2363 Words

"There you guys are!" Mr. Fong smiled to us, and pulled out our chairs. Sarah and I took ours, and looked at the pizza with longing eyes, and lust for the gooey, cheesy pizza that we were both more than excited to tear into.

"Thank you Mr. Fong!" I smiled, as he laid out a plate for me.

"Yeah! Thank you dada!" Sarah smiled.

"Hey, no problem guys! Dig in!" He smiled, as he laid out the savory smelling pizza in front of our eyes, that were clearly bigger than our stomachs. He pulled his seat back, sat down, and then pushed back in again all in one swift motion. Mr. Fong is so cool!

Sarah and I quickly picked up the slice, and ravaged into it, getting the steaming, dripping, and delicious sauce all over our faces. Mr. Fong was watching us with his eyes in rainbows, smiling at what we were doing. I love Mr. Fong, he is always so happy.

Sarah picked two pepperonis off of her plate, and laid them in front of her eyes, and then a huge smile that filled her entire face, that wrapped up to her ears.

"Haha! Look at me Jack!" She smiled, puffing out her cheeks, as if she had two bouncy balls stuck in them.

"Haha! Wait, hold on!" I smiled, as I took my crust that I wasn't going to eat, and put it over my mouth, and crossed my eyes. She burst out laughing. I have always loved her laugh! Its so happy.

Mr. Fong started to twiddle his fork around his fingers, and laughing at us, while his cheeks were stuffed with pizza.

I am glad that Mr. Fong is okay with me staying here, because Sarah is my only friend that I can relate with. She always makes me so happy, and I'm glad that she has such a great dad to take care of her

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After we finished our pizza, Mr. Fong took our plates, and started to wash them.

"Hey dada?" She asked, with wide eyes, as we were sitting at the table, coloring.

"Yeah sweetie?" He asked in a sweet voice.

"Can me and Jack look at the old photo album?" She asked, in a higher pitched voice. I turned to her, to see that she was looking down to her thumbs.

He sighed, and drenched the sponge slowly in the dish water, and lowered his head slightly.

"Do you know where it is baby?" He asked, still not looking up.

"Yes daddy," She said.

Mr. Fong put down the sponge, walked over to Sarah and I, and put his large hands on her porcelain shoulders. But to my surprise, she didn't flinch. Usually when people put their hands on my shoulders, I'm in for a bad time.

"Alright honey, but you know that you are worth so much more than what he said about us, and if you start to feel sad again, you'll come to daddy right away, promise beautiful?" He asked, looking directly into her emerald orbs, and she returning the gaze strongly.

"I promise daddy," She said, then wrapped her long arms around his muscular neck. His rainbow eyes folded tightly shut, then he wrapped his large arms around her, squeezing her tightly, yet treating her as gently as a feather.

One thing I don't understand about Sarah, is her ability to remain so calm, and collected when adults are direct with her. I always shy away, and flinch. I guess that's just one of my flaws I guess.

Sarah tapped the outside of my wrist, and motioned for me to follow her. But I stayed for a few extra seconds to watch Mr. Fong. He covered his handsome face In his large, vascular hands, running it up through his long, thick, black hair, then laying his hands on his bent haunches, and pushed himself up onto his Nike covered feet, then dawdled his way back over to the dishes, taking all the time in the world. But then I quickly followed Sarah to where she wanted me to go.

She brought me through the den, past her room, and lead me into a large, entertainment room. This has to be the largest room in the entire house!

It holds a 70' TV, sitting on a large cabinet, filled with different video game counsels, with a plethora of games to play underneath. There is a large, U shaped, dark Brown, chevron couch, with a fold out table, with two cup holders, one holding remotes, and a little drawing, that I am assuming Sarah drew. In the corner, there is a light tan, velvet Chaise, holding a soft, CareBare blanket, that was all rumpled up In a large ball. On the left wall, there is a large, cream colored shelf, with an over abundance of board games. Two bins filled with extremely fluffy stuffed animals. And to what Sarah was dragging me towards, was a dark tan book shelf, with books leaking from every place they possibly could have been. I want to live in this room!

I watched Sarah walk up to the book shelf, and wrap her long fingers around the course binding of a dark, maroon, scrapbook, it was easy to see that It was worn through the seams, read, and re-read thousands of times over. She pulled hard, trying to loosen it from the tight confines of the thousands of books surrounding it. She finally yanked it loose, and fell to the ground with it. I reached out my hand for her to grab, she looked up to me, then took my hand, and I pulled her up.

"Thank you Jack, come over to the Chaise, and look at this with me!" She smiled, running over to it, moving her blanket, and patting an open spot beside her, to sit with. I smiled, and graciously took the spot next to her. She held the soft corner of the blanket to her cheek, asking if I wanted to share it with her. I nodded, and she threw it over me. It was so warm! I dangled my feet, and watched as Sarah felt the corner of the book. The cover was plated in gold letters, and a picture with a silver boarder, the picture was of some baby, and two different hands holding it. the baby looked really happy.

She slid her finger underneath the thick page border, deciphering weather to turn the page or not. She eventually did, and as soon as she did, there was a picture of two men, with their arms around each other looking intently into one another's eyes, really seeming in love. I never knew that two guys could love each other, they look happy. Mr. Fong is one of them, and the other I haven't the slightest idea who it is. They have short-ish, brown/red hair, with freckles lining their cheeks, that fell just underneath his glasses. He had grey eyes, and a body frame of someone who must work out a lot. He wasn't as handsome as Mr. Fong, but still attractive.

The caption said, "Love at first sight," with a lot of happy hearts, and happy faces around it. Sarah smiled, looking at her dad so happy, I want my daddy to be this happy too.

She pointed at one of the hearts, to feel the gentle engravings beneath it, to truly feel the book. Then she grazed her fingers underneath the page once more, running her finger all the way down, then gently flipping the page. Although I am paying attention to the book, I find watching Sarah to be very interesting too.

The next page was of Mr. Fong kissing that man on the cheek, and the man blushing really hard, with a really doopey smile on, it made me laugh. Sarah laughed along too. There wasn't a caption on this one, but it didn't need one, it spoke for itself.

She turned the page, and this one was of those two on a motor cycle, with Mr. Fong in the back, holding the handle bars, while that man's arms were tightly bound around his waist, and a very happy smile plastered on his cheeks. The caption: "We ride together, we die together" I thought that was really sweet. That page was the last one that was really decorated highly, all the others were really simple, but with really cute pictures, like one, was of those two in a bed, snuggling close together. Holding hands in the line for the coffee shop, going on a really fancy date, all of those really sweet things. After the date picture, Sarah really didn't seem to want to the turn the page, she knew what came on the next page, yet I didn't, I was genuinely curious, but I didn't want to rush her. She kept running her fingers up and down the page, trying to get a paper cut, but to no prevail. She closed her eyes, took in a sharp intake, then quickly turned page.

It was of Mr. Fong, and that man holding a pregnant woman's belly, with Mr. Fong looking ecstatic, but the other man wasn't looking at Evan, nor the belly, he was looking up the celling rafters, seeming to avoid the entire situation.

The next page, was a plain white page, with nothing special about it, just a picture torn in two, it was a duplicate of one where Mr. Fong, and that man were snuggled in the bed, but the man had devil horns, a tail, and pitch fork, underneath the dark scribbles thrashing across his face. She stopped on this picture, obviously wanting the picture to be restored to normal, but clearly, her wish will not be granted. The next page was really thick, and filled with thousands of bright colors, and beautiful décor, but I didn't see the entire picture yet, I had to wait for her to turn the page.

"I'm sorry Jack, this picture, just hurts," She said, in a cracking voice, not breaking her gaze from the page.

"I know it hurts now Sarah, but look at the next page, it looks so pretty, I bet it will make you forget all about this ugly day, so now you can see a beautiful new one, its like, if you don't beat the sad day, you wont be able to turn the page to see the happy one. I promise Sarah, things always get better." I smiled, remembering that this was something that momma used to say to me.

"How can you be sure that things will change?"

"I'm not sure everything will be perfect, But I'm also not sure that It wont be gorgeous, isn't that worth the risk of seeing for sure?"

She wiped her nose on her striped sleeve, and smiled,

"Youre right Jack, I love this next page!" She quickly turned the page, and showed me the bright page that was after to the one she was on at the moment. And I was right, it was beautiful! It was decorated in beautiful lace, silver, and gold, with a beautiful pink bow that said

"We welcome, Sarah Paige Fong to the world, we may only be two, but two is better than one,"

And it was a picture of Mr. Fong dressed in a hospital gown, with tears filling his rainbow eyes to the brim. He was so happy to be holding little Sarah, and I'm so happy that I am her friend. She smiled, looking at this page with tears In her eyes, from happiness, and joy that she finally looked at it again.

"You looked beautiful Sarah," I smiled, looking at how lovingly Mr. Fong looked at Sarah.

She took a deep breath in, and smiled, while tears dribbled down her face, and landed on her book, "Thank you Jack, I guess I almost forgot about this page, I always got stuck on that other one, I always caught myself feeling really worthless about that, I know why my other daddy left, Its because of me. I ruined my dad's happiness, by existing, but once I got past that dark page, I now see this really bright pink one, seeing how happy he is, just to be holding me, and having me in his arms, I know that I'm not worthless, I know that I mean the world to my daddy. Although I do not have many friends, I know I have one, and I know that it is you, and you mean a lot to me too Jack," She smiled, as another crystalized memory leaked out of her orbs, and landed on her pretty pants.

"I need the strength to do that sometimes, I know that I ruined Mark's life by being here, but I also know that my daddy loves me, because I remind him of mommy. You do mean a lot to me Sarah, a lot more than it seems to be. I love you Sarah, thank you for being in my life," I smiled, laying my hand ontop of hers.

"I love you too Sean," She smiled, kissing my cheek. I usually only Freddy call me Sean, but Sarah is my ultimate best friend, I am going to let it go. I kissed her forehead, she kissed the page of the book, then shoved it back into the bookshelf, and she was really happy with what was happening right now. She cuddled against me, wrapping the blanket tightly around her and I, and closed her eyes shut, as the lights were being dimmed in the room. I was about to go grab Freddy, but I do not want to disturb her slumber, so I leaned down, laid my cheek on her warm ear, and closed my eyes. The sound of her relaxed breathing, and the vibrating rumble of her chest moving up and down from her breathing, quickly lulled me to sleep.

This is the first night that I will sleep without Freddy, If only this ment that this would be the only the night that I wouldn't have a nightmare.

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