Patterns of Blues

Chapter 21

Harry woke up to someone poking at his shoulder, and he blinked his eyes open and was greeted by Sully's solemn gaze staring into his soul. "Geez, man, what?" He asked, jerking his head back a bit.

"Are you trying to say you don't want to see my beautiful face first thing in the morning?" Sully questioned, wiggling his eyebrows good-humoredly.

"Yeah, not really," Harry mumbled, waving away his bad breath, "Did you need something or...?" Sully's pleasantness washed away immediately, and he flicked his gaze toward the door,

"You're the last one up. Breakfast is ready, oh, and everyone's acting terrible this morning, so be prepared." Harry nodded a couple of times, and sat up completely,

"Okay." Sully blinked once before wandering back down the hall, leaving Harry to gain motivation to get up, which took an additional five minutes before he decided to change.

Downstairs he saw everyone in the dining room, and he noted the heavy emotions clinging in the air. Contradictorily, Liam smiled broadly and waved for Harry to sit beside him where an untouched bowl of cereal waited. He mumbled a thank-you and glanced at everyone else at the table. Silvio sat directly across from him, and he looked horrible, eyes bloodshot and crusty, swollen a bit from irritation, and his hair that was normally silky was tangled and knotted. His chair was scooted closer to Nate's than necessary, and that's when he noticed that Nate didn't look much better than the oldest boy. His charisma had vanished, the emptiness in his gaze replacing his typical friendliness, and he stared off at nothing, sighing softly. Asher drummed his fingers on the table, looking like he wanted to say something, but chose not to, returning to eating. Charlie and Sully were the least bothered but weren't exactly beacons of joy either.

Kelly was cleaning up in the kitchen, humming pleasantly, the sound drifting to the dining room. Nate stood up suddenly, and Silvio looked over at him worriedly but didn't follow after him when he went into the kitchen, bringing his dishes. Harry caught Liam's gaze, and his brother shrugged in response. He heard some quiet conversation from the other room, but the words were indistinguishable, a forced chuckle, and a loud sniff. Silvio got up as well and crept into the kitchen, taking his and Asher's empty bowls.

Within the next hour, Harry glanced out the window when he thought he had heard something, and was proven right when a small red car pulled in,

"Hey, Kelly, someone's here!" Sully shouted down the stairs, gaze following Harry's. They stared at each other for two seconds before it clicked in their minds who it was, and in unison, the two boys raced for the stairs. At the bottom, Harry saw that Asher had opened the door, an upset look on his face when he turned his head towards the living room,

"Kelly, he wants to talk to you." Sure enough, Kelly marched out of the kitchen, stuffing her phone inside her pocket and waving the shaggy-haired boy away,

"Thank you very much, Asher," she said with a smile, "Go on and get Nate for me, alright?" Asher nodded in response and slid past Harry and Sully as he made his way up the stairs to the older boys' room. Kelly welcomed the guy inside, her much-too-big-to-be-genuine smile never wobbling. He was older than Peter was, by looking at him, Harry guessed he was close to forty, crows-feet and stress lines embedded on the guy's face. He had salt-and-pepper hair slicked back to cover his bald spots, squinty grey eyes, and a disproportionately large hooked nose that looked like it could have come off a cartoon character. He wore a trenchcoat like a detective from the fifties. It was buttoned up completely, nearly to his chin, and underneath it, Harry saw grey dress pants and shiny black boots. Kelly was crowing on about how nice it was to see him, and he was not listening, just admiring the bits of the house that he could see. Asher returned with Nate, Liam, Silvio, and Charlie following behind him like a conga line of misery and despair.

"Ah, Nathaniel!" Exclaimed the man when his beady eyes landed on the boy, "Your stuff, is it ready?" Nate nodded stiffly and pointed to two sealed-off boxes by the door. He clicked his tongue approvingly, "Excellent! I'll take these to the car while you say your farewells." Nate blinked in understanding and turned around to face the housemates, and Harry could tell he wasn't in his normal headspace, almost like he turned off the part of him that had empathy and optimism. He gave each of them a sad look and opened his mouth to say something, but Asher cut him off pulling him into a hug. Nate didn't immediately respond, as though thrown off, but he returned the embrace once he registered what was happening. When they pulled apart, Harry smiled sadly when he saw Asher's eyes grow a bit glassy. Liam extended his hand to him, and Nate looked from it to his face, shook his head, and offered his signature sly grin for the first time that day,

"So tense with you. Lossen up, ya shmuck." Then he grabbed his hand and pulled him in for a 'bro hug', slapping his shoulder a bit aggressively before looking to Charlie, "Keep Sully out of trouble, yeah? He needs someone around who speaks a lick of sense." Then he stepped closer to Sully and whispered, "Totally keep the trouble going, little man. Can't let the fun stop without me." Harry smiled, clearly the only one besides the emo kid who heard it. He glanced over at Harry and winked, "Guess I didn't kill ya after all, did I?" Then he finally looked at Silvio, and all of his humor slipped away again, staring at the dark-haired boy like the world had come to its end, "See you, dude."

"See you," Silvio replied in a broken tone, face showing all of the excitement of a grandma on her way to skydive into a warzone without a parachute, weird wording, but you get the idea. Nate nodded again, pursing his lips before turning for the door, where his caseworker had reappeared. Silvio jolted suddenly, grabbing his wrist and tugging him into the tightest embrace Harry had ever seen, and he wondered if it affected Nate's breathing any. Nate stiffened at first, but then buried his face in the crook of Silvio's neck, arms wrapping around the other boy's back. They stood like that for about ten seconds before someone cleared their throat from the door,

"We must be going, Nathaniel."

"Yeah, yeah, stupid time crunch," Nate grumbled with a wet laugh, letting go of the oldest boy and waving at them collectively a final time, "I hope I'll see you idiots again one day."

"You will," Silvio assured confidently but swiped at his eyes to stop his emotions from spilling out. Nate stopped by the door and said something to Kelly, who rubbed his arm gently, looking sentimental, before glancing over his shoulder one last time and disappearing out the door, his refreshing aura going with him, leaving a thick heaviness in its place.