15 Chapter 14: I love you pt. 2 (Joseph's POV)

"Did something happen to mother?" She asked, she was so calm, I was not my mind was somewhere else, and my soul was broken. She nodded and came up to me as I started crying, hugging me so close. She didn't know what I was about to say but I could tell that she knew our mother was dead...

"What happened to father?" She asked me. I wiped the tears off of my face, I did not know what to tell her. I didn't even believe myself that my father could have possibly killed her. But I nodded my head and began to tell the small part of the story that Pop had told me.

"I got home from work early, Pop walked into my place and..." I began saying to her, but my words just began to dissapear. I began crying once again, my sister was curled up against me and I could see that she was weeping as well.

"Pop told me... Mother was found dead and father was lying there beside her dead body crying... That is all I know..." I said to her. She nodded, I could see her holding back the tears from her eyes. I was close to mother but she was even closer than I was. I could only imagine what was possibly going on through her head right now.

"Father didn't kill mother did he?" She asked me. I shook my head to her and then just sat there, she was just as confused as I was, not even she believed that our father would have done something so evil.

He had changed a lot, and not in a good way. But I still refused to believe that he would have killed our mother. I looked up at Mariah, now she was crying, and now it was my turn to move in and give her a hug. I could tell her soul was broken, and I could not blame her, mine was as well.

I had to push her through these times, Pop would help me, maybe if they got the people out that were not paying them then she might be able to work with them. They had over 50 apartments there, Im sure she could be of some help.

I shook my head I was thinking to ahead in the future. But at least it was putting my mind in a different place than thinking that my father might have possibly killed my mother. I suppose I big hit in a fit of rage could kill her but he never hit us it the head. It just did not seem real, I wanted to wake up and think that it was all a dream.

I was tired, maybe I was in some sort of nightmare, maybe I would wake up as a 10 year old boy again, see my uncle come back from the army and have my life be great again. But I knew that those were all just imaginations, I knew that it was all real.

"I don't know if he did... Like I said, I will talk to him tomorrow and see if he is guilty, if he isn't maybe it was someone else or maybe another reason, we never know..." I said to her. She came in closer to me she was balling her eyes out.

To be fair I was still trying to wipe the tears from my face, I was so hurt, it did not seem real... Father could not do such a thing this terrible! There was no way, I knew that he was not this evil.

We sat there for a few moments, my mind was somewhere else, I did not want to think anymore, I was already so tired after the fight, and I just wanted to lay down and rest, I was not normally up this late, I had a rough few days already, it could not get much worse than this now.

I layed my head on hers, I gave her a kiss on her forhead and then I got up and looked around the place, there had to be some signs of stuff going on, that must have been the reason that my father had done what he had done, if he had done it.

I shook my head, the investigators would come and question her tomorrow anyways. I could get answers from them. She looked at me, her eye's

Were completely red, she was broken... So was I, I could not blame her, I would be for a long time as well.

I thought Julia would have hurt me, but it was nothing compared to the news that I had come home with, I did not even want to think about her right now, my mind was in another place right now. I'm sure when I came to work in a few days she would say sorry and all that, but I would not listen to her.

If I was going to be completely honest, and I was in Jim's position, I would fire her. I know he had heard every word that the guy had said to me. It wasn't like he was yelling at the top of his lungs or anything...

"Will you come back with me? I don't want to stay here the night... This place wont be ours soon anyways." I said to her. She stared at the ground for quite some time before she finally looked up at me and then she nodded to me. I nodded back to her making sure that sure that she was okay.

"If father really did kill our mother then I don't want to sleep here either." Mariah said to me. I nodded once again in agreement, and then I went in to her and gave her one last little hug. She looked over at me, making sure I was okay.

To be truthfully honest, I was not, but I would try my best over the next little while to pretend that I was. Mariah looked over to me right into my eyes, in there I could see that her mind was racing and she was tired and broken just like me.

It seemed that nothing could go right for the both of us, just a little bit rougher for me over the last few days. I wanted to go home, and just fall asleep on the comfortable little sofa, sleep would at least get my mind off things for a little bit unless I had a night terror.

"I'm going to pack my clothes, I dont have enough room to carry it all, there is some more clothes you need to take as well." She said to me. I nodded to her, I had completely forgotten about that, and it was good to get my mind off of that and put it in a different place right now.

I went up the stairs to my room, not even daring looking up at my fathers room and my mothers room. If my father had really killed my mother then I would never be able to forgive him, I don't think I would have even if he did not.

I shook my head and walked over to my room, there was a bag for me already made by my mother oviously, she was always so kind like that, she always put others before herself, even our own father, who never seemed to give a damn about her after he had gotten the money from my uncle.

My mother had said to me once, she feared for our family if our father got his hands on any sort of money, and sure enough, just days after that we got the news that my uncle had died, and all of the funds that he had would be transferred over to my mother as our uncles final wish.

Now I had no family, besides my sister, and I would try to grow her up the right way, my mother had taught me a lot about how to take care of kids, I remember so little of it though, maybe I would remember once I got my mind off of it.

I looked at the bag, it was the same one that Julia worked at, I shook my head once again not wanting to think about her right now. I then walked over to my dresser and began shoving my clothes into it.

They were all good clothes, that was one thing I could not complain about from my father, he made sure that we were always well taken care of. I did not even pay attention to what I was putting in. Thankfully enough though my mother had been smart enough to put 2 bags for me.

I wished I could thank her for all that she had done for me and taught me, but now it was too late, and now I would never get the chance. My eyes began to run down tears again, they were so weak and I was so tired now.

Once I was all packed up, I walked down the stairs and sat down on the sofa in the room, it was more comfortable than the one in my place, I thought about getting a moving van and bring a matress over to my place, I technically did own mine. But I shook my head at the thoughts of it, my father was the one that had bought it, if my father did kill my mother than I didn't want anything that he owned.

I heard my sister begin walking down the stairs and I got up from the sofa and walked over to her. She smiled at me, it was good to see from her, she still had at least a little bit of fight left in her. At times like this, we could not be giving up.

"Pop should be waiting for us, we are going to walk back... You can thank him as well, I don't think I could have made it without him." I said to her. She nodded to me and gave me another hug, I took it in with open arms. Normally I wasn't a big fan of those, but times like this I could definitely use one.

Once she looked through her stuff and nodded to me we walked up to the door. I noticed that it was all a bit too heavy for her to carry and saw that she was having a bit of a struggle.

I picked it up for her, I had a hand free already, and then I opened the door for us. I walked out and looked around, surprised to not see Pop just standing at the door waiting for us. Sometimes he was creepy like that.

I saw him with Jim, they were silently talking to each other at a nearby bench. I walked over to them and Jim nodded to me once he saw me. Like my sister he went up to me and gave me a really big long hug. I needed it, and I was thankful for it.

Pop got up and gave me one as well. I nodded to both of them as the both looked at me making sure that I was okay and I was handling all if it. If I was going to be 100% honest I was not handling it at all, but I knew I at least needed to pretend like I was for Mariah, she could not make it out on her own.

She was still really young, at the age of simply 14. Not only that though, but she was a woman, and my mother told me womens mines were always in a different place than mens. I could not deny her of that, woman always seemed to be a bit strange to me.

"I'm sorry to hear the news... I was close to your uncle and all of that family, it hurts me to see all of them die so soon..." Jim said to me. I nodded, I knew that Jim was one of my Uncle's only friends and the same could be said to Jim, they were about 15 years apart in age, but they were always close friends.

Something that was hard to come bye, I used to have friends a long time ago, back when I was in school, but those days had gone long in the past, sometimes I talked to my friend Aaron, but it was not as often as I would like.

He was friends with my fathers side of the family, I would not be surprised if I saw all of them when the court cases came around.

I knew how to read people, if my father was telling a lie then I would notice it. I would have to talk to him, depending on how he was talking I would probably go on his side in the court case if I was being honest. I would not let my sister live with him still.

"I will be strong, my sister needs me." I said to him, making sure that Mariah did not hear me say that. Pop had a bit of a smile on his face and Jim just nodded to me. He then gave me one last hug. I thanked him for it.

I needed it, I could not do this alone, I was just happy my sister did not go with them, she normally did when she went with them on walks, I did not even want to think about her dying or her potentially seeing what had happened if it was not my father.

I knew that my father knew what had happened but that was all I managed to get out of Pop's, he told me he did not know anything else besides that.

"Good... Don't let your families curse follow you my boy... I'll give you 4 days off since the weekend is coming up, then I will hope to see you at work with you happy face again." He said to me. I nodded to him, I don't think I could have a happy face at a time like this, but I would try my best.

He nodded back to me and then he began walking back to his bar to fall asleep for the night, I watched him all the way back in silence. Then Pop nodded to me as if he was telling me to go ahead and start walking.

I did and I made sure that Mariah was right beside me the whole time, I would be as close as possible for her right now, I could not imagine losing her right after I had just lost my mother. It sickened me to even have those thoughts in my head.

It was all silent on the way back until we turned to the end of the road and back to Pop's work building. I could tell that Susan was still in there still through the lights that were emanating from the window.

Pop looked at me making sure that I was okay before he went in to go ahead and hug me and then hug Mariah. I was so thankful to have him here with me, I dont know where I would be or if I could have even made it to my Mariahs without him.

"Thank you for this Pop's... Your help has been a blessing." I said to him. He looked at the ground and then he looked back up to me accepting the gratitude. He then nodded to me to head into their little office with Susan in there.

I walked in with Pop's in the lead and Mariah right behind us. Susan looked at us with tears coming from her eyes as well, I knew that she was always a close friend to my mother. I felt bad for her as well, she had lost her mother and her friend a little less than a year ago as well.

When she saw Mariah walk in she got up from where she was sitting and then ran over to her giving her a big hug, they then both began crying very loudly, and I did my best to not start crying again as well. They were heartbroken, I could tell even though my sister tried her hardest to hide it the first few moments.

"I'm so sorry you guys... I was very close to your mother, she used to tell me so much about you two. She is still here with us right now, and she loved you both so much." She said to me and Mariah. I nodded, there was no denying the love that she had for us, I just wasn't so sure about the part that she said she was here with us.

If there was a god, why did he hate me so much? I did nothing wrong to him, to even get that hate. I shook my head not wanting to think about it, I was just happy to have them with me through these troubling times.

I knew that Mariah would need me a lot right now, I knew that she was broken, but I also was broken as well, I just hid it a lot better than she did, she tried her best for a little while, but in the end, I knew that the pain would get her head, she was an emotional kid in the first place.

"Yes... Your father loved you too, he did not show much love, I don't think that she was killed by him, based off of the fact that he was found crying with her. You two stay safe, I will check on you tomorrow." Pop said to us. I nodded, Mariah looked at him and then she began crying again.

"Thank you... I love both of you, you stay safe as well." I said to them. Pop and Susan both nodded to me and I nodded to Mariah to begin heading out of the building. I could hear Pop and Susan packing up as well as I walked out of the door.

I looked at Mariah, she was staring at the ground, I gave her a kiss on the cheeks and she smiled to me. I was so tired I could barely even see her smile at me. I just nodded to her and then we began walking to my place with me in the lead.

I put my hand in my pocket making sure that I had my key, I thankfully did, I was so scared of losing it becuase I had already lost it twice the last few days. Mariah was behind me because she did not know the way to my place, well I suppose it was now considered our place now.

I thankfully felt the key in my pocket, and then I pulled it out. We then began walking up the steps to my place. Once we were at the top I began putting the key into the lock. My hands were shivering so much not becuase it was cold, but I was just so tired and my mind was in a different place.

Mariah grabbed the key from me noticing that I was having a bit of trouble with it. I nodded my thanks to her but she didn't notice it. She then put the key into the lock and then unlocked the lock. Once it was unlocked I opened the door to the house. I sat there for a few moments and then we walked into the house.

I walked into the kitchen first and put the key on the counter. Mariah looked around at the place, she looked a bit disappointed which I could not blame her for. She had lived a lot of her life that she remembered in a mansion almost.

Now she had to resort to this. I looked at her and she nodded to me, I nodded back to her and then put the keys down on the kitchen counter, making sure that I made a mental note that I did not forget that it was right there.

Then I went to the bathroom to take a piss. Mariah walked around the place for a little bit then I heard it get empty. She must have found the bed and then she probably was almost asleep at this point. After I was done uranating I walked out of the bathroom.

I walked into the living room but I was surprised to see that Mariah had gone to sleep on the sofa, I was not going to complain, it was semi comfortable and she would probably be getting her bed from our old place sometime soon. I just did not know where to put it.

She was already asleep, I could hear her snoring, I shook my head and then walked into my room.

I heard someone talk to me, but it was clearly not Mariah because she had fallen asleep, and it was inside my bedroom.

It also was not Padre it was clearly a woman and I was sure that I recognized the voice... But how had she gotten in? Had Susan given her a key when I had gone over to Pop's?

It was Julia, I saw as she walked up close to me, she grabbed onto my bulge, I got away from her, this is what I had feared would happen... Now she was in my place and Mariah was asleep, I didn't want to wake her.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you Joseph... I love you..."