A Happy Meal

The following morning, Allison went about the short process of notifying the inattentive local security about her husband's death. While feeling elated from the realization that he could never again harm her or her daughter, she wore a face of false sorrow. The only truthful information she gave was the time they went to bed that night. She kept to herself that she knew whom the killer was and lied about finding him dead in the morning. After the security officers finally left, she went to prepare breakfast for her daughter before being interrupted midway by a knock at the front door.

To her surprise, she found the one whom knocked was in fact Joe and some young girl she'd never seen before. While lost in the shock of seeing him again so soon after everything happened, Joe's embarrassed voice reached her ears bringing her back to reality.

"You said if I needed anything I could come to you. Can we have breakfast with you?" Gazing down at the boy she equated to her savior and seeing the scared girl trying to hide behind him, Allison simply smiled and gestured for the two to enter.

"Go wash up. I'll be done cooking soon so once you're done come to the table." Following her words, Allison returned to the kitchen while the two disappeared to the bathroom just down the hall. After maybe five minutes, the two returned to the joined dining room and kitchen to find a young girl with long, straight brown hair already seated. Without a word, they both climbed into the chairs opposite to her with Joe being directly across from her.

With a confused look on her face, the young girl raised a question to her mother who a few feet were only away putting the last of the food on the plates. "Mom, who are they?" A simple and harmless question that was met by the silence of Joe. Getting no answers from the two already sat at the table with her, the girl turned to her mother awaiting an answer.

Only now realizing she'd never even asked Joe for his name; Allison placed the plates on the table in front of the children before taking a seat next to her daughter. "They're going to have breakfast with use. How about you all introduce yourselves to each other."

Seeing that it was meant as a statement and understanding that he'd never given this woman his name, Joe took the initiative to not make the situation any more awkward than it needed to be. "I'm Joseph but only my mom used to call me that so just call me Joe. I just turned ten the beginning of this year. This is my sister Sarah. She'll be eight soon. She's shy and not used to talking to people. She's been like that since my mom took her in."

After finishing the introduction, Joe had a slightly nervous look to him. Although he wasn't as shy as Sarah, he wasn't used to dealing with others like this. Having grown up on the streets, fighting just to survive, he was unaccustomed to kindness.

Following his lead, the young haired girl chimed in with a smile plastered on her face. "I'm Elaine. I just turned ten last month. I've never seen you in school so where are you from? Are your mom friends with my mom?" Hearing the question and seeing the expectant gaze almost trying to pierce its way into his mind, Joe could only look down with a tortured look on his face. Of all the things she could have asked, she hit the one subject that brought immense pain to both him and Sarah.

"Our mom is gone. She died four years ago. Sarah was too young to remember, and it makes me sad to think about it so let's not talk about it, okay?" Forcing a smile, Joe looked back at the expectant girl who now looked mortified for bringing up such a sad subject.

To try and break the awkwardness, Allison chimed back in with the biggest smile she could muster aimed directly at Sarah. "I'm Allison, it's a joy to meet such a cute little girl, Sarah. Now, let's eat before your food gets cold then I have to get Laine here ready for school." With that the four began eating rather awkwardly. The tension didn't last long, however. After the first bite, both Joe and Sarah began to devour the eggs that were on their plates. Neither could remember the last time they had eaten something that had tasted so good.

Seeing the now smiling faces of the two, Allison could only smile before returning to her meal as well. She honestly couldn't remember the last time her home had be this lively if ever. Once everyone was done eating, she sat Sarah in front of the television while, to her surprise, Joe went to clean the dishes without having been asked to do so. His enthusiasm brought warmth to her heart before she wondered what brought him to enact what she'd witnessed the night before.

After another fifteen minutes the dishes were done, and Laine was off to school. Coming back from the front door, Allison sat across from the siblings with wonder flooding from her eyes. "Do you two not go to school?"

With embarrassment, Joe looked at the floor before responding for both. "I used to before mom died. Since then, I've just been doing what I can to keep us alive."

Worried about what may happen next, Allison steeled her heart before asking the two questions that immediately came to mind. "What happened to your mom? How have the two of you been getting along since she passed?" Noticing the immediate change in atmosphere, Allison began to regret the decision she'd just made to bring up their mother again.

With rage boiling its way into his eyes and a tightened fist ready to strike the closest object, Joe restrained himself before taking a deep breath and glaring directly into her eyes. His response left her dumbstruck. "Your worthless husband killed her with the same knife I used to kill him last night."