The Unlikely Daddy

• 13 •

Alfie hardly slept that night, he couldn't help but feel awful about the things he had said to his mum the night before. He knew she was doing her best, and it wasn't fair to make her feel guilty about Alfie's dad dying.

Alfie was already awake when his alarm went off that morning. He stared at his door, hoping his mum would come in to say good morning, but faster waiting for around 15 minutes she never came. So, Alfie decided to get up and dressed, then go straight downstairs to apologise to her.

It only took Alfie a few minutes to get showered and into some clothes for school. He then made his way down stairs, mentally preparing his apology as he walked.

"Mum?" Alfie said when he reached the bottom of the stairs, but there was no answer.

"Mum?" Alfie repeated, slightly louder this time. Still there was no answer.

Alfie made his way into the kitchen, where his mum usually was in the morning making him some breakfast. She wasn't there. But, there was a short note written on the back of an envelope that said:

"Gone to work early, will be back late - Mum"

Alfie quickly read the note and couldn't help but feel sad at the bluntness of the writing. His mum would usually remind him to do something or tell him to have a good day at school, or at the least she'd put a 'x' at the end to represent a kiss.

Next to the note was the packet of Alfie's new medication.

Alfie read the back of the packet which stated that he needed to take one tablet when he woke up and one before he went to bed.

Alfie knew he didn't want to take the medication, as he was bound to start having more accidents, but he also didn't want to upset his mum anymore. So he opened the packet, took one of the tablets out and swallowed it, washing it down with a large glass of orange juice.

Alfie sighed to himself, but made his breakfast all the same. He didn't want to be late for Logan picking him up that morning.

Before going outside to wait for Logan, Alfie looked in his bag to check that he had all of his books for the day. Inside his backpack his mum had put 3 pull-ups with a post-it note that said "give these to Mr Bentley". There was nobody there for Alfie to argue with, but he absolutely did not want to give them to the guidance councillor.

The beeping of a car horn let Alfie know that Logan was outside waiting for him, so he zipped his bag up, trying to forget all about the pull-ups.

"Morning" Logan smiled.

Alfie was relived to see a happy face.

"Hey" Alfie smiled back, getting into the passenger seat of Logan's car.

"Are you feeling okay?" Logan asked.

As soon as the question had been asked Alfie's smiled faded. Alfie opened his mouth slightly to speak, but found himself being overcome with unhappy emotions. There was nothing worse than being asked if you're okay when you're already on the verge of a breakdown.

Alfie tried aimlessly to compose himself, but he could do nothing but let tears start streaming down his face.

"Alfie" Logan said sadly, leaning towards him and pulling him into a tight cuddle.

The last few days had been so overwhelming for Alfie, and all he wanted was for it all to stop.

"Sh Sh Sh" Logan hushed as he held Alfie tightly, rubbing his back.

"I promise I didn't mean it" Alfie said through his tears.

"I know. And I know your mum will know that too" Logan tried to reassure Alfie.