Foggy Mirrors | Max Verstappen

Chapter 06 - THE PAST

Jumping up from where she was sitting by the kitchen table doing her homework, Leanne rounded the corner and stopped right in the doorway to look into the hall, but other than hoped it wasn't her mum, that had come home but Josh.

"Do you know where mum is?" Leanne asked him, which caused Josh to look at her with a furry in his eyes his little sister had never seen there before.

"What happened?" Leanne wanted to know, worry in her voice and gaze, but Josh ignored her question in favour of the one asked before.

"How would I know?" He snapped at her, causing Leanne to give him a careful look.

"I don't know I just thought..." She started to talk but Josh was quick to brush her off, walking closer to her before getting into her face.

"Oh, you can think, didn't know that. Why don't you just call her like anyone with a brain would? You are so pathetic at sixteen still crying for your mummy. Fucking grow up and get out of my way." Josh yelled at her.

"The fuck is wrong with you?" Leanne screamed back, not used to be talked with like that, not from Joshua, which caused Isa to come out of the living room the see what all the screaming was about only to stop in the doorway of the living room, looking at her siblings confused. Josh was about to say something else, Leanne could see it on his face, the expression he was giving her, no matter what he wanted to say, it would have become ugly, but then he saw Isa stand in the doorway to the living room and he simply snorted.

"Sort your shit out yourself, nobody cares." He told Leanne low so Isa wouldn't hear him, before he threw his bag into a corner and stormed upstairs, while Isa walked over to Leanne, who had curled her fingers into fists at her sides.

"Can we call mum?" Isa wanted to know, which caused Leanne to nod, still looking towards the stairs, before she glanced at her sister and smiling slightly. They had to shield Isa, had to pretend that everything was fine, because she deserved a good childhood and Leanne wanted to give Isa what she and Josh never had. They wanted their little sister to feel safe in their home, they wanted her to grow up without the pressure weighting her down. No matter what was going on with them personally, Josh and Leanne both lived by that. Isa always had to come first.

"Yeah sure." She promised before getting her phone and trying to call their mother, but it connected right away to the voicemail, only for Leanne to shake her head at Isa, who bite her lip.

"What are we doing now?" Isa wanted to know, which caused Leanne to take her sisters hand before pulling her along to the front door.

"We're getting some pizza. You did good on your last exam and that calls for a celebration." She pointed out despite the rainy late fall weather.

Watching as Isa got ready, Leanne stepped into her shoes, before glancing up the stairs once more, but she wouldn't ask if Josh wanted to come with them. She also won't call their father. He was in the UK to talk to someone about a new deal for Josh most likely. Leaving them alone with their mother, who just happened to forget from time to time that she had kids to take care of.

"Can I have one with extra cheese?" Isa asked Leanne who simply nodded as they walked down the street to the pizza place a bunch of people from school like to hang around in the afternoon. It wasn't far away from their home at all which was a good thing, because Leanne really wasn't in the mood to do anything but walk down the street. It was hard enough to keep the smile on her face, so her baby sister wouldn't notice that something was very wrong.

Walking inside, Isa was quick to pick out a place to sit, while Leanne waved at Rie, who was sitting in a booth with Ines. The two girls gesturing for Leanne to come over, which she did after calling her little sister over as well. Isa's eyes lit up with excitement as she saw her older sister's friends. Causing her to come over to them with a skip in her steps, smiling brightly.