Forgotten

BOBS POV.

"OK guys so what do you wanna do now?" I asked once they had finished clearing up all the mess they had made playing fort.

"Don't mind," said Robbie.

"That doesn't help very much."

"Yeah actually... uh..."

"What did you do?"

"Nothing! Yet..."

"Robbie?" I used my best 'parental' tone of voice and he looked up at me guiltily.

"Well you see, earlier on while you were sleeping, your cell rang and I kinda answered it."

"OK." That's not so bad, depending on who he spoke to.

"Well, it was that dude from Madina Lake and they kind of need some twins to cover for them in a few nights time..."

"You didn't!"

"I... kinda... did."

"So you volunteered you and your brother to cover for them, on stage?!"

"Maybe."

"What am I going to do with you?" I said exasperatedly, throwing myself down onto the couch.

"Well, you could let us?"

I thought for a moment. I owe the Madina Lake twins one anyway...

FLASHBACK

"So you won't hurt him right?" I did feel slightly sorry for Frankie now, but only slightly.

"Dude, he woke you up at three am with a horn, filmed it, put it on youtube and then put..."

"Enough!" I interrupted quickly and Matthew and Nathan both smirked evilly.

"...In your sandwich and let you eat it. Of course we're going to hurt him!"

"OK, before I let you do this, what are you going to do?"

"Well," said Nathan, turning around and looking at what him and Matthew had just set up in the doorway of the band's bus, it looped all over the ceiling in a series of complicated loops so that it would work properly. We were on Projekt Revolution and Frank had crossed the line, I was in no position to get him back so I got some help from the twins, I had heard they were pretty good at pranks.

"He steps here," Matthew pointed at a spot on the floor in the middle of a loop of rope.

"And then, the rope grabs his leg, he ends up hanging upside down..." said Matthew.

"...Then you pull this string right here," said Nathan, pointing to a piece of yellow string hanging from the ceiling attached to a bucket hanging from the ceiling.

"And he gets knocked in the face with a bucket full of something we will not provide you with details of. Any questions?" I opened my mouth but Matthew cut me off straight away before I could even speak.

"Other then 'what's in the bucket?' because we're not gonna tell you."

"No questions, seems pretty simple to me, he should be back any sec-" The door handle to the bus rattled and the twins smirked and dived behind the couch to hide. I stood by the yellow string which was positioned out of sight of the doorway, trying to stop myself from laughing.

"GUYS! I'M BACK!" Yelled Frank. Little did he know there was nobody on the bus aside from Nathan, Matthew and I. He stepped right into the loop of rope and yelped as he was hoisted up, hanging upside down, swinging slowly back and forth. His shirt had fallen down and was covering his face and he struggled to free himself.

"HELP!" He screamed. I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing out loud and quickly snapped a photo of him hanging there on my phone. Matthew gestured for me to pull the string and I nodded and pulled it sharply.

The bucket tipped, all over Frank, he was now dripping with...

The twins roared with laughter and I had to sit down I was laughing so hard.

"Thanks guys, I owe you one!" I called as they left the bus, Nathan pushing Franks swinging form as he passed to make him swing even faster and higher.

"LET ME DOWN!"

"Nope."

"BOB! You asshole! I'll get you for this!"

"Yes Frankie? What were you trying to say?"

"I'm sorry for waking you up at three am with a horn and then filming it and then putting it on youtube and then putting... things... in your sandwitch. Please let me down?"

"Revenge is sweet eh Frank?"

He didn't answer, he just hung there in silence.

"Alright Frank, we're even now," I sighed and cut him down...

END FLASHBACK

"I owe those guys, you can do it to help them out."

"Yes!" cried Robbie, jumping up and running to tell Josh who was in the kitchen doing something.

I sighed and sat down on the couch, running my hands through my hair. I think I'm cracking up. I can't take this for much longer. I need to get back on tour, I miss it already, I need to be on the bus with the guys.

The house phone rang and I jumped slightly before getting up to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hey sweetie, I heard you weren't on tour? What happened?"

OH. SHIT. My Mom...

"Uh.. hi Mom, yeah I just needed a break, my wrists were playing up again and they could use some rest..."

"Aww my poor baby. How are you other then that?"

"I'm just fine, how are you?"

"I'm wonderful. Your father and I were going to pop by and see you later on..."

"No!" I cried, maybe a little too quickly.

"What's wrong sweetie?"

I sighed. She would find out sooner or later so I may as well tell her now, she is their grandmother after all.

"Mom, can you stop by as soon as you can? This isn't something I should tell you over the phone."

"Sure, will do, see you in ten, bye Robert."

"Bye Mom, and my name is Bob." She laughed and put the phone down, I put the phone down too, my hands trembling slightly. I knew they were going to go completely mental on me, probably kill me, bring me back to life, then give me a lecture, bore me to death, bring me back to life again, just to kill me again.

I wandered into the kitchen and even though it was hardly even lunchtime, grabbed myself a can of beer from the fridge.

"Can I have one?" came a twin's voice. Damn their identicalness.

"Nope."

"Why?" I cracked it open and took a sip.

"You're too young to be drinking." I sat down at the kitchen table and took a big gulp of the beer.

"Why are you drinking, its the morning?"

"My parents are coming over. They don't know about you guys, they're probably going to kill me."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh. Well you guys can stay upstairs while I talk it all out with them, then I'll come and get you and we'll see how things go from there."

"Right." He fiddled with the bandages around his wrists.

"Josh, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'll go tell Robbie and Cassie we need to stay upstairs and stay quiet for a little while."

"Thanks kid."

Instead of walking away he walked over to me, snatched the beer from my hand and poured the rest of it down the sink, he gave me back the empty can.

"You don't need that." He walked out of the room and I fiddled with the empty can. Smart kid. The doorbell went and I jolted back to my senses and got up to answer the door.

"Hi sweetie!" cried my Mom, flinging her arms around my neck.

"Hey Mom, Dad," my Dad nodded and once my Mom had let go of me, stepped forward to hug me too.

"So how are things? What happened to your face?" asked my Dad as we all headed to the kitchen to sit around the table, drinking coffee most probably.

"Things are...eventful, busy... hectic I guess you could say. Oh and the shiner is from my clumsiness. I walked into a door." My Dad laughed and patted me on the back. I sighed and started to make coffee.

"Robert dear you haven't been drinking have you?" said my Mom, eyes on the empty beer can still stood on the table.

"No Mom it's from last night, I only had the one."

"Oh. Alright then dear."

"So how are things with you guys?"

"Great. Just great," said my Dad, sitting down and looking at me searchingly. I have a habit of always looking really guilty when I'm trying to hide something. Not a good time.

"What's wrong kiddo?" he asked me. I smiled slightly, he still called me kiddo, same as he did when I was little.

"OK, I have to tell you something, I'm not proud of it," I said, handing them their coffee and sitting down opposite from them at the table.

"Go on?"

"I'm... kinda... a Dad."

They froze, it was impossible to read their expressions until my Dad spoke.

"Well, who did you knock up son?" My Mom was very white and looked shocked.

"Do you remember Nicola?"

"Yes but this was... oh gosh... fifteen years ago?"

"Yeah. About that..."

"You didn't. Tell me you're fooling around. Robert please," said my Mom, she sounded close to tears.

"I'm not kidding. I did something stupid, you know what a nightmare I was at that age. Se had twin boys."

"So... what you're saying is... we're Grandparents?" said my Dad. I sighed and nodded.

An uncomfortable silence filled the room.

"How long have you known?" asked my Mom quietly.

"Two weeks. The first week we were in Jersey, having a week off, I get a phone call from the city morgue. Nicola's dead, they said she killed herself but I've since found out it was murder. There was a note left in her house with my name on it, leaving me to take care of the kids, they'd been in care for practically their whole lives because she couldn't afford to support them."

"She was a nice girl, a bit... rough round the edges but deep down she was a nice girl, it's a terrible shame," said my Mom.

"That's not all of it..."

"You were twelve!" cried my Mom, kicking me in the shins under the table. I winced a little and pulled my legs as close to me as possible, out of her range.

"I know. I'm sorry, she pressured me into it and then... she left, just like that, she was gone and I thought I'd never see her again."

"What do you mean thought you'd never see her again?"

"Well, eight years later, I ran into her again. She didn't say one word of the boys, she only seemed interested in me for one thing..."

"So you slept with her again?"

I nodded. My Dad looked away, obviously working out what I meant, that I had three children to now take care of, not just the twins.

"And... once again, she disappeared... she had a girl, she's seven years old now."

The room was silent for a few minutes, I guess as they processed it all in their heads, it was a hell of a lot to take in at once. I remember what I was like when I was first told...

"How are you coping?" asked my Dad quietly. I exhaled heavily, do I tell him the whole truth? Their past? The beatings? The rape?

"Alright. The first few days were really rough. They've had a pretty crap life, Nicola had no money, they were in and out of care homes the whole time. They still don't trust me, at all I don't think."

"Well that must be difficult for you?"

"It is. I'm handling it, I'll figure it out somehow." My Mom reached across the table and took my hand.

"Its OK, I'm not mad at you. Mistakes were made, it was a long time ago and we can't change the past."

"Thanks Mom," I gave her hand a grateful squeeze.

"Dad?"

"I'm not happy with this. This is nothing to be proud of."

"I understand it's not. I'm not proud of it, but they are my kids and I have a responsibility to take care of them. Thats why I'm not on tour, so I can be here, look after them. I have fifteen years of lost time to make up for."

"That's a lot."

"Yeah, tell me about it," I said miserably. I felt like such a failure. These poor kids, the lives they've had, the things they've had to go through, if I was there maybe things would have been different.

"Well can we meet them?" asked my Mom, the colour returning to her face.

"Sure, if they're rude to you, I accept no responsibility. And be warned, the twins are identical and they like to mess with people's heads."

"OK," said my Dad with a slight smile. Well, at least they didn't kill me. Yet.

I walked up the stairs and down the hall to Cassie's room. I knocked the door and there was no answer so I opened the door. The room was empty.

I could hear something, the sound drifting down the hall, I followed it and ended up at the door to Robbie's room.

Cassie was singing, I could hear guitars too. I stood and listened, a stupid proud smile on my face as I did so. Once the song was finished I knocked the door. A twin opened it up.

"Yeah?"

"Come meet your Grandparents. Be polite!"

"We will."

"No swearing."

"Got it."

"No being cheeky, no asking stupid or awkward questions."

"OK."

"And no pretending to be each other. Josh stays as Josh and you stay as Robbie, got it?"

"Totally," he rolled his eyes.

"Don't you roll your eyes at me young man. I'll...I'll... ground you!" I said, unable to think of a better punishment for being cheeky.

"Oh no, how awful," he said, his voice full of sarcasm. Josh laughed a little and I shot him a warning glance. He stopped laughing at once.

"Urgh! Come on, downstairs right now." The three of them followed me downstairs.

"Go on," I said, the boys walked into the kitchen first, Cassie hung back, looking scared.

"Come on kiddo," I picked her up and walked into the room carrying her.

"Wow," said my Dad, standing up.

"Yeah," said my Mom, standing up too.

"OK well, this is Cassie," I set her down on her feet gently and she looked at my parents shyly, then hid behind me. I sighed.

"This is... uh..." I looked at each of the boys carefully. I swear they are getting more identical with each day.

"I can't tell," I said finally. I had resorted to looking for bandages on wrists but they both had a long sleeved hoodie on and rolling up sleeves would have drawn awkward questions from my parents.

"Josh?" I guessed which twin was stood on the right of his brother.

"Nope."

"Robbie."

"No. Try again."

"Oh haha, what did I say about being cheeky?"

"Sorry."

"That's more like it."

"Mom, Dad, this is Robbie," I said, putting my hand on the shoulder of the one who had been cheeky.

"This is Josh," Robbie shrugged my hand off and gave me a filthy look.

"Uh well... hi kids," said my Mom nervously.

They didn't say anything.

"Alright, this couldn't really be much more awkward could it?" I said with a sigh.

Josh walked out of the room and I heard him go back upstairs.

"Can I go?" asked Robbie, looking somehow awkward standing there without his brother beside him.

"If you must." I knew that was all I was going to get, they would just stand there in silence.

"So, I warned you they might be rude," I said apologetically to my parents. Cassie was still clinging to me, but less tightly then when the boys had been here.

"They're shy is all. My gosh they look like you don't they?"

I laughed a little and nodded. To my surprise Cassie let go of me and walked over and sat down at the table.

"Are you my granny?" she asked, looking up at my Mom. My parents and I laughed.

"Yes sweetie I am your granny."

She screwed up her face in concentration for a second.

"So you're my Daddy's Mommy?"

"Yep. Well done," said my Mom with a smile. Cassie smiled and then wandered out of the room, waving goodbye to my parents as she left.

"Well isn't she just the sweetest thing?"

"She is. She's too shy sometimes, but she is really sweet."

"One of those boys, is he ill?" asked my Dad.

"No... what do you mean?"

"He looked... well... I could see it in his eyes, he didn't look right, like he wasn't really there."

"Hang on a second," I said, thoughts racing through my head. I heard a loud thud from upstairs and sprinted up the stairs as fast as I could.

I banged on the door of Robbie's bedroom.

"What!?" he yelled, opening the door to me. Josh wasn't in there.

What in the hell made that thud noise?

I ran down the hallway to Josh's room and knocked. There was no answer.