𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘐𝘵 𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘐𝘴 𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘵

Circle Of Life

~Flashback ~

"Hey, beautiful" Jay greets with a long face, walking inside their house. "Hey-" Erin greets back, standing up from her seated position on the couch, and walking over to him. "What's wrong, handsome?" She asks, reaching him, and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "You know my friend, and Locklan's school principal, Dan Glass?" Jay starts, tearing up. "Yes, what happened? Is he okay?" Erin asks, concerned. "No.. He uhm.. He's gone.." Jay answers, lightly sobbing. "I am so, so, sorry, honey" Erin holds him close against her, running her fingers through her husband's hair. "How am I going to tell Locky mans, his uncle and principal, Is gone" Jay says in a shaky voice. "We'll tell him, okay?" Erin says, holding her husband a little longer. "Locklan?" Jay calls for their son. "Babe, he's not here, he's at his friends, Sam's house" Erin replies. "I'll go get him" Jay says, as Locklan walks inside following behind, Dracula. "Hey, Locky mans" Jay and Erin greet their 8 year old son. "Hi, what's wrong?" Locklan asks, seeing Jay and Erin's worried faces. "Lock, sit down, we have something to tell you" Erin tells their son. "Okay, but you're kinda worrying me. Is everything okay?" Locklan asks, taking a seat on the couch. "Well, bud, you know my bud, Dan?" Jay starts. "Yes sir, is he okay?" Locklan asks, voice filled with concern. "No, bud. He passed away earlier today." Jay answers, "What? No! He's fine!" Locklan shouts. "This isn't funny!" He says, tears building in his eyes. "I'm so, sorry, Lock" Erin wraps her arms around their son and pulling him into her chest. He cries into Erin's chest, and his cries soon turn into heavy sobs.

The next few days, Locklan has been staying home from school. He's taking this extra hard Locklan has known Dan since before he was even born, Dan was more than just his principal, he was an uncle to Locklan. Dan often hung out with the small family on weekends, played basketball with Jay at the recreational center, and overall was just more than a principal to Locklan. He's been family from day one, like Erin with Hank. Jay and Dan became seriously close over the years and he was like an older brother to Jay and Will. Erin's been staying at home with Locklan, "Locky mans, you need to eat something, baby" Erin says to their 8 year old. "Not hungry," He answers, with his knees to his chest, watching Toy Story 4 on Disney Plus. "Baby, you barely ate anything in the last 2 days. You need to put something in your body" Erin explains. Locklan just stayed in that position, silently crying. "I'm not going back to school..." He mumbles to himself. "You have to eventually," Erin says. "No! I'm not going back!" Locklan raises his voice at his mom. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you. I'm sorry..." He says, after a long 30 seconds of silence. "It's fine, baby. Everyone grieves, and processes emotions differently" Erin takes a seat next to him, pulling him closer to her, and running her fingers through her son's hair. "Love you, Mommy" Lock says, "I love you more, baby boy" Erin kisses the top of his head. They stayed there the rest of their day, watching movies and cuddling on the couch.

Monday morning, after staying home all last week, Locklan's finally ready to go back to school. "What's up, man?" Sam is the first to greet Locklan out of their little friend group. He shrugs. "How you feeling?" Leo asks. "You okay?" Jax says. Locklan shrugs again. "You hear we got a new principal, he's cool!" Rex adds. Locklan just walks away, and heads to their classroom. "Rex, why would you say that to him? He just lost a family member!" Jax says, smacking his twin brother upside his head. "What? I was just telling him!" Rex says, defensively. "Yeah whatever, let's go to class" Jax says, the boys go to class. After class, they had lunch well except Locklan. He mainly poked his spaghetti with his fork, and then at recess, he just sat down with his back to the brick wall, and his knees up to his chest. The school day finally came to an end, and Mia; Locklan's sitter, was out front waiting for him. Locklan opened the back door and climbed in, closing the door after him. He let out a sigh of frustration, and slumped down in his seat. "Hey, Lock. How was school?" Mia asks, but Locklan wasn't in the mood to have a conversation with anyone. "Can we just go home?" He replies, Mia starts her car up, and drives home. Locklan walks in the house, dropping his bookbag on the floor, and goes straight up to his room, Dracula following. He stayed holed up in his room the rest of the day until Jay and Erin came home. Erin and Jay went to check on Locklan, he was in bed in his pajamas and reading a book. "Hey, bud" Jay says, leaning against the doorframe in his room. Locklan looks up at him, "I hear you haven't eaten today at school?" He says. "You didn't eat dinner either, according to Mia" Erin adds. "I'm not hungry" Is all Locklan says. "You've got to eat something," Erin says. "You must be starving" Jay adds. But Locklan just shakes his head. "We'll be in our room if you need anything, ok bud?" Jay tells him.

Later on that night, Jay, and Erin are peacefully asleep. Locklan quietly opens the door to his parents' room and makes his way towards their bed. Carefully crawling in-between the two, and making himself comfortable.