Moment One - Ice Cream

Life is made up of moments. Moments that make us who we are and dictate our choices. Moments that can take seconds or hours. A single moment can seem like years but when it comes down to it, these moments are what define us. They're the ones full of raw emotion that makes it hurt to think back on and put the question marks in our minds.

But these moments only happen once every few years. For me, there were three of them.

The first on was when I was four. I was sitting on the ground, a toy truck in my hand as I made vroom noises to try to drown out the sound of my parents arguing. They seemed to do that a lot lately.

"What do you want from me, Helen? Huh? Because nothing I do is good enough for you anymore!" My fathers voice was muffled by the door but I could still hear him, loud and clear.

"I want you to stop fucking the slut next door!" My mother yelled back. I purposely made the car noises louder after she said 'fucking'. I didn't want to hear those kinds of words.

I felt my eyes fill up with tears as I clenched the little toy in my chubby hand. Make them stop, make them stop, make them STOP!

"Don't you dare call Sally a slut!"

"I'll call that whore whatever I-" SLAP!

The noise echoed through the small house and the second I heard it, I dropped my toy and let out long pitiful wails that almost drown out my mothers sobs. I didn't even know what was happening or what made the slapping noise. All I knew was that it sounded horrid and it made my mother cry.

"The fucking baby is crying now! Go shut him up!" My father snarled and seconds later, their bedroom door opened and my mother came rushing out. I could see the outline of a hand on her cheek and there were long black rivers of mascara coming out of her eyes.

"Shh." She tried hushing me. "Alan, baby, it's okay. Please don't cry!"

I only wailed louder as I buried my face in my mothers soft clothing. Her gentle arms wrapped around my body as she held me close, crying with me and trying to shut me up at the same time. After a minute or two, there was an even louder banging sound and my father stormed out of the room.

"Helen, I thought I told you to-"

"Jake, please!" Mother sobbed. "Please not in front of Alan!"

Father paced back and forth for a few seconds, running his hands through his dark brown hair before coming to a stop in front of me. He shoved mother away and grabbed me. "Alan, how would you like some ice cream? would that cheer you up?"

I sucked in some snot and slowly nodded.

"What kind do you want?" Father asked with a forced smile on his face. I didn't like that smile. It was cold and didn't reach his big brown eyes.

"Chocowate." I sniffled and he patted me roughly on the head before standing up.

"Good choice, bud." He smirked before walking towards his bedroom. "I just have to get a few things and then I'll come back with ice cream okay, buddy?"

"Otay." I reached down and grabbed the red truck off the ground and looked at Mother. Her face was in her hands and she was trying to muffle the loud cries that were coming from her mouth. "Mama?"

Mother looked up and quickly wiped away the tears. "What is it, baby?"

"Don't cwy. Daddy's comin' back with ice cweam!" I cheered but it only made her cry harder. There was a lot of moving around from the bedroom that Father had walked into. Too much. I went to go investigate.

I carefully placed the red truck on my mother's knee who went back to crying in her hands as I stomped over to my dad's room with determination. The door was open a crack and I peered in to see he was throwing a bunch of things into a suitcase. This ice cream must have been far away if he needed to pack a whole suitcase for it!

Father finally zipped up the bag and opened the door to find me peering up at him. "I'll see you soon, kiddo."

I chased after my dad as he made his way to the door. "Don't fo-get!" I called. "Chocowate's my favowite!"

"I won't forget, buddy." Father smiled before sending one last hateful glance to Mother.

"Jake, please don't do this!" My mother sobbed and I looked at her confused. Didn't she want any ice cream?

"Watch me." The door slammed shut and I started laughing hysterically. Daddy sure showed her! Now he'll come back with plenty of ice cream for us and none for Mommy! She didn't have to cry so badly about it though, it was only ice cream...

I sat down and waited patiently by the door for Father to come back in with a few tubs of creamy goodness. There was an ice cream parlor a few blocks away and it should only take him about fifteen minutes to go get it. But then again, he did pack a huge bag so maybe he was going somewhere different to get it? Yeah, that was probably it!

I waited until the sky grew dark until Mommy finally made me go to bed. She didn't even give me any supper...

"Mommy, when's daddy comin' back with the ice cream?" I yawned as she pulled my pajama top over my head. She froze and I waited a couple of moments before saying, "Mama?"

"Just go to bed, Alan!" She snapped and stormed out of the room. That night, I muffled my cries in my pillow, hoping not to wake Mother up and make her even more mad at me than she already was. The only thing I didn't get was why she was mad at me and what I had said. Maybe it was because I laughed when I figured out that Father wasn't bringing her any ice cream?

I fell asleep to the thought, hoping that when I woke up the next morning, I would be surrounded by chocolate ice cream and happiness. When I did wake up, the only thing I was greeted with was sun filtering in through the window.

Daddy must be back!

I shot out of bed, not even bothering to change out of my Pokémon pajamas as I raced to Mother and Father's bedroom. I slammed the door open to see Mama was all alone in bed and the room smelled strongly of smoke an there were a bunch of empty bottles over the room. Some were even half filled with apple juice. I started coughing, "Mama!"

"Alan, go back to bed..." Mama slurred and she rolled over in bed.

"But Mama, I think thewe's a fire!" I cried and rushed to her bed. I started yanking at the blankets, hoping to wake her up. If there was a fire, then we needed to call 911 and go find Daddy! "Mama!"

"Leave me alone, Alan!" Mommy screamed and I flinched back.

I guess I have to take matters into my own hands then... I rushed out of the room and into the kitchen. Pushing a chair towards the counter, I climbed up on it and reached the phone. I dialled in three digits and waited for someone to pick up.

"9-1-1, what's your emergency?"

"I think my house is on fire!" I rushed. "Thewe's a lot of smoke but my Mama won't get out of bed! I don't see a fire but smoke's all in her woom!"

"Is your mother responsive? Does she answer you?"

"Yeah, she towd me to go back to bed. But her voice was all funny..." I tried to describe it. "She didn't make much sense."

"Honey, can you please describe what your mother looks like?"

"Yeah, she's got pwetty bwonde hair, and big bwue eyes! She-"

"No, honey. I meant what does she look like in bed? Does she look like she's in a lot of pain?"

"She's been cwyin'." I answered. "Daddy went to go get us ice cweam yestuh-day and he isn't back yet. I don't think he was gonna get her any..."

There was a long pause as I waited for the woman on the other side of the reply. When she finally did answer, she was sniffling and sounded like she had started crying too. Why was everyone crying lately? Was I doing something wrong?

"Baby, what did your father say when he left to go get ice cream?"

"He asked me what my favowite kind was and said he would get it! But Mama was cwyin' and asked him not to. But he went anyway with this biiiiig suitcase!" I explained. "Lady, is there a fire or not?"

"No honey, there's no fire. Sometimes adults like to make smoke with their lungs because they think it's relaxing. It's really bad for you so why don't you leave your Mama alone and go play with toys?"

Otay... I'll pway until my Daddy gets home with the ice cream." I answered and hung up the phone. Sneaking out of the kitchen and past Mommy's room, I tiptoed down the hall to where I left my toy truck. It wasn't where I left it and took my to find it by this huge dent in the wall that wasn't there yesterday. I picked up my red toy anyway and ran to the door to play there.

If Daddy came home today then the first person he would see would be me and I could get my ice cream right away!

I sat there for hours, rolling my truck back and forth until I was finally too hungry to stand it. I hadn't eaten since lunch the day before and I was starving. The nice lady on the phone told me to leave Mama alone though so I would have to make food by myself. I made my way to the kitchen and opened the fridge. Pulling a chair up to the fridge, I climbed on top of it so I could look through all the contents.

Tomatoes, milk, pickles... nothing good.

Standing on my tippy-toes, I opened the fridge to see if there were any fruit popsicles, but instead, I saw only one thing: chocolate ice cream.

I pulled it out and opened it. It was only half eaten and there was still plenty left. So then why did Father go to pick up more? Suddenly a feeling of dread filled my tiny little body as I collapsed on the chair.

Daddy had left with a suitcase and as I looked throughout the entire house, there wasn't a single thing there that belonged to him. The only reminder that he was ever here was the picture of all three of us that was held onto the fridge door by magnets. He had taken everything. Why would he need to take everything if he just went out to buy some ice cream?

Maybe... maybe Daddy wasn't going out to get ice cream... maybe he just wasn't coming back.

This will only be three chapters long, one of each moment. This is my first fanfiction (other than one in the warriors archive but that didn't work out...) So giving constructive criticism would be nice!