tangled up [kaaatie]

[Aaron Nash]

Chris had been sitting still for almost the entire duration of a movie. There were a few toys scattered over the floor in front of the TV where he was playing in the living room, but aside from that, he had been quiet and occupied. But, as the movie started to come to an end, he started to get bored with it. And not only the movie, but also the toys. He looked around the room first, but since no one else was there, it was up to him to decide how to occupy himself. And since he was also a little hungry, the kitchen looked like the best bet. Chris wandered out of the living room and into the kitchen. It wasn't as if he hadn't seen people in the kitchen a million times; he knew how things worked-- well, sort of. He could work in the kitchen too! Though, it didn't quite work out according to plan.

The fridge was like an open invitation, really and when he managed to pull it open, he set to work pulling out several contents. First it was a carton of eggs, then a chinese takeout box, a carton of juice and after that milk. And if that wasn't enough to help him, he managed to push a chair into the kitchen and was able to reach for a cereal box that had been left near the edge and knocked it over before climbing up and grabbing the sugar canister to go with it. By the time that Chris had finished, there were eggs crushed and splattered all over the kitchen floor, mixed with leftover Chinese food and cereal poured all over too. In an attempt to do things right, he pulled a few pots from the bottom cupboard and had tried to get the mix into it, even going as far as to attempting to pour the milk and juice into a pot to stir things together. It was a huge mess by now, with the door of the fridge still wide open and Chris off in his own world mixing it all up.

[Deleted]

Tara had been in her room for the past hour, working on homework. Well, trying to work on homework. Her mind kept going back to what Rachel told her. Would her dad really leave? Tara admitted that what she said made a scary resemblance to their family. But did that mean anything? She wasn't so sure.

She sighed, setting her textbook down. She couldn't focus on France right now. Her mind was on her family. What would she do if her dad left? She was only fifteen. She was too young to take care of her brother on her own. Though, she wouldn't just dump him, either. Tara knew that it was very possible her world was about to be destroyed even more than it already was.

She checked the time and stood up. She'd made dinner for Chris. Or Maybe they'd order a pizza. She didn't think her dad would care. Standing up, she left her room, expecting to see her brother where he was when she came in here, watching a movie. "Chris? Do you--" she stopped, when she saw that he wasn't in the living room. She looked at the front door. He wouldn't have left, would he? It was then she heard a noise in the kitchen.

Approaching it, her eyes widened. "Chris!" her jaw dropped. "What did you do?!" It was a disaster. She grabbed a towel that was folded on the couch, waiting to be put away from the laundry she had done earlier. Tossing it on the floor, she stepped on it and scooted it to her brother. "Give me that," she said, pointing to the pot/

[Aaron Nash]

Chris heard his sister's voice and looked up at her and not under the assumption that what he was doing was that bad, he just looked up at her with a wide-eyed innocent gaze. What did it look like he was doing? "I'm making dinner," he informed her matter of factly and actually did hold his pot out to her so that she could see, but as soon as she asked for him to give it to her, he immediately retracted it back to him. He wanted to continue what he was doing and he was certain that if he handed it back to her, then he was going to lose the chance to. So, instead of giving it back, he put it back down in front of him and continued to stir and shake his head. "No, I can't yet." Didn't she see he was busy with it? And so far, he wasn't ready to just hand it back over yet.

[Deleted]

Tara walked around. "Making dinner? I'm not that bad at cooking, am I?" she knew she was, though. She had once even mistaken salt for sugar and made a very horribly tasting pumpkin pie. Looking around, she felt panicked. She had to get the mess cleaned up before her dad got home. And that wasn't even the worst of it. The eggs, juice--all of it needed to be replaced. Biting her lip, Tara turned her brother to face her.

"Hey, listen. Daddy said we could order pizza for dinner. He said we could even get breadsticks and cookies. And- and ice cream! He said we could go to the store and get any kind of ice cream we want! Are you really going to pass all that up?" Tara smiled, trying to show excitement. She was hoping he'd ditch the pot in exchange for cookies, breadsticks, pizza, and yes, ice cream. Oh, she hoped her dad wouldn't care. But she could deal with it if he got annoyed. It was better than letting him see all this.