Today was the day to say goodbye. Goodbye to the only father figure Alaska had ever known. His real father was stationed half a world away in the military. His mother abandoning her only son so that she could live a new life filled with drugs and alcohol. She left the child to be raised by his grandfather until his ing when the boy was only 17.
Alaska dressed himself in a black suit and tie, the only formal wear he owned. It was hard to get himself out of the door that morning. Every object in the house reminded him of his grandfather. After a long while he gathered himself enough to get out of the house and walk to the cemetery across town.
He was the only one at the funeral. If you could even call it that. There was no service. Just Alaska watching through tears as the only person he ever loved was lowered six feet below the earth. He spent hours at the cemetery, reliving fond memories of his grandfather in his mind.
At noon, Alaska decided to go home. He didn’t know what to do there, but he knew he couldn’t spend the whole day in such a depressing place.
He decided to do some cooking. He wasn’t at all hungry, but it gave him something to focus on. And cooking always calmed his nerves.
He decided to cook a simple spaghetti dish. As the noodles were boiling he heard a rig at the doorbell. He wondered who it could be, a friend from school maybe? A neighbor? No. When he opened the front door he saw a young girl standing there. She couldn’t have been any older than five. She had tan skin and dark brown hair. She held a a few pieces of crumpled paper in her hands. Alaska, being rather tall compared to the girl at 6 feet, crouched down to the girls level.
“Hello.” He said with a smile “What brings you here?”
The girl said nothing, she just held out the paper to him.
“What’s this?” He asked as he took the paper. The writing was obviously not the girls, the lines being too clean and the grammar being too Correct to be written by a five year old.
‘Son’ the paper began. ‘I know you don’t me, but I am your mother.’ ‘My mother’ Alaska thought. He had never met his mother before as she left when he was two years old. He began reading quickly now, wondering why his mother, being absent his entire life, would suddenly write him a note and have a child deliver it to him. ‘I’m sure you resent me since I abandoned you, but I don’t care, I couldn’t be happier living my life without any restrictions. That brings me here to the girl. She is your sister. I don’t know who the father is, nor do I care. I named her Alyssa she is you and your grandfather’s responsibility now. Her birth certificate and all official papers are here.’ The note ended there.
Alaska stood up. “Here, come inside.” He said, not looking at the girl, instead scanning the surrounding area for his mother, who else would have brought Alyssa here except for her? After a second he saw her. A female figure sitting in a small black car next to a tree on the side of the road watching him.
Alaska ran towards that car. Faster than he ever had before. Upon seeing this the car began to drive away. Alaska ran faster. So fast that he tripped and fell hard onto the rocky pavement. The fall tore holes in his palms and scratched deep into his knees. He was bleeding now. This didn’t stop him however. He got back up and continued after the car, stumbling as he went. The car eventually made a turn onto the main road and disappeared within the traffic.
Alaska sat on the pavement, tears streaming down his face and blood dripping from his hands and knees. He wasn’t sad, more a mix of anger, and confusion. He felt abandoned by a person he had never met. Angered that she would do this to him. He loved his new sister, although having never met her, and he knew that she was better off with him than with a mother that didn’t love her, but he didn’t have the money to take care of her. His grandfather gave his life savings and retirement money to Alaska, but that was only enough to pay the bills and buy food for himself for a few years. Now he would have to accommodate for a child who has literally nothing but the clothes on her back. She would need food, toys, clothes, everything. He would have to work every hour he wasn’t at school, but then who would take care of her while he’s working? It was all too overwhelming for a 17 year old to handle without anyone to help him. But he had to do this now.
He slowly stood up, the adrenaline wearing off and his wounds now beginning to burn, and walked back to his house. Alyssa sat silently on the couch, looking to the kitchen where the spaghetti was boiling over. Alaska ran to the kitchen and poured the noodles into a strainer. He then cleaned out his cuts with baby wipes and bandaged them before putting the spaghetti onto a plate, making a glass of water, and walking to the living room.
“Are you hungry?” He asked the girl. She didn’t respond.
He sat the plate down on the coffee table in front of the couch before sitting down next to the girl. He didn’t say anything to her, knowing she wouldn’t respond. He found that, at times, being silent with another person helps better than trying to talk to them. He knew she was nervous, scared even. She had just been dropped off to live with a stranger twice her size. The whole situation was overwhelming on both sides.
“Are you my new daddy?” Alyssa asked, not looking at Alaska, instead staring off into space.
Alaska paused for a second. “No.” He said. “I’m your brother. But I’m going to take care of you. Like a dad would.”
“Then who is going to be your daddy?” She asked. This question hit Alaska hard, considering that his only father figure died barely two days before this.
“Well” he paused, “I don’t have one. I just have to be my own dad now.”
Alyssa nodded her head. “I don’t think I want a mommy.” She said. Alaska looked at her.
“Why. Was she mean to you?”
Alyssa nodded her head, small tears welling up in her eyes. Alaska Hugged her close.
“She was mean to me too, but you’re with me now, and I promise I’ll be one million times nicer than she ever was.”
Alyssa smiled a soft smile, one that was rare for her. She felt safe in her big brothers arms, like nothing could ever go wrong again.
•••
Welp. That’s it. I really wanted to write something today so I just chose a scene from one of my stories that I like. Let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is always appreciated:)
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