( DRAFT ) When These Walls Come Tumbling Down - A TADC Story

Book 2 Chapter 1: Kin

What is your idea of a perfect family? Perhaps it is one of two parents and their beloved daughter, but their daughter managed to be wooed by a handsome, yet irritable man, and they bared three kin. Perhaps it is one of two happy adults and their treasured son. Or perhaps it is one of a father who lost the love of his life so suddenly, and was left to raise his child alone, until his heart became betrothed to another, and he bore yet another kin. Or perhaps it is your family that is your perfect family. Alas, our story continues.

It was the end of November in 2001 and Christian wasn't impressed. He stared at his wife and best friends with furrowed brow as they started to stir awake. They each had a throbbing headache. "You three are insufferable! Honestly! You got absolutely pissed last night!" he exclaimed, earning a few groans from Annabelle, Martha and Mike. "It was Sunday night! What were you thinking?"
 "We haven't been able to have alcohol in ages no thanks to your arrogant arse. We saw our chance, and we took it." Mike responded, rubbing his head in pain.
 "Babe, c'mon, you can't blame us. We were in a strange state of mind last night." Martha added, sitting up and yawning.
 "Okay. I suppose that's valid, but if it ever happens again I will not hesitate to give you all a tongue lashing."
 "You should be careful... Someone might take that out of context~" Mike said, in which a playful slap was planted right onto his cheek by his princess.
 "You're impossible, y'know that?" Annabelle declared.
 "Yeah, but you love me for it." 

 A five-year-old girl stormed into the room, a look on her face that her parents were able to read like a book. It read, "I have a problem and if it isn't fixed I'm going to throw a tantrum!" Annabelle looked towards her daughter and asked her a question softly, "Tatum, dear, what's the matter?" 
 "Ayesha stole my clothe-" Before Tatum was able to finish her sentence, she was scooped up into the arms of her father who tickled her belly lightly. 
 "Seriously, kid, stop blaming everything on your sister. I have no clue where you've learnt this from." Mike told his daughter, carrying her out of the room. Christian, however, knew exactly where she got it from. 
 "I swear that fucking failure deals with being hungover like it's nothing." Martha stated, an annoyed look on her face, before slumping back on the bed. 
 "Martha, please." Annabelle sighed. Mike was no failure in her eyes, no, no, no! He was perfect in his own ways, and the princess of the group would not have it any other way.

Tatum was the eldest child of Mike and Annabelle Thompson. She was the spitting image of her father, they shared the same smug grin and the same brown skin. She liked to think the person behind all of her problems was her youngest sibling, Ayesha, even though she was a mere baby who could barely just babble out a sentence. Not to anyone's surprise, Tatum's first word was "Daddy", which had Mike in absolute tears for the rest of the night. Despite being the eldest of her siblings, she was not the eldest of the past performers' kin.

Thomas Firenet was the eldest. He was aged six and looked exactly like his mother, Martha. Bailey was his half brother and boy did they despise eachother. The two were arguing every single second of every single day. Once, around two years ago, their arguing got so bad that Bailey had to go sleep at Skylar and Delilah's house.

Thomas and Tatum were inseparable. They had a very special kind of bond that no one would take away from them. Tatum, being exactly like her father, was a troublemaker, and she made Thomas something of a prankster himself. Whether they were unplugging Bailey's Xbox, hiding their parents treasures or completely disappearing for hours and hours only to return and say they were in attic, they were always pulling tricks. Mike adored them for it.

Christian let out a long sigh. "I'll take the kids to school today, you two rest," he said, going over to kiss Martha on her forehead. She let out a giggle as a reply. "Please make sure Mike gets some rest, otherwise he'll be in a mood for the rest of the day."
 "I will don't worry." Annabelle responded, turning on her side to face Martha.

 Martha's relationship with Annabelle and Mike was quite strange. Despite Annabelle only being five years older than her best friend, Martha felt like a daughter to her. As I said, incredibly strange because Mike, Annabelle's husband, was younger than Martha. Martha and Mike had what I like a call a sibling rivalry dynamic. They both loved getting attention from the kind hearted princess Annabelle was, but they hated sharing that attention. Whenever the pair locked eyes, tension filled the room they were in, and not in a good way. It created an atmosphere of hatred. Weird, because they didn't hate each other at all. They loved each other and had a very strong sibling bond. The way they acted when they were mad at each other was way worse than the way Bailey and Thomas acted with other. Like when Jamie, Annabelle and Mike's son, was born.

"WHY DOES HE LOOK LIKE YOUR HUSBAND?! WHAT HAS THAT MAN DONE TO MY WIFE?!" Mike screamed at Martha, causing Thomas, Tatum and Jamie to all start crying. Christian and Annabelle took the trio to the top floor in Annabelle and Mike's house to calm them down. The truth was, Christian and Annabelle +hadn't+ done anything with each other, it was a coincidence that Jamie looked like Martha's husband.
 "WHAT DID MY HUSBAND DO TO YOUR WIFE?! WHAT DID YOUR WIFE DO TO MY HUSBAND?!" Martha shot back at Mike, hatred very evident in her usually calm voice. 
 "ANNA WOULD NEVER CHEAT ON ME! HOW DARE YOU INSULT HER LIKE THAT!"
 "NEITHER WOULD CHRISTIAN, AND YOU'RE INSULTING HIM JUST AS BAD!"

There were three different sides to the argument, Christian and Annabelle were on side, Mike and Martha were on their own, at each other's throats for days. Even Bailey, who usually thought fights were great fun, had to admit that this one scared him a little bit. He didn't want anyone to get divorced. He loved his family, but he wouldn't let them know that.  The argument for so intense that all of the kids went to stay at James and Dianne's house for several nights, until they had resolved the issue. Skylar and Delilah left their son, Garret, at James and Dianne's as well to go and try to help fix their friends's relationships, although they didn't manage to do much. 

The argument lasted for months. Shouting was happening somewhere in the house all twenty-four hours, seven days a week. Annabelle, the poor soul, couldn't take it anymore, and she finally snapped. "THAT IS ENOUGH! ME AND CHRISTIAN DIDN'T DO ANYTHING OKAY?! I DON'T KNOW WHY JAMIE LOOKS LIKE HIM!" she told Martha and Mike at the top of her lungs, her voice booming. She started to let tears run down her cheeks, as she turned towards Mike, "It hurts me that you would even think I would do something so-... so horrible! I love you, Mike." His heart shattered. He didn't mean to hurt his angel, he was just so confused and angry. He started to cry also, going over and giving his wife a long, tight hug.
 "I'm sorry... I-I believe you..." Mike responded, burying his face in Annabelle's red hair. She returned the hug, sobbing into his chest. Christian, Martha, Skylar and Delilah all joined in on the hug. After that, everything went back to normal.

Bailey, Thomas, Tatum and Jamie all stood around Christian as he was unlocking his house door, holding Ayesha in his arms. Tatum and Ayesha made eye contact, to which the elder sister stuck her tongue out at the younger sister, who just blinked and looked away in return. Annabelle and Mike had stayed at Christian and Martha's house for the night, same with their children, hence why they were going to school with Christian.

Once they had arrived at the school gates in Christian's car, he said, "Alright, I'm picking you lot up as well. Be good and have fun. Bailey, make sure they all get to their classrooms safely." 
 "Yeah, yeah whatever." his son replied, rolling his eyes. He had grown to be quite a reckless being. 

 Tatum was the last to leave the car. Before she got out she turned to Christian, or "Uncle Christian" as she called him, because of how close her parents were to him. "Bye bye, Uncle Christian!" she said, jumping out of the vehicle onto the concrete floor.
 "Bye, Tate," he sighed. 

The man sat in his office. He was fidgeting with his hands, looking at his computer. Opening a file, he squinted as the bright colours popped up on the screen. The file in question was a circus tent, the same circus tent that the group of friends had been trapped in. He went over to the wall in the tent and write a message on the wall. The message read 'Find the children'. Saving the file, he closed the computer. He knew something bad was about to happen...