Virtues

Elissa Sykes sat at the dining room table, doing homework with the help of her older brother, Joshua. It wasn’t her favourite part of the day, but it had to be done and Josh was willing to help her.

“What does that say?” Elissa asked Josh, who sighed.
“Try and read it.” Josh replied.
“I can’t read it, asshole. That’s why I asked you.” Elissa replied. Josh sighed once again.
“Just try.” Josh replied.
“I am trying.” Elissa said. She could feel her tears prick at her eyes as Josh got more and more annoyed with her. As soon as Josh noticed her tears, he pulled her into a brotherly hug.
“Don’t cry, El.” Josh whispered. Elissa looked up at her big brother.
“It’s just so hard.” Elissa replied. Josh smiled.
“That’s what she said.” He stated, causing the pair to laugh.

At that moment, a noise at the door startle the pair, causing them to jump and then turn around. At the door stood their dad, Oliver Sykes. Both of the pair grew a smile that widened to their eyes.

“Daddy!” Elissa yelled as she ran up to her dad. Oli smiled as he dropped his luggage quickly and picked up his teenage daughter. Elissa snuggled her head into his neck, inhaling his scent of tobacco, old spice body spray and washing powder. When Oli had put Elissa down and the pair had pulled away, Josh and Oli shared a quick hug before Oli grabbed two bags filled to the brim with gifts for the kids.

“El, this one’s for you.” Oli said as he handed her a large purple carrier bag with a few stuffed toys flooding out of the top.
“Josh, this one’s for you.” He said as he handed Josh a slightly smaller bag which was obvious had a few games in but was a mystery as to what else was in there.

Josh and Elissa both sat down at the table where Elissa’s homework was spread, and dug into their bags. In Elissa’s were Rilakkuma, Totoro and Pokémon merchandise, with everything ranging from a phone charm to stuffed toys to a Rilakkuma kigurumi. In Josh’s were Japanese video games, figurines and comics, and not to mention each of the bags included a smaller brown paper bag stuffed with Japanese candy.

“This is amazing.” Elissa said as she stared in awe at all of the swag that Oli had brought her back from Japan.
“I saw it all and thought of you, couldn’t just let it sit there. Oh, the sweets are from uncle Tom, by the way.” Oli stated. Elissa nodded.
“I’ll ring him later... How far ahead are we?” Elissa asked. The Sykes family no longer lived in England – now they were settled in America after living in numerous countries. Oli wasn’t in his own band anymore – instead he was the owner of a record label for rock bands. The label was pretty successful, and Oli had the chance to tour the world with the bands he worked with. He took a shine to a few of the bands he’d signed, who had taken him on as their tour manager.

“Is Japan still as decent as it used to be when we were there?” Josh asked. Oli nodded.
“Even better, my son. Sendai is looking so much better now – You wouldn’t even have known there was an earthquake there if you saw it. We’ll have to go back in the summer.” Oli replied. Oli’s Yorkshire accent was still thick as always, even if Josh and Elissa’s had slowly but surely turned into a thick Californian accent.

Lacey Sykes walked down the stairs to find out what all the commotion downstairs was about. With a shocked expression, she stopped dead in her tracks as she saw her husband of 12 years in the doorway. Oli smiled widely before walking over to his wife and kissing her. Elissa smiled whilst she watched her parents fall in love all over again, even if Josh did pretend to gag as they did so.

“I came home early.” Oli announced as he traced his fingers down his wife’s cheek. Lacey smiled as he did so.
“I missed you, baby.” Lacey whispered as she came close to tears. Oli smiled and pulled her into a hug, before walking back over to his bag and pulling out firstly a box of chocolates and then a bunch of flowers. Lacey smiled as she accepted them.
“I missed you too, my little pretzel.” Oli said as he ran a few fingers through Lacey’s short, jet black hair.

Elissa just sat smiling at her parents still. She was still just a newborn when her dad and the person she referred to as ‘mum’ got together. Josh was 2 years old at the time and since then Oli had acted as a father to him. Both Elissa and Josh had lost a parent and it wasn’t as if Oli and Lacey pretending to be their parents – both children had known from an early age that they had both lost a parent and accepted that fact.

“How are you getting on with your English?” Lacey asked Elissa. Elissa sighed.
“I’m not even gunna say anything. I’m doing shit.” Elissa replied.
“You’ll get better. The doctors are just waiting for your test results back now, and hopefully you’ll be able to get a lot better at reading and writing.” Oli said, and Elissa just shook her head.
“I won’t. I’m a stupid dyslexic who’ll never get better. The teachers have said so themselves.” Elissa said, as she could feel her tears come once again. Oli pulled his daughter into a hug.

Elissa Sykes had always had learning difficulties – the only lessons she excelled at in school were art, music, drama and PE. She wasn’t stupid, though. She wasn’t like some other kids who didn’t bother to try and just milked it. Elissa genuinely tried her best but it wasn’t any use – she was close to giving up on school and dropping out of high school early.

“I’m going to bed...” Elissa said, obviously brought down by the topic of school work. She gave both Oli and Lacey and Josh a hug before making her way upstairs and into her bedroom.