"Jake. Jake." Noah shook me a little. "Come on. It's okay. Everything's going to be okay."
"How?" I asked, not lifting my head out of my sweatshirt. "How could everything possibly be okay?" My dad was dead. Is dead. "He's gone, Noah. I've spent a decade hating this man for abandoning me, and now, and now I don't get answers." The tears wouldn't stop.
I'm just like Mr. Atkins. This is what he meant when he wished his dad was still around. Not to curse at him, but for closure. I'm sure he had so many unanswered questions and now I'm the same.
"Jake, I can't say I know how you feel." Noah patted my shoulder. "And it feels a little wrong to say this, but, on the bright side, Mom and Dad can adopt you freely now. You're free. Your Mom is locked up and your dad isn't around. Isn't this what you wanted?"
Slightly long, but I needed the whole scene to be together. Only chap for the day too. I just spent the whole afternoon doing yard work. Actual yard work. I didn’t make the minimum $200 this month so I needed to ask my dad for money for my bills and he “suggested” I “clean” up the yard. Guys...We have a giant tree that literally dumps buckets of leaves everyday. I raked so many leaves, that I gave myself blisters. And then mowed, twice over, because no one has mowed in weeks. *crying*