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“It'll be fun. I can give you a tour and you can meet my mates. You haven’t gone anywhere since, well, you know what.”
Niki can’t say that he’s wrong. She hasn’t been anywhere for herself since their mum died and she felt the need to take on the motherly role for her youngest brother. Wilbur was older than her and could take care of himself. But Tommy, he was still young. He still had so much development left. She didn’t want his personality to be ‘that kid who lost his mum.’ So she took on the roll.
For the last year and a half she didn’t do anything for herself, everything she did was in Tommy's best interests. She would watch him when their father was working and just be there whenever he needed her.
Yeah it was hard trying to balance her own school life and taking care of her brother but it was worth it.
But it wouldn't hurt to take some time for herself. Plus, a tour wouldn't be that bad considering she would be going there next year, well maybe. She didn't really want to. The college was about 45 minutes away from their house so it was possible for her to make the commute everyday. It made much more sense for her to get an apartment that was closer like Wilbur did. But she really didn't want to leave Tommy.
“Wil, it sounds like a good idea but-”
“Niki, don't you dare say that you won't come because of Tommy.” She sighs. “Niki,” he says, drawing out the last syllable. She looks at him with an apologetic look. “Oh come on,” he says.
“ I'm sorry .”
“Please. Just three days. He'll be okay for three days. He still has Dadza, you know?”
“I know it's just, I feel bad leaving him. I'm supposed to be here for him.”
Wilbur shakes his head slowly. “What are you going to do next year when you have to move? ''
Niki chuckles, “yeah, about that.”
Her older brother's eyes widened. “No. You're not actually thinking about that, are you? That's ridiculous.”
“Well it's not totally ridiculous. That way I wouldn't have to worry about leaving Tommy.”
“You're supposed to be a teenager, Niki. These shouldn't be your worries.”
“I know but still.”
He rolls his eyes. “Okay fine I have a proposition for you.”
“What is it,” she curiously inquires.
“You come this one time and see that everything will be okay. So you can see that Tommy will be okay without you.”
Niki leans back against the wall, smoothing the wrinkles in her shirt. “I don't know, what if everything isn't okay?”
Wilbur leans forward and places a comforting hand on his sister's arm. “It will be.”
She contemplates it for a second before responding. “I'll ask Dadza and if he says yes then I'll go.”
“Okay, good. I'll pick you up if he says yes.” He checks his phone. “It's getting really late and I should probably get going. Let me know what he says okay?”
“Mhm, bye Wil.”
He stands up and walks towards the door. “So I'll hopefully see you this weekend?”
“Maybe. We’ll see.”
After her brother left she got up and changed into pyjamas. She walked out into the hallway and peeked into her younger brother's room. He was sleeping soundly so she kept walking. She gets to the master bedroom door and knocks.
“Come in,” says the voice inside.
Niki walks in slowly and stands next to the bed. “Dadza, I have a question”
“What is it Ni?”
“Wilbur asked if I want to go down and visit him at college for the weekend, can I go?”
Her father smiles, “of course you can.”
She tells him the plan and they call Wilbur to work out the details. After that was all finished she went back to her room and went to sleep.
She stayed up really late Friday night packing her suitcase so she slept in on Saturday morning. Once she got up, Tommy had already been fed breakfast so that was one less thing she had to worry about. She got out of bed and checked to make sure that she packed everything she would need. She finished everything she had left to do around noon. She changed into light jeans and a faded t-shirt then went downstairs.
She saw Tommy playing outside in the yard. “Tommy,” she yelled out. He turned to look at her. “Are you hungry, do you want something before I go?”
“Yeah,” he said as he ran towards the house.
“Okay go wash your hands and I'll make you a sandwich.”
He ran up to the bathroom and Niki went to the kitchen. She made the sandwich and put it on a napkin on the kitchen table. She realized her hair was still down and it was starting to bother her so she went up to her room to get something to put it up. She grabs an elastic out of a container on her desk and puts her hair in a loose braid.
She sees her phone light up and looks over to check it. It was Wilbur saying he was in the driveway waiting for her. She grabs her purse off the chair and slides her phone into the pocket of her jeans before she grabs her suitcase and heads downstairs.
As she puts her hand on the doorknob she hears the sound of small footsteps running towards her. She turns to see the blur of her brother running at full speed.
“Niki,” the small boy whines, clinging on her leg.
She bends down and brushes his blond hair out of his eyes. “What's wrong Tommy?” She looks at the tears welling in his pale blue eyes.
“ Please don’t go ,” he burst out, grabbing onto her leg tighter, warm tears now spilling down his. cheeks.
“Hey, hey,” she whispers, enveloping him in a tight hug. “Why don’t you want me to go?''
Tommy takes his fist and wipes his eyes. “What if- what if you don’t come back like mum?”
Hearing her little brother worry like that broke her heart. “Tommy, I would never leave you like that, okay?'' She keeps talking despite choking back tears. “I'm only going to visit Wilbur for the weekend and then I'll be back. I promise you. Okay? I'll be right back. Only three days.” He looks up at her and she wipes a tear off his now pale pink cheek.
“Only three,” he asks looking for confirmation. Niki nods and Tommy asks another question. “You promise?” Niki nods again. “Pinky promise?” She smiles and holds out her pinky and waits for him to hold his out too.
As their pinkies lock she smiles. “Pinky promise.” She opens up her purse and takes out money then proceeds to hand it to her brother. “Here, get Dadza to take you for some ice cream.'' Tommy's eyes open wide and his mouth forms into a large grin.
The last thing she hears as she shuts the front door is her father grabbing his keys off the key rack while telling the young boy to go get in the car. She looks at her older brother who was waiting for her in his car. This was her family and she loved them.