Tales From Another Broken Home

Frank was slumped on the floor in a tiny, crumpled, broken heap.

Crying so hard he could barley breath.

“Frankie, Frankie, come on, calm down babe, calm down,” I soothed stroking his back.

He sat up slightly and looked at me through puffy, red eyes, which still had tears cascading from them.

“I’m s-so sorry Charlie, I d-didn’t, I didn’t mean to hurt y-you,” he stuttered out, his bottom lip trembling as he tried to stop crying.

“Hey, you have nothing to be sorry for! Lets, lets just forget about all this….ok?” I proposed, smiling sympathetically at him.

He nodded and attempted to give me a weak smile back but broke down into tears instead.

I pulled him into me and hugged him tightly as he sobbed into my shoulder, his whole body shaking and his wails even coming out hoarse.

I don’t know how long we were up there for, or how long it had been since Frank had stopped crying, but he was now sleeping silently.

Obviously I couldn’t move him to the bed so I re-adjusted our positions so he was lying on the floor with his head rested in my lap and my back was against the bed as I sat up.

I ran my fingers through his hair while I focused on my thoughts.

I know why he was apologising but I couldn’t bare to see him that way, so broken, so…so sad.

It hurt me to see him like that; I should have been the one apologising, not him.

“Charlie?”

I was broken from my thoughts by a knock on Frank’s door and Gerard calling my name gently.

I smiled at him and made a sign for him to be quite. He entered Frank’s room and picked him up with ease, placing him on the bed so he could sleep more comfortably.

“I wonder sometimes if he’s our friend or our kid!” Gerard laughed when we left the room.

I giggled at him but stopped when I saw Lolly giving me a questioning look.

“It’s all sorted now,” I told her.

“What is?” Gerard questioned

“Her and Frank had a huge bust up earlier,” Lolly informed him.

Of course, Gerard being Gerard, he wanted a full explanation, so that’s what I gave him, and by the time I had finished a very groggy looking Frank had entered the room, smiling weakly at us all before coming to sit by me on the couch.

“Lolly, I’m sorry, for those things I said, you know about not caring about you,” he whispered quietly.

She told him not to worry about it and gave him a huge hug and a sloppy kiss on the cheek, which brought a smile to his face and made his bell like laugh ring from his lips.

Well, it looks like all is calm again in paradise….for now….