Dear Leo (An Area 11 FanFiction)

Chapter Ten-Dad

January 15th 2015

I'm lying awake in bed, mindlessly scrolling through Tumblr. I'm really not tired, as much as I want to be. Every single shadow, every noise, is huge to me, preventing me from falling asleep. I hear Leo turn over in his bed, again and again. Does he usually move that much in his sleep?

It sounds like he's whimpering now. I wonder if he's alright, maybe I should go check. A louder distressed cry comes from his room and I leap out of bed, running into his bedroom.

Leo's tangled in his sheets, tossing and turning with a pained look on his face. He lets out a wail in his sleep.

"Dad! Don't...leave..." He cries.

"Leo, wake up!" I say softly. "Leo. Leo, please wake up!" He curls up in a ball, tears streaming down his face. His eyes snap open. "Leo, it was just a dream," I soothe. "Just a dream."

Eventually Leo falls back asleep. I'm not sure if he even fully realised that I was calming him down, he just sort of woke up and then went back to sleep. At least he seems to be ok now. I wonder what his nightmare was about? Maybe I'll ask in the morning.

He'd been calling out for dad. The nightmare was probably about him. If that's the case I know how he felt, I've had those sorts of nightmares many times. About when he left.

~Flashback - 29th May 2001~

"Mummy, what's going on?"

"Not now Grace! Go to your room!" Mum shouts. Her voice doesn't change from talking today then talking to me. She's yelling at both of us.

"But-"

"Hey sweetie, do what mummy says. I'll be up to you and Leo in a minute," Dad kneels down next to me and speaks softly, nothing like the shouting him and Mum had been doing moments before.

"Ok," I hug him and then run up the stairs to mine and Leo's room. "Leo!"
He quickly looks up from the game he's playing on the GameCube he bought not long ago.

"What's wrong? Are they yelling again?" He asks. I nod and climb up onto his bed.

"They started shouting and daddy told me to go to my bedroom and he'll come up in a bit."

"Well, do you want a go?" Leo offers me the purple controller. I grin and nod vigorously, taking it carefully from him in fear of breaking something.

"Where do I make the dragon go?"

"Up there. You use that button to jump and then again to fly." Leo points at the TV, then at the green button on the controller. Before I can actually do anything, dad opens the door and comes in, sitting on my bed which is parallel to the one we're sat on.

"Daddy!" I grin, completely distracted from the game. Leo swivels round on his butt to face dad. Hehe, butt.

"Hey kids. Um, we need to talk. I'm going away for a while..." My grin fades and I fling my arms around him.

"I don't want you to go!" I cry. He pats my back and sits me back down on the other bed.

"I don't want me to go either sweetie, but me and mummy had a bit of a talk, and we decided that I have to go away for a work thing I was asked to do," He says. Dad sometimes has to go away for a few weeks because of work, and going on tours with his band. Leo frowns.

"Please don't go dad," he pleads. "We don't want you to go! You can't leave us!"

"It's not forever though!" I smile. "Until you get back from your work!" Dad looks even sadder now, and Leo has tears in his eyes, which he wipes away before he thinks anyone has seen them. Why are they sad? He's coming home in a few days, right? Why are they sad?

"I love you kids so much," Dad smiles. "Leo, look after your sister. You keep doing your music, and one day you'll be the best there is." Leo grins at the last comment. "Grace, even if Leo looks after you, you look after him too. And don't stop drawing, my little artist." I hug him again, and this time Leo joins in. "I love you so much, don't forget that. You two are going to do amazing things one day. I know you are." He stands up. "I have to go now."

"Bye daddy!" I wave, before turning back to the game.

"Bye dad," Leo tries smiling, but he still looks sad. I don't understand. Why are they so sad?

~Back To Present Time~

The next morning we both woke up to find a small wooden box at the end of each of our beds, both engraved with our names and a letter attached. We weren't allowed to open it until our tenth birthdays according to the envelope. Inside my box was a photograph of dad with me when I was a baby and Leo was three. I always said it was my favourite photo of dad because he has a blue streak of hair in it. When I was a kid I had insisted that one day I would have blue hair like him, instead of my natural brown, just like he used to. Under the photograph was dad's crystal pendant that he wore because it was supposed to be lucky. He barely ever took it off.

In Leo's box there was a photograph a friend had taken of the two of us watching dad play the guitar. He used to play in a band, which was what inspired Leo to start playing drums. There was also dad's watch, the one that he had had engraved with his favourite quote-

Be thankful for what you are now, and keep fighting for what you want to be tomorrow.

I hadn't realised then that we wouldn't see him again until I was fifteen.