"Hey, Ez," Dad greeted over the phone. I was currently in London. On Foreign Exchange. I was supposed to get back home in a few days. "So, Matt's been having troubles lately. He's been depressed and your father caught him cutting himself. So, when you get back, be careful. Please."
"He's been..." I could hardly finish the sentence. Dad sighed over the phone.
"I know. It's hard to believe. He thinks his other family gave him up because they hate him. Clint talked to him about being adopted and how he was an orphan. That seemed to help a bit. I think he'll listen to you more. He really misses you." I smiled a little to myself.
"I miss you all, too. And I'll be back in a few days. I gotta go. Love you. Bye."
"I love you, too. Bye." I sighed as I let my phone drop to my side. I needed to be home to help Matt.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I sighed as I stared up at my ceiling. Ezra was getting back today. I knew I should get up, but I didn't have the energy. It was one of the day's I just felt like not being here. As if Father knew this, he came into the room and sat next to me, taking my hand.
"Hey," he said, softly, offering me a smile. I looked up at him.
"How did you know?" He smiled down at me, brushing my hair out of my eyes.
"Last night, I could tell. And I'm here for you. I'll be your anchor today. Can I do that for you?" I felt tears well in my eyes as I nodded. He pulled me up and into his arms. I cried into his chest until Dad came and told us it was time for breakfast.
We ate breakfast in silence, both my parents sitting on either side of me. As I was finished eating breakfast, I moved to stand up, but Dad's hand caught mine. I looked back at him.
"Can we talk for a second?" I slowly sat back down. Father stood up, so it was just the two of us. "I know you seem to favor your father more than me. And I think that's because you can relate to him, but I hope you know you can rely on me, too. It hurts me to see you like this. I always thought my dad hated me. He started me so young and I became exactly like him. Exactly like the person I didn't want to be. And I hurt myself because I hated myself so much." He pulled his sleeve up, revealing millions of scars. He looked up into my gaze, tears in his eyes.
"I love you so much. And I just want to help. Please, just let me. Because I don't want to see anything happen to you." I felt tears blur my vision.
"I'm so sorry," I choked out. He pulled me into his arms and I cried again into my parent's chest. He held me close to him. It felt good. I hadn't really thought about how much he cared about me because Father had mostly been the one to help me, but Dad could've helped me while he was gone. "I love you, too."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I had finally decided to talk to my parents. We were sitting in the living room and discussing my depression with me crying like a baby a lot. That's when the door opened. And Ezra stepped in.
We all stood up and our parents hugged him before he hugged me.
"I heard about what happened," he said, softly. "We're all here for you." I nodded as he stepped away, smiling. "I have a surprise for you." He took my hand. "C'mon." We followed Ezra outside to his car. There was a box right beside his car. As we got closer, I realized there was an animal in it. It was a puppy.
The puppy was white with black ears, paws, and black fur around his eye. His ears flopped down onto his head.
"I got him from a rescue," Ezra said, looking over at me. "He kind of reminded me of you. Now, go on. You can pick him up." I stepped forward and reached down, picking up the puppy. He licked my chin as soon as I brought him close to me.
"You know, it's nice to see your smile again," Dad commented. I was still smiling as I looked over at him and he smiled back. I was okay. We were okay.
