Love in the Aftermath

The intro

Let's just say Octavia didn't have it easy. With constantly moving around, her mother leaving her and her siblings behind and then her father going off the deep end after she left nothing really looked up for her. Well that is except this new house they were moving into. With her new backyard being the woods she was never truly bored like at all the rest of the houses she lived at.

See while she had a bunch of siblings only one was even close to her age, Danny. They did nearly everything together, they had to when they moved around so much, but sometimes Octavia wanted nothing to do with the boy. Always in a good mood Danny acted like nothing bad had ever happened to them. That was far from the truth though.

About 2 years ago Octavia's mother collected all her things and left in the middle of the night. Not saying a word to any of them as if they meant nothing to her, or at least that's what Octavia had come to because how else could her mother just leave like that. Still no one knew what had come over her to have just left like that, her father probably the most angry with the whole thing. He never really recovered and had been drunk everyday since then. Octavia was only 6 when her mother left them and Danny was just 5. Thankfully they had older siblings to look after them.

Willam was now the head of the house at just 19, though her father still lived in the house he was never coherent enough to be a father anymore. Damon was the next at 17 he took it the hardest of the woman's kids, he was the closest to her and with there never being a reason why she left he had turned cold and angry after that night. Then there was Delilah, she was a sweetheart, nothing made her mad she was always so kind to everyone. She vowed to never make anyone feel they way she felt when their mother left and that's why she was always smiling and always so nice to everyone even if they didn't deserve it. That's were Damon always came in and let whoever it was have it because Delilah would never but he would. Of course Daniel was to young to truly remember their mother but he did remember some things like how she would play with him while everyone else was at school, have time where it was just them for hours everyday, just a few little things.

Unfortunately neither Danny nor Octavia could remember a time in which their father wasn't drunk and abusive. Though he hardly ever hit her or Delilah, never Delilah she was his favorite, there were times in which she could recall a bruise that she would have to explain to a teacher that she was just a little extra clumsy.

The boys however they had it bad, Damon especially, anytime their father would come home drunk everyone was on edge. Damon though wouldn't shut up and always ended up on his bad side which lead to another beating. They all thought that at some point Damon would learn when to stop but did never did and the more beatings he got the more likely he was to lash out at their father. It was an endless cycle and Damon only grew more angry. He was never rude to his siblings though he knew they were going through the same thing but anyone on the outside only knew him as cold and heartless.

Pretty quickly after their mom left their father ran out of money spending it all on more drinks. They got kicked out of house after house in those 2 years, always on the move they never really stay in one place longer than 3 months. That was until their grandpa died and their father inherited the house that their grandpa still had in his name being to stubborn to sell it. He hadn't lived in it in a long time and everything was run down but at least they had a place to go. Somewhere permanent for them to live. That was enough for everyone had that point. So, off they went to the run down house they would now call home, or as much of a home that it could be.

They had been to that house only a hand full of time but hadn't been since Danny was born. Meaning Octavia of course didn'tf remember a thing about the place. The other three did though, Delilah did, she remembered the boy from next door. She remembered how Damon and him got along so well and how she loved the kids bright blue eyes even if she had only seen them a few days every few years. Now there was another boy next door that Octavia noticed right away watching them unload everything.

She kept looking back to see if he was still there watching them, he was, and now the older boy from next door joined him though he quickly left. He didn't know what to think of the fact that there was somebody moving in next door or the fact that he knew them. Delilah looked to find Octavia staring at the two boys across the way.

"You'll meet them real soon, I think." She said to Octavia.

"What makes you say that?" She asked back to her older sister.

"Just a feeling." The older girl smiled down at her like she always had.
That was a weird thing to say though Octavia thought. She sounds so sure of it like she knew they would become a part of their lives very quickly. Maybe she was sure, maybe she knew.

They finished bringing their things in quickly as they didn't have much. Their father already completely drunk and was no help to them so Will had to do most of the work himself. Damon helped as well but he was just mad at the world so he was over the whole situation very fast.

Octavia avoided her father like the plague at any given moment. She found him already passed out on the couch that had been left there by their grandpa. She quickly slid by and found her way up to Danny's room.

"Did you see that there was a boy our age next door?" She asked him when she made her way inside his room where he was already in bed.

"Oh, yea I saw them. Delilah said we would meet them soon." He answered her.

"Yea she said they same thing to me too. I hope we do. I hope we can make this place home." She told him, hints of sadness and anxiety could be found in her young voice.

"Yea, I do too." He replied with a matching tone.

"Well, maybe we can go tomorrow to meet them. I'm going to go to bed now though. Goodnight Danny, I'll see you in the morning." She said as she began to leave the room.

"Goodnight, O." He called to her as she just passed the doorway. She smiled slightly at the nickname. Before she knew it she and run right into something hard.

"Ow." She said rubbing her face that she just smashed.

"You okay Octavia?" Will asked. She had run into him right as she turned the corner to her room where he had just been looking for her.

"Yea, sorry Will." She answered him.

"It's alright, I was just making sure you got to bed okay. It's been a long day, I know everything new to you but it's a good thing we're here. I promise." His words were so sincere she knew things would be alright. At least for a little while.

"Yea I hope so. I'm good, I was just about to go to sleep." She said truthfully.

"Good, go ahead, I'll see you in the morning, O." With that he patted her shoulder and walked away while she continued into her room.

They all found their way to the rooms all but their father who was still on the couch, Octavia's room facing the neighbor boys house, not that she had planning it but now she was happy she picked that one for some reason. She wanted her sister to be right about meeting them soon. Maybe she could become friends with the young boy she had seen, he looked to be about her age, although she never had been the best at making friends. Then again neither was he, and she would soon figure that out.

She finally hopped up on her bed and got under the soft covers she had. She sat there for a little bit just thinking, about if this was going to work and they would in fact end up staying here for good, if they would meet the neighbors tomorrow, about when her mom left them and how they were in this situation in the first place because of it. As much as she didn't want to think about that she often times did. Soon after though she drifted off to sleep and that was one of the best night sleep she's had in a while.