canada. I want to start over again there, I don't want to make that stupid mistake again. I promise that I will send you a letter every week, or day. But for now, just forget about me, I'm just the not important idiot in your life. I owe a lot to your mother, and I hope that I have treasured you more than anything else.

Love your father

xoxox