The One Who Wasn't

Prologue-Third Person

Life was great. Anthony was an only child to parents Chris and Stephanie Davis. He was smart and outgoing for a child and always loved to learn. His parents worked very hard to give Anthony the best life they could.

They would take family vacations to foreign countries in the summer, and spend winters at their cabin in the mountains. The Davis' often thought about giving Anthony a younger sibling but it seemed he was just fine with it being the three of them. They were the three amigos, always setting off on a new adventure. They were happy.

Anthony was the smartest child in his 1st grade class. He could spell any word asked of him. He was already reading novels to his parents at bedtime. He could even calculate large sums of numbers in his head. His teachers called him a real life Matilda, without all of the floating objects and abusive parents.

He had all the friends a kid could ask for. He would often make up stories about the moon goddess and all of the adventures he would go on with his friends. All the princesses, or princes he would save and all the strange creatures they would come across.

During show and tell Anthony would bring paintings that he would create about a magical place he called Aquaria and all of the wonderful creatures that lived there. A magical tree that would take him into the stars where he would have tea with the moon goddess. When asked where he would come up with his tales, Anthony would tell them, " I dreamt about them."

The child who was always dreaming, with the wonderful friends and amazing family. Who could ask for nothing more? Everything was perfect, he was happy, he  was healthy, he was safe. Until he wasn't.

The eve of his 7th birthday found Anthony cuddled up in his blankets, as his parents came to tuck him in. After reading them his bedtime story Anthony's father asked him the same question he would always ask the night before his birthday.

"What would you like for you birthday this year son?"

Anthony thought about it for a few minutes and with a bright smile he simply said, " I want a large breakfast with you and mom, then a day full of video games and cartoons."

Both parents laughed. It was such a simple request and one so easy to fulfill for little Anthony. There is nothing he loved more than spending time with his parents and he could not wait to spend another birthday with them showering him with all the love one could imagine.

With goodnight kisses and early birthday wishes, Anthony's father tucked him in with promises of a birthday Anthony would never forget.

And it was. It was a birthday Anthony would remember for the rest of his life, for as Anthony woke up that September day expecting to see his parents first thing. Anthony realized that he was alone.

" Mom and dad must still be sleeping."
Looking over at his digital clock that read half past nine, it made since for his parents to be just waking up. Or maybe they were making that huge breakfast they promised him. With a good stretch Anthony flung himself out of bed. Checking his parent's bedrooms first to make sure they really weren't still sleeping, all Anthony found was an empty room.

Thinking to himself that they must be in the kitchen, he runs down the stairs.
"Mom, dad your favorite 7 year old is awake. Where are you guys?" He walks into an empty kitchen to find the full breakfast he had hoped for, but no parents.

"Something must have happened at work." He thought out loud. Being prominent doctors does have them being called away at times, but usually they would have sent nana over to babysit.

Sitting down at the table he decided to eat while the food was still hot. Surely they would be back soon, it was his birthday after all. After filling his tummy with waffles and sausages he decided to go into the living room and watch cartoons while he waited for his parents to return.

Somewhere between Johnny Bravo and the PowerPuff Girls poor little Anthony must have fallen asleep. Waking up to the sound of Mojo JoJo picking on Bubbles, Anthony rubbed his eyes and looked around.

The huge wall clock read 4:00pm, surely they were back by now. There were no presents lying around, he didn't here his dad whistling a jolly tune or smell his mom cooking anything in the kitchen. He walked through there anyways just in case. The only thing he found was a warm grilled cheese sandwich and a cold glass of milk.
His parents must have came back if they had fixed him his favorite sandwich and cleared the breakfast, right. Looking all over the house and still there was no one in sight.

Tears started to swell in Anthony's eyes. How could they have forgotten about him? Where could they be? Sitting back on the couch Anthony continued to wait and wait.
Minutes turned into hours, afternoon became night when those familiar headlights shown against the living room window. Anthony jumped off of the couch and ran over to the door.

Anxiously waiting for his parents to come inside. The door swings open to find an exhausted looking Chris and Stephanie coming home after such a long day of work. Both still wearing their scrubs as they drag themselves into the house.
" Mom and dad, you guys were gone forever why didn't you wake me if you had to work?"
They walked past Anthony placing their belongings down as they move through the house. Chris drops his keys on the coffee table in a candy dish and toes off his shoes.
" I'm gonna hop in the shower down here, you can use the one in the bedroom."
He says to his wife. She only responds with a small "hmm," as she makes her way upstairs.

Anthony is beyond confused. Did they just ignore him? Their reason to exist and they didn't even acknowledge him. This must be one of his dad"s pranks.
" Ok guys you got me. This was a good joke. So can you come back and hug me, I've been waiting for you all day. " Both parents keep moving on as if they never heard a word. Now he was definitely confused.
After his shower Chris flops back down on the couch with an exasperated sigh, lazily flicking through channels on the t.v.
"I could have sworn I turned this off before we left." He thought to himself.
Anthony walks over and stands in front of his father, there is no way he can keep this up.
"Dad you're lucky I didn't call Child Protective Services on you today. You forgot a whole child. Your wallet or pager that's one thing, but your kid? That's inexcusable. What do you have to say for yourself?!"
No response.

He continues to watch the news as if Anthony wasn't even there. Ok so dad was a lost cause but surely his mom won't keep up the charades.
Storming up the stairs, still in his Barney pajamas from the night before he goes into his parents bedroom.
" Mom will you tell dad to stop fooling around , I've missed you guys so much today. "

Lying on the bed looking over some files from work, his mother also continues to ignore him. Poor Anthony is devastated. What's happened to his parents? Why were they acting like this? He could hold back the tears no longer.

A gut wrenching sob escapes Anthony as he carries himself to his bedroom. He cried all through the night, hoping and praying to his moon goddess that tomorrow this joke will end. He prayed with his whole heart that tomorrow, things will be better, they have to get better.
But they weren't.