"Lori Abigail Polif! Why are my swim trunk on the ceiling, again?!" A teenage boy shouted staring up at the shorts. He just huffed a sigh and trudged down the house hallway, searching for his sister. As he passed through the house, he glanced at some of the framed pictures hung on the walls. He smiled at a few, but then stopped at one in particular that made his heart wrench.
It had him sitting next to a lean woman with dark brown hair, like his, and sparkling golden eyes and a girl around the age of 15 with straight blonde hair pulled back into a high pigtail. The girl's eyes radiated the color of the sky as they sat on a park bench surrounded by beautiful cherry blossom trees that were lined up all around, making a wonderful picture take. It was enough for tears to escape the young boy's eyes and to make the memories of his mom flood back into his head.

She was so caring for the two of them, his sister and himself, but.. She passed away not too long ago, putting both himself and his sister Lori into a small depression. But it seemed to linger more on Lori and for some strange reason, she began to do really weird and infuriating things, like stapling swim trunks on the low ceiling.

 With a sigh, the teen walked away, towards Lori's room. The first thing he noticed as he approached the cracked pale door, was the quiet whisper of a prayer.
 The teen's mild anger left when he realized that his younger sister was praying for a new family..
"Lori.." He barely mumbled, dragging his hand down his face. His heart swarmed with unknown feelings as he continued to listen to Lori.
When it seemed as if she was done and he could hear movement, he slowly entered the room to be greeted by a sad-looking Lori staring at him.
"Matthew.. Where did dad go? Mom always talked about him, but I've never seen him before.." Lori questioned, keeping her voice barely audible. Matthew tensed at her question and tried to think of an answer.
"Well... I personally don't know.. But mom said she loved him a lot. I don't know why they split.." Matthew stuttered, instantly beginning to wonder if he said the right thing.
Lori stayed quiet for a minute or so, gazing ominously out the small window, before looking at Matthew with a small yet serious smile.
"Do you think we could live with him..?" She pleaded. Her brother looked at her with a pale face, very unsure how to respond. What if the reason she stayed away from him was that he was dangerous?
"Matthew."
Matthew quickly snapped out of his thoughts and glanced back at his sister. She had small tears forming in her eyes, a few falling astray.
He took in a deep breath, regained his posture, then sighed with defeat.
"Look. Lori. We don't know who Dad is or ever was. I mean what if he was dangerous, or mean? I'm sure whatever it was that tore them apart it wasn't good." He explained, rubbing the back of his neck.
Lori smiled and shook her head.
"No. Mom loved dad. She never wanted to leave him, but he had to go." She replied, contradicting what Matthew had just said.
He looked at her very confused before staring out the window with Lori.
"And how do you know this?" He asked quietly. Lori giggled.
"She told me, you dork! Also, she always called him after we went to bed to talk about her day.. She would always cry."

Lori coughed to make her tears stay away before she stood.
"We need to go to dad. He can take care of us. Uh... Not like you can't do a good job of anything.. I just want a dad or a.. Mom.." She barely managed to choke out the last word before she began to cry. Matthew turned back to her as she held onto his shirt with a strong grip. His eyes softened as he gave her a hug.
"Okay.. I'll see what I can do." He whispered, gently lifting Lori off the bed in a bridal maid position.
Hearing the words from her brother, Lori instantly perked up, wiped her tears from her face and beamed a smile.
"I have his phone number!! Well... I know where mom kept all her phone numbers in case of emergencies." She exclaimed, scrabbling out of Matthew's arms. She quickly raced out of her room and down the hall, leaving Matthew alone.
"Why.. How does she know these things.." He muttered, slowly following Lori.

~~~~~

"Here it is!" Lori exclaimed after hours of searching in packed up boxes. There was a big mess on the floor, but neither Lori or Matthew cared. It was a moment Lori had been waiting for since she found out she had a father.
"Wow.." Matthew said breathlessly, holding his phone. He never expected this day to come, but here he was.. About to call his father he had never met...
"And look! Here's a picture of him! He looks like a good happy man!" Lori exclaimed , holding up a picture of a gruff looking man. The man in the picture had tarnished looking expressions, and some unshaven facial hair, yet strangely have didn't look awful. He was smiling a toothless grin and he looked generally pleased with life.
But even though the man in the picture looked like a nice person, something about it made Matthew feel uneasy.
"Okay.. Now call him!" Lori exclaimed even more excited. She almost seemed to be jumping like a crazy kid who has finally got the Christmas gift he wanted.
"Okay.. Here goes nothing.." Matthew typed the numbers into his phone, then waited.
Lori suddenly calmed down then rushed to the back room to do something.
Matthew just watched with confusion, nervous chills running up and down his spine.
"*Hello?*" A deep voice asked on the other side of the phone. Matthew's eyes widened as he heard the voice.
The second he heard the voice, he wanted to cry and tell the man on the phone everything, but he held it in.
"S-s-sir.." He squeaked, but bit his lip as his nerves kicked in more.
"*Is someone there? This better not be another prank call.*" The man said firmly. Matthew flinched feeling embarrassed for not speaking up.
" D-dad.. " He tried to say, but he felt like he couldn't speak. Why was he, a 17-year-old boy, so scared of talking to his father he never knew..? It was so hard to hear his voice without tearing up.. He felt almost as if he was in sort of surreal dream, but he felt stuck in his thoughts.
"*I'm going to hang up now.*" The man said with an agitated sigh. Matthew's heart raced more, not wanting his dad to leave again.
"Dad?!" He practically shouted. " I-i it you..? M-mom... Mom died of a s-stroke last month.. Lori wanted me to s-stop you to see if we c-could stay with you.. "
The line was silent and Matthew began to worry that he had hung up. He didn't even pay attention to how he had been stuttering, or how he had explained things. His heart felt heavy and he began to cry without any noise.
"*M-Matthew..? *" The man on the phone questioned.
"Y-yes?" He replied nodding his head, even if no-one was around to see it.
"*Matthew.. I'm so sorry about Melanie.. I should've called.. But she told me that if she was to.. Die.. Then I should wait until one of you call me.. Of course, you can stay with me, as long as you trust me, okay? I can come and pick you up. *" His father explained with a calm yet apologetic voice.
" O-okay.. How long do you think it'll be until you get here..? " Matthew asked with a small smile.
"Anytime, just let me know when, okay?"
"Alright. See you then."

~~~~

It had been a day or so since the first call. Everything was packed and ready to go, so Lori had gone up to the roof to watch the cars drive by, holding up the picture of their dad. She was waiting for him to arrive.
Matthew had notified her that he would be there as soon as he could and she believed with all of her heart that he would arrive that same day.
So Lori waited. And waited. And waited.. Until she felt like she couldn't wait any more. Soon she gave a sigh. It had been three hours since she began her wait and she was getting bored.
Then something cast a shadow over the house, but Lori just imagined it to be a cloud so she ignored it and kept watching the few cars that passed by.
"Lori." A deep voice whispered behind her. She flinched and slowly turned around to see a giant peering down on her.
Lori was far too afraid to scream so she covered her mouth as she tumbled backward. Then it dawned on her.
She slowly lifted the picture of her father to a point where she could see both the giant and the picture.
"D-dad?" She mumbled dropping the picture.
He just smiled and nodded in return.

" Matthew!!! Dad's home!! "Lori shouted excitedly spinning around in circles. Her dad just laughed and gently ruffled the unsuspecting Lori's hair.

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I'm not the best artist soooooooo... Yeeaaa...

Should I do a face reveal?