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It was one of those nights again. Evan could hear their parents screaming in the kitchen. Most notable, their mother. She was loud, loud and bold. She always wanted to be right, but she always went against her words. She made Evan angry. Angry and so very confused. He didn’t understand anything that she did, or why she stayed. He couldn’t care less if she left them. All he needed was Elizabeth, Michael, and father.
But she was yelling about something else. Yelling about leaving and taking Michael with her, even if he didn’t want to go. That scared Evan, he didn’t want to be left in a house where no one understood him, no one knew what or how he felt. He wouldn’t let mother leave with Michael.
He walked down the hall, towards Michael’s room. He could hear the soft voice from the room. The voice that always calmed him without even knowing he was there. Michael’s voice. He could already see Elizabeth sitting near the wall, her eyes closed and her head leaning back as she listened solely to Michael’s voice.
Evan slid down the wall on the other side of the door and did the same, it was a soft song, it sounded like a lullaby. On other days, when Michael felt more upbeat or excited, he would sing louder, happier songs. Not that the song he was singing right now wasn’t happy, it was, depending on how you listened to the lyrics. The tone itself was happy, and he would love to listen to Michael singing this while he was in a better mood, but the lyrics were more..describing the situation they were in right now. The tone would change, deeper and more strained, higher and more scratchy, but he still sounded nice no matter what he sang.
Evan quietly hummed along to the song, as did Elizabeth after a short while. He could hear Michael’s voice moving around in his room. Was he dancing? Mother used to like dancing, so maybe he took up after her. He wondered briefly what Michael’s dancing would look like. It must be nice right now, soft and slow-paced.
Maybe he and Michael could be better friends, maybe Michael would let him and Elizabeth watch him sing and dance. Just maybe, that would be nice.
And with that thought strong in his mind, Evan slipped into sleep.