I shuffled my hands in my bags for the keys. I eventually got them and unlocked the front door, letting myself in. Me, my brothers, and all live in this house together, and the boys and I all had our own house keys.

I got in and locked it close, pulling my bag off and dropped it onto the floor and I slowly slid down, leaning against the door and taking a deep sigh. God, I was finally home after another long day.

It took about a minute before I noticed a small figure running down the stair towards me. My little ~!

"Daddy," exclaimed and hugged me tight as I chuckled softly and held close.

"Hallo, mein little mouse," I said, kissing head.

"Dad, stooop! I'm not that little anymore and you know it!"

I laughed a little. "Of course I do, Schatz, but you vill alvays be mein little to me~"

Ruffling through hair, blushed and tried to shoo my hand away. "Okay, okay, fine," said and stuck tongue out.

"Did you have a good day," I asked, fixing normally.

"Yup," replied.

"Wunderbar. Und school vith Bing?"

"It was nice." I heard more footsteps and we looked up to see both Marvin and Bing coming down. "Welcome home, doc," Marvin said.

"Danke, Marv," I said, readjusting my posture and grabbing my bag. I walked over to Bing, followed by close behind. "How did do today?"

"She did great," Bing said. "We ran into some small errors on paper, but otherwise, everything went well."

"Zhat's good," I looked to see now standing by me and I smiled. "Mistakes are made, and zhat's alvight." I addressed and patted shoulder. smiled and lightly went red, making me chuckle.

"Aye..." I was starting to feel woozy again and held my head in my free hand. "Are you alright, Henrik," Bing asked, looking a bit worried. "A-ah no, I'm ok. Just... Tired, that's all."

I sighed at that response; that told me Dad another long day. I don't like that he has to have those days. Sometimes I tell him to take it easy and he would nod in agreement, but he hasn't been doing that lately... Since Anti disappeared.

"Excuse me, but I should go get changed. I'll be vight back." Dad said and went upstairs with his stuff.

I walked to the kitchen, seeing Chase in there already, grabbing some things out of the cupboards. "Hi Uncle Chase," I said, slightly startling as he looked over at me and smiled. "Hey, little ," he said. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"I wanted to make dinner," he replied. "How do you feel about spaghetti with meatballs?"

That excited me; I loved the way my dad and uncles makes it. "Yes, please," I said gleefully.

"I could help you with that if'd you like," another voice said. I looked over to see Seán leaning against the kitchen wall of the other entryway. He caught me looking at him and smirked. I immediately smirked back at him and stuck my tongue out. I knew full well why he was doing that...

"ARE YOU FLIPPING KIDDING ME!?"

I threw the controller down in front of me and groaned while Sean just laughed at me. We had just played another level of Super Mario Maker and Seán beaten me in this level.

"Face it, lad/lass, but I'm better at this game than you or your other uncles or dad!"

"Suuuuure," I say, rolling my eyes and laughed.

"Alright, fine! Believe what you wanna believe, but I'm telling you!" He sighed and smiled at me.

"Whatever!" I got up and ran to him, playfully punching at his stomach. He smirked and grabbed both my wrists and turned me around. "Come here, you!"He held me in his grip tight enough to where I couldn't move, nudging my head.

"N-no, Uncle Seán, STOP," I pleaded, squealing playfully and tried to move.

"Say it first," he said, still tackling me. it took a few seconds before I finally gave in.

"Ok, ok, UNCLE!! You're the best at this game!"

"Thank you," he said, stopping what he was doing and playfully shoved me away from him.

We both shared a laugh and Sean looked at his watch and smiled. "Hey, look at that. Your dad should be here soon," he said and got up, turning his Switch off.

I gasped happily. "Really, YAY!"

"Say why don't you go play with your other uncles for a bit, yea," he asked. "I got some stuff I need to finish on a video on my computer."

"Ok," I replied and walked out of Seán's room, waving at him and he did the same.

I went back to my room and jumped on my bed, pulling out my phone and looking at social media.

"Thanks, bro. Of course, you can help," Chase answered Seán. "Could you help with the meatballs?"

"No problem," Seán replied and went for the fridge to grab the meat.

I giggled and walked back to my room to see Dad was already in there, looking at my work. He must've heard me coming, cuz then he looked up and smiled at me. "Zis is some amazing vork, ," he says. "Even on your first day! I'm impressed."

I grinned. "Thanks, Dad," I say and go to hug him.

I turned in his arms to look at the papers too and then around my desk. There were the photos and then some arts and crafts I made. I love making stuff and being creative; my dad and uncles loved all the things I made and they kept the crafts I made for them on display in their rooms.

"I'm sorry you couldn't have a first day of school as a senior," Dad said

"Why are you apologizing," I asked him. "It's not even your fault."

"I know, , but," he sighed. "I want you to grow up and live your life with memories like zese; Zese are gonna be memories I want you to cherish und I vant vhat's best for you, mein ."

I thought about what he said for a moment and nodded. "I want this too, Dad, but again, none of this is your fault." I laid back against his chest and smiled. Then something came to mind.

I want to know what happened to Anti...

"Dad."

"Ja," he answers

"What..." I took a deep breath, bracing myself for how Dad will respond. Bing had said he doesn't really want to talk about it and said to wait about asking Dad about Anti, but I can't just wait. It's been so long since we ever saw him since and I miss him so much. I'm sure the rest of us in this house does too.

"What exactly happened to Anti when he disappeared?"

"Vhat," Dad cleared his throat, not expecting me to talk about this. "I don't understand that you mean by zat."

"Don't lie to me," I sighed, getting up and looking at him with serious eyes. "I know you know what happened to or with him. Bing told me"

This made him a bit shocked. "B-Bing told you!?"

"Yes, but please don't get mad at him... I kept bugging him until he gave in today..."

He deeply sighed. ", it's complicated."

"What's so complicating about Anti disappearing?" My anger started boiling over a bit. "It's been a couple of years since he has left and we have never seen him since; NONE of us has! I really miss him, Dad, and I know you and the others do just as much as me. But, I want to know what happened, please--"

"HE JUST LEFT ALL OF A SUDDEN AND NONE OF US KNOWS WHY!!" He snapped and then covered his face. "None... Of us know, ," he said, his voice going soft quickly. "We were all doing just fine but then he said he had to do something and would be back... But he never came."

I slowly stepped closer to him, realizing my sudden anger made him snapped.

"We tried calling and texting him, but he never responded to any of us. We DO miss him as much as you do, . We all do."

"Where... Do you think he could've gone?" I asked softly.

"I honestly don't know, Schatz," he sighed

We both stared at the floor in silence.

Anti just left us? No, he wouldn't; he's family and he cared for us as much as we do for him. But if that's true, why would he just get up and leave us like that?

"Dinner's ready!"

My focus snapped towards the door, as well as Dad's, when Uncle Chase yelled about dinner. I sighed and walked towards the door.

"," I hear Dad say and walk up to me.

"Yes, Dad?"

"Here." He shuffled his hand through his pockets and grabbed a folded up photo and handed it to me.

"What is it," I ask, unfolding the picture, and my face lit up and I smiled.

"Uncle Anti vanted me to give zis to you if you ever miss him after your 17th birzday," he said, placing his hand on my head gently.

"It's amazing," I say, hugging the picture close and then Dad. The picture was of me and Anti pranking Dad one year on April Fools. Dad says it's Uncle Anti's favorite moment with me.

"Thought you'd love it," he says while hugging me. "Now, how about we go enjoy some of Uncle Chase's spaghetti?'

"Heck yeah!" I tell him and we both walk down the stairs to the kitchen, greeting everyone else and grabbing plates.

🙃

Originally Published on December 27th @ 12:40 AM.