Crash

Danny
The Past

The warmth that was hitting my tight complexion through the open blinds made me squint my eyes shut tightly, slowly I pried one open and letting myself adjust to the surrounds before I rubbed the other eye open too. Scratching my chest I turned onto my side and noticed Amelia sound asleep, unlocking my phone I noted it had only gone 9 so I decided to let her sleep in.

After hearing her parents last night and seeing her handle Isaac I realized you think you know something and could be totally wrong. I mean you’d see Amelia at school and think nothing was wrong, but then you could come to her house and see or heard what I did last night.

Tiptoeing out of Amelia’s room I quietly shut her door, wincing when the door would creak as I tried to remain quiet. Stepping out into the hallway I could hear the faint sound of a little boy…

“Brum Brum!”

Slowly I crept my head around Isaac’s door and saw him sitting in his bed, a toy car in his hands running over his mattress – backwards and forwards. However as I about to leave him alone, his innocent brown eyes caught mine and a slightly toothless grin appeared on his tiny face.

“Breakfast?”

He uttered and I just nodded before holding out my hand, Isaac frowned slightly before lowering himself out of bed and crawling over to me. Slapping my forehead I dropped my hand realizing he probably couldn’t take it anyway. Scooping him up into my arm I rested him on my hip before going downstairs.

Once I got into the kitchen I put Isaac down and he crawled off into the lounge while I found the bacon. Within a few minutes I made myself a bacon sandwich and made Isaac some wheatabix. Carrying the food into the lounge I noticed Isaac struggling to climb onto the sofa, remote control in his hand.

Laughing I placed the food on the coffee table and picked Isaac up so he could sit on the sofa. He pressed the “on” button with his podgy finger and the screen came to life with Peppa Pig as I handed him his Wheatabix, eating my bacon sandwich I watched in amusement as Isaac split most of the Wheatabix down himself while his brown eyes were firmly locked on the little pink pig.

After we had finished I washed up the dishes and put them away, still keeping a cautious eye on Isaac in the lounge. I had a little sister the same age as Isaac called Evie, so I was kind of good with looking after little kids. Making my way back to Isaac with some juice, I decided to at least talk to Isaac as Peppa Pig didn’t really interest me.

“What do you want to be when you grow up Isaac?”

“I want to drive Brum Brum’s!”

He replied clapping his tiny hands together with a toothless grin appearing wide, I laughed before I tried to encourage him.

“Well you know you got to be able to walk to drive Brum Brum’s”

I observed a slight tremble in his lips as his eyes began to squint shut slowly. Shit I didn’t mean to make the kid cry, I didn’t do this shit with Evie.

“Isaac I’m sorry I – “

“I want to walk but, but mum and dad never here and…and Lia always tired”

“How about now, you want to try now?”

Isaac fiddled with his lip for a while, his index finger pulling his bottom lip down before releasing it back into its place. He seemed to think for a while before smiling anxiously up at me.

“Okay will you help me?”

“Course”

I set Isaac’s juice down on the coffee table while he slid of the sofa. I placed him at the one end of the sofa and I stood at the other end, I told him to hold onto the sofa and see how far he could walk, if he was going to fall I said he had the sofa to hold onto.

He nodded unsure but began to shuffle his slipper clad feet forward, encouraging him as best I could I noticed the determine glare on his face. The first few attempts he didn’t even manage it half way, falling down a few times as well – he was getting frustrated.

“Come on Issac you’re doing really well!”

He tried again and as I kept encouraging him and holding out my arms, he managed to hit the half way mark a huge smile engulfing his face. He looked at me and started to clap his hands but knocked himself off balance and fell, he huffed.

“Come on Isaac one more time, do it for Amelia yeah?”

“I’ll try but my bum hurts”

I laughed and Isaac shuffled back to the start of the sofa, he pulled himself up with his little arms and lifted his little feet up carefully one after the other. As I started I noticed Amelia appear at the bottom of the stairs, her sleepy eyes growing wide when she saw Isaac, I pressed my finger to my lips and she nodded and watched on in amazement, silently.

Isaac made it past the halfway mark and his little hands were nearly in reach to grab mine, however I tried to keep my hand close to me to see if he could make it all the way, the determination on his face only intensified and he concentrated even harder on his feet moving.

“Come on Isaac two more steps!”

He smiled at me lighting up the whole room and he made them last two steps with pure happiness on his face, his little hands eventually touched mine and I picked him up as he wrapped his hands around my neck before he placed them on my cheeks.

“I did it, I did it! I can drive Brum Brum’s you helped me!”

He cheered as his smile never fell, however after a few minutes of celebrating his smile fell, his little brows knitting together in angst.

“What’s up?”

“Lia never saw me, I might not be able to do it again”

“Turn around Isaac”

He managed to stand on the spot and turn very slowly to see Amelia still remaining silent in the doorway, he clapped his hands together and giggled happily. Amelia laughed before crouching down to Isaac’s level.

“You think you can come and get a hug off your sister?”

Isaac nodded proudly before he remembered what he did with me, it took him about 10 minutes but he managed to get over to her as she engulfed him in a warm hug and kissed his cheek.

“I’m so proud of you Isaac!”

“Danny helped me”

“Well I have to thank Danny then I guess…and say sorry”

She mouthed the sorry part to me and I brushed it off before mouthing a sorry back as well for last night, the whole scenario that happened that night seemingly forgotten.

“Urm I made us both breakfast, do you want a bacon sandwich or something?”

I asked she looked at me gratefully, a morning glow appearing on her cheeks as her face looked fully refreshed from a good night’s sleep. She shook her head in reply before putting Isaac in the play room with his toys then returning to me in the lounge.

“No its okay I’m not that hungry, you want to start working on this assignment?”

“Yeah okay you want to go first?”

She nodded her head before we both took positions on the sofa, this time she didn’t have a notepad to help her. She glanced at me nervously, obviously trying to analyze whether it was okay to trust me with whatever she was going to say – she needed to decide whether to believe me.

“I can be quite stubborn and don’t often let people sway my opinion –“

I scoffed at that remembering our conversation last night; she scowled jokingly before lightly punching my arm and continuing.

“I like to write and take photos, I would quite like to be a photographer when I grow up but we’ll see. You already know my parents are hardly around and I’m more a mother to Isaac than a sister. I have 6 cousins, I had a step granddad until he died a year ago and I miss him a lot, my real granddad is an alcoholic and my mum won’t let me see him until he becomes sober, if he ever does. My Nan hates him and wants me to have nothing to do with him. I plan to go University hopefully, I just don’t want to leave Isaac alone because I know my parents don’t give a shit about us. I wish I was prettier sometimes but never admit it to anyone and I actually envy Anna sometimes. Oh and I also love rock music, influenced by my Uncle –“

She spoke so confidently and she admitted some really personal things and for a moment I remained speechless, I was taken aback that she actually trusted me with his information – school project or not. In that moment I knew Amelia was different than anybody I’d ever met, even my friends.

“Urm I have a little sister called Evie, my dad left us when I was 12 and I live alone with my mum and Evie. I try to help her out as much I can, work is tough on her and she tries to make sure me and Evie get everything we want it’s sometimes hard. I’m really close with my granddad Cliffton but because of the divorce I don’t get to see him as much.”

A smirk tugged on my lips as I tried to lighten the subject away from my granddad too much I didn’t want Amelia to see how much it affected me, she wasn’t a close part of my life but still. I was about to avert the subject when I felt Amelia squeeze my hand gently, a smile of her nude lips in a sympathetic way. I didn’t want sympathy but I was touched and confused at how she managed to know my g