Let Me Be the One to Save You

“Hey, Frank, I need to talk to you.” My eyes slowly wonder from the book I’m reading up to my dad, who’s standing in the door way of my bedroom. I nod and set my book beside me, moving my feet so my dad has a place to sit. “Frank, you know that lovely woman I’ve been seeing?” I nod my head again. “I’ve been thinking about having her and her two sons move in with us.”

I sigh and lay back on my bed. There’s no use trying to fight against it. If it’s going to happen, it will and I won’t have a say in it. “But what about mom?”

“Frank, we both know she’s been gone for a while now. She’d want us to move on.” That bit is probably true. That’s what she would want, isn’t it?

“How long til they move in?” I ask.

“I’m not one hundred percent sure, but I was thinking maybe at the end of the month.” Fuck. That’s only two weeks from now. He stood up, “at least that’s the plan. I’m sorry, Frank.” He quickly glances at his watch. “Clara should be bringing her sons over in an hour so you can meet them.” And with that, he walked out of my room.

'Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,' I think to myself. 'Why does this have to happen? Why did mom have to die? Fuck!'

I pull my guitar out of its case and plug it into the amp I have in my room and start playing some random chords together, which doesn’t sound too bad. I walk over to my desk, slide open the drawer, and pull out some paper and a pencil. Walking back over to my bed, I hum the tune repeatedly until I can sit down and play it again. Once that’s done, I mark it on the paper and continue playing.

After an hour has passed, I have an entire guitar part for a song written. As I start to think of lyrics, I hear a knock on the front door and my dad yells, “Frank, can you get that?” I set my guitar back in its case and run down the stairs, almost tripping over my own feet.

Am I excited to see them? Not really, but I kinda want to meet them.

I open the door to see two boys standing in front of me, with Clara close behind. One of the boys has black hair, and is wearing a black tee and black skinny jeans. The other has blonde-ish hair, it’s got some brown in it too, and is wearing dark blue skinny jeans and a grey button down shirt.

I catch myself looking at the black-haired boy a bit more than I should before realizing that I have to invite them in, which I don’t really want to.