Scared Little Mouse

The first thing that came into my mind was how he looked like a scared little mouse. He was shivering even though it was 10 a.m in the middle of summer. And he was even wearing things people usually wear on autumn.

What a weirdo. Dad was the one who greet him first.

"Arden? I can't even recognize you anymore boy, come in, come in. Rosa is preparing for lunch, let's go meet her." When they walked pass by me and Evelyn in the living room, Dad ushered him to us and made an introduction.

Evelyn who was peeping on the new guy with me came out behind me and gave him a shy hello and smile. I just nodded at him in acknowledgement when he looked at me but he didn't even bother to return the gesture and averted his gaze straight ahead on particularly nothing.

Dad smiled apologetically at us for his son's behavior and pushing him to the kitchen.

Mom was making spaghetti and many many more dishes enough for an entire village . She was in festive mood. She had started cooking since yesterday night,preparing the meatball dough and the sauces. It was like we were welcoming a president instead of her husband's son from another mother.

"Rosa, Arden is here. Come here boy, she's been waiting for you since yesterday." Dad hollered.

My mom stepped out of kitchen and hugged the little mouse tight. I was afraid that she would break his bones by how tight she hugged her. My mom was after all three times bigger than him. The mouse didn't even react or anything, just standing still stiff as a stick and after a long pause she finally released him from her embrace.

"Are you hungry? I'm almost done cooking. Wait with your dad and the kids will you?" She said to mouse.

So dad brought him back to us again. "Luca, show him where is his room okay? I'll help your mom cook. I'm afraid we won't eat on time if I don't give a hand" He said giddily. I guessed, not seeing his son for years could actually excite him this much.

"Alright." I said with a laugh. I looked at the mouse behind him and motioned him to follow me upstairs.

"There are only three rooms in this house. So tragically you have to sleep in my room." I put emphasis on the last words as I open the door to my room. This had been my room since I was six years old, so technically this was my room and he was just a stranger invading my personal space.

Dad had dismantled my old large bed and put two twin beds on each side of my room after the news of his coming. I couldn't even bear to protest, and somehow I even managed to help him set up the beds without any complaints. The mouse was after all Dad's biological son. Just like how Evelyn was his biological daughter. I was not of his own and I couldn't change that fact even if I wanted to. So I had to do the good bidding to not lose his favor.

The mouse didn't respond and just plopped down on the bed. After a long pause of awkwardness I sighed and said "I guess you're tired. I'll call you when it's time for lunch."

I looked at him one last time before I closed the door.

Almost an hour later Mom and Dad asked Evelyn to set the table. We brought the dishes to the table. I had to stack some plates filled with dishes on top of the other so they all could fit on the table. Beside Italian food Mom also tried to cook dishes with rice and noodle. She used the meatballs we made yesterday for spaghetti with meatballs and spicy barbecue meatballs. Those were my upmost favorite dishes. I could eat meatballs every day without being sick of it.

"Call your brother Arden, let's eat." Mom commanded. Although the word 'brother' sounded odd, I ignored the feeling. Stomach came first.

Mouth watering I excitedly climbed the stairs and knocked on my bedroom door. No sound so I took it as an okay to open the door.

No one was in the room. The windows were wide open. I peeked down below. He wasn't on the ground. I sighed in relief. That guy did seem like a walking disaster and a bloody corpse discovery before I got to enjoy the meatballs would be way too traumatic. This floor was the second floor so I doubted he got down unscratched.

I got down and reported the situation to the parents. Mom got her apron off the second she heard and dad already got the car keys.

No one knew how long he'd been gone. And mom was concerned whether he got injured. So we split up in search for him. Evelyn went with Dad, and Mom was with me.

It was already dark and we almost reached the border to the next town when my phone rung and put it on speaker.

"Yes dad? Do you find him?" I asked.

There was no answer from the other line for a while before I heard a Evelyn's voice, "We found him. Come to the hospital." After the call ended, Mom made a U-turn and headed back to town.

Evelyn was waiting for us on the lobby when we got to the hospital. Mom grabbed Evelyn asking for a brief explanation. As they stood next to each other I noticed that Evelyn was now almost as tall as my mom. Mom was relatively small,but Evelyn was only 9 years old now and she got this tall already.

We walked to Dad when we got into emergency room. He was sitting still, staring at a boy lying down the hospital bed. I was right.

Not only he came out full of scratches from the fall. He broke his toes. What a moron.

The doctor explained that he had to stay the night to get some IV because he was severely malnourished and dehydrated on top of breaking some little toes and getting bruises here and there. Here gone my meatballs. But at least he wasn't dead.