The Dark Years

Decisions

"Girls," Myc called, but there was no reply.

"Girls!" Myc shouted. This time, he could hear the scurrying of little feet padding in his direction. Reyna, Emmie, and Cami all rounded the corner rubbing their eyes, and in Emmie's case also her ears.

"Uncle Myc, quiet down! I am so hungover right now," Emmie whined. Myc briskly moved on, completely ignoring Emmie's plea.

"Put your shoes on. We need to get home." Reyna cautiously piped up,

"Uncle Myc? What's wrong?" Myc sighed heavily and ran his hand down his face.

"Everything," he whispered before walking towards the door. The girls could feel the tension in the air and clambered to put their shoes on. Cami looked rather cute despite just waking up from a nap, but Emmie and Reyna were disasters. Reyna's pitch black hair was caked with white powder from the fire extinguisher and Emmie looked like she rolled on the dirty floor for three hours. Which she honestly may have for all Myc knew.

Myc picked Emmie and Cami up, grabbed Reyna's hand and walked them out of the bunker. Once they finally exited the antiteleportation boundary, Myc teleported them outside the front door. 

"Stay here for a few minutes," Myc told the girls. He didn't want them to see Texan off the rails. He opened the door cautiously and closed it behind him. The first thing he noticed was Texan sitting in his chair staring at a multicolored ceramic mug. 

"Texan? Hello? Earth to Texan!" Myc called, but was only met with silence. Mildly disturbed at Texan's unresponsiveness, he walked to Texan's room to try and find Llisona. He gently knocked and pushed the door open. Llisona had been looking out the window, but turned around when Myc knocked.

"You're back. Good. I cremated Nerd. Her ashes are in the urn over there," Llisona said pointing towards an urn with the milky way on it. Myc glanced to the side at the urn and then back to Llisona. A coldness was creeping across his body. His sister-in-law really was dead and he could definitely infer what happened to Llisona's neck.

"Did Texan do that to you?" He asked concerned. He wasn't concerned for Llisona, she'd be fine and she'd kill him for even suggesting weakness on her part. He was worried that Texan would fly into a rage and hurt the girls.

Llisona nodded. "Texan can't be left alone with the girls."

"Agreed. Who'll watch them?"

"Reyna and Emmie will come home with me. You take Cami, she inherited too much of Texan's angelic aura to survive in Hell."

"Ok. But are we sure this is for the best?"

"No, but it definitely isn't for the worst. We'll bring them by every other day if not every day. It'll probably be the only thing that'll keep Texan's humanity in tact."

"Not to mention his sanity," Myc added. Llisona nodded in agreement. 

"Where are the girls?"

"On the front porch. How about we bring them inside and break the news?" Llisona took a shuddering breath and nodded. Myc new exactly how she felt. How on earth were they supposed to tell their innocent nieces that they'd never see their mother again?

Myc went to get the kids while Llisona gently shook Texan back to reality. When Myc opened the door, the girls looked up at him with confused faces. He gestured them in mutely. When they saw their father looking extremely downcast, they all ran to him and attacked him with hugs and questions.

"Daddy, why do you look like you've been crying?"

"Did something bad happen?"

"Where's mommy?"

The last question broke Texan. Tears streaked down his face once again.

"Girls, sit down" Llisona said gently. "Mommy got really hurt this morning. She drank something that made her sick. Her body couldn't handle it. I'm so sorry, but she's gone." Reyna stared blankly at her crying father, Emmie burst out sobbing, and Cami looked at Llisona confused.

"What do you mean gone? When is mommy coming back?" Cami questioned.

"Mommy's not coming back, darling. She went to heaven."

"Oh. Ok." Cami was too young to fully understand what was happening, and that was for the best right now. Myc knelt down and hugged Cami and the sobbing Emmie while Llisona tried to get Texan to say something to the kids. Anything, really. But he just kept staring off into space, tears tracking down his face and looking completely broken.

"Girls, pack a suitcase. Emmie and Reyna, you'll be staying with me. Cami, Myc will help you pack. Go on now. We'll talk more later."

Once her nieces and brother had slowly evacuated the room, Llisona tried explaining the situation to Texan.

"Texan, we'll watch over the girls so you'll have time to yourself. You need time to come to terms with what's happened and you aren't in any position to give the girl's the emotional support they need right now. We'll bring them back tomorrow because you all are going to need each other to get through this."

"But what if I can't," Texan managed to choke out.

"Brother dearest, you are the strongest man I know. You will recover from this and you will be happy again, I swear." 

"Yet here we are. You don't trust me to be around my own children. But I understand."

"We'll get through this, but you are in no condition to help anyone but yourself right now. But we'll work on it. You will be happy again." Texan nodded hesitantly.

 The rest of the family came back dragging suitcases. Llisona straightened, created a faintly glowing portal, and addressed her new wards. 

"Reyna, Emmie, let's go. We'll see the rest of you tomorrow." The three girls stepped through the portal and disappeared.

"Brother," Myc said softly clapping Texan on the shoulder. "We'll help you through this." And with that, Myc teleported himself and Cami to his home, leaving Texan completely and utterly alone in the suffocating house.