Angels Of Hope

Chapter 5: Memories

Chapter edited by LunarAquarius

"So, Tanner gave you some money right?" Derek asked as we got the bags of food arranged in the truck.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, I don't have any plans tomorrow, so I was wondering if you want me to take you to the mall to get yourself and the kids something," he suggested while passing me a bag.

"Sure. That would be great. What time would you want to go?" I questioned, remembering the last time I was able to shop.

Jace was in jail for traffic tickets, so Tanner came down from Parris Island and spent some time with us. He took us to the mall and we had dinner together.

As I was sitting there lost in my thoughts I couldn't help but notice that more and more of the memories that I had pushed down into the deepest part of my mind, started coming to the surface.

My heart started to race and the images started to flash in my head to a time not long before we left.

"Why did you do that, Letty?" asked Jace.

"What are you talking about, Jace? I have been here all day taking care of the things in the house that needs to be done," I replied.

"This is not done. You say you have been working on the house, but as soon as I get home, all I see is toys on the floor and a nasty ass kitchen," Jace snapped as he was scanning around at the house.

"What do you mean I haven't been cleaning? The only thing wrong is Layne has his toys on the floor. You need to stop complaining and get a grip." I replied as I went to pick up Layne's toys.

As I was picking up Laney, I turned around to see Jace glaring at me, his face filled with anger.

I knew that I was going to regret back talking to him.

As I came out of the flashback, I was sitting on the passenger seat. I felt rough fingertips softly stroking my face, while whispering gentle assurances, that I was no longer hidden in my thoughts. As I came back to reality, the only thing I saw was a stubbled-man's face with his brows furrowed.

Derek sat there in the driver's seat with the truck on the side of the road.

Just by the look that he had on his face, I could tell that he was concerned about my mental state. The fearfulness that he had in his eyes told me everything.

As I glanced over at him, I couldn't understand why I just had a flashback. I wasn't around anything to have one. No certain sounds or smells.

Just as I was feeling a little bit better, It all came crashing down. I knew what caused it. It was the smell of the McDonalds that we got for dinner.

That was all Jace would eat when he was working. He said that it was easy for him just to go and buy it. He would come in from working with the smell of oily fries and greasy burgers on him. But you know the funny thing is, It was like he didn't care. He didn't care that it was wasting the money supporting our family.

He would just arrive home, pass out on his chair, or take his problems out on me.

I was the one that had to clean his filthy bags of God knows how old MacDonald's from his car. If I missed anything, I would more than likely get the crap beat out of me.

As I got my bearings back to finally face Derek and explain what happened, I noticed that I had tears streaming down my face. My throat felt sore from all the crying, just by the way I felt you could tell that I was crying for a while.

I looked over at Derek while trying to hide the fact that I was embarrassed by what had happened to me.

"Letty, you don't have to be embarrassed. I understand how you're feeling," Derek said as he wiped the tears dripping down my face.

"I am so sorry. I don't know why they are getting worse. I don't know how to fix it," I replied while looking down at my shaking hands.

"I am here for you. So is Lexi. If you need any one to talk to about it, I am here. That's what friends are for. I will not judge you for anything. You can trust me," Derek replied with the sound of sincerity in his voice.

"Thank you, I appreciate that. I don't even know how long we have been here. We should probably get back and get the kids fed," I said softly while looking into the back where the kids where under a fleece army blanket, sleeping soundly like the incident with me never happened.

"We don't have to rush. I already gave them their happy meals. They ate all of it, then basically fell asleep," Derek shrugged while turning the engine on.

"Well thank you for that. You are the first person to be able to get them all to eat. Plus get them all to sleep all in the same area," I smile while looking around on the floorboards trying to find my purse.

"That's not a problem. It's the least I could have done considering the circumstances that you were in. Besides I think that they are pretty good kids. Just been through a lot," Derek said as he turned the blinker on to merge back into the traffic of the highway.

"They are good kids," I sigh glancing out the window.

"That they are. Now let's get you all home so you all can have a good night sleep. Everything will have a better outlook in the morning," Derek replied as he turned on the driveway that lead to the apartments.

"Derek thank you for everything," I whisper about to fall asleep.

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