Empty House, No Crickets Chirping Around: Mum and Dad

 

          Cricket's home had been quiet ever sense Mum and Grand-mama went to the store to get food. Her step sister wasn't here to blast music (some songs Cricket's pretty sure he shouldn't hear) or turn on the TV and his Dad is asleep in the living room.

 

          Cricket huffs. He's bored. Mum said that the store run should take long but they've been gone for forever. She flaps her hands a bit. Trying to get out all of her energy while sitting on the floor in the wall way. 

 

          Dad doesn't really like Cricket's flappy hands (he doesn't think Dad likes her much either). He says that it's a nuisance and that the flapping hands are annoying. He also said that she needs to stop it with the flappy hands outside of the house. 'No one wants to watch your hands move so fast they can't see them.' he'd say. And tears would prick at Cricket's eyes but she would try to stop flapping his hands. Sometimes (most the times) his Dad honestly made the hand flapping worse. So she'd just hide her hands and hope that he doesn't care enough to double check.

 

          She bonks her wrists on her forehead to try and stop thinking about it. Dad doesn't talk to Cricket anymore so it's fine.

 

          As Cricket's desperately trying to think of another topic, the doorknob twist. Cricket shots up from the floor. Cricket looks through the window on the door (He's finally tall enough to do it without standing on her tiptoes!) and spots his Mum opening the door. Her hands flap super fast and she rocks on her feet, waiting for the door to open. As soon as it does he rushes his Mum and hugs her around the tummy. 

 

          Mum laughs ruining a hand through his hair and messing it all up. "Did you miss me?" Mum has amusement and some… sadness? Cricket isn't sure, but something other than happiness is there and Cricket wants to beat it up. She can't do that though because though are feeling and you can't beat up feelings. 

 

           Cricket steps away from Mum as he shakes his head up and down so fast he started to get a headache. "Dad's been sleeping on the chair this whole time." He whines. Watching Mum's face change. She wants to be able to read it like the people in books. "I've been really board." He hops around a bit looking around his Mum to see if he can see his Grand-mama. "Where's Grand-mama?"

 

           "Grand-mama isn't uh. She isn't here anymore." Mum said. She looked like she was about to start crying. And Cricket. Cricket was devastated.

 

           "She LEFT?" He shouted. No longer hopping around or flapping her hands. "But- it why?" Cricket started to have tears in his eyes now too.

 

           Mum sighed before gently grabbing Cricket's wrists. "She didn't want to leave us willingly. Time just took her because it decided that she didn't need it anymore." Her Mum paused a bit. "That didn't make a lick of sense did it?"

 

           Cricket giggled at that. Tears still ran down her eyes, but at least she was no longer actively crying. 

 

            Mum looked over at Dad and her face twisted into something mean. She just sighed though and looked back at Cricket. " Do you want to go to a park? Sense your Dad obviously isn't watching you." There's anger in her tone when she says obviously. 

 

             Cricket nods. She doesn't really want to be in the house right now.

 

—---------

The end. And I know that it's really abrupt but I've always had trouble ending stories. 

 

Also! Cricket isn't going to be officially diagnosed with any mental things. Because I am hard core pushing my problems (family AND mental problems. Sorry Cricket) onto him and I'm not diagnosed with anything. The only label I might slap onto him is just straight up neurodivergent. Cricket can't read emotions and can only hear a few ones correctly. Anger and annoyance sound a lot a like so he confuseing them for each other most the time. Sadness and grief (I've been told they sound different???) sound so similar that Cricket doesn't really know which is which most the time.

 

Here's your word count btw :] ~ 587