𝐃𝐈𝐑𝐓+𝐒𝐊𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐒 ✭ 𝐏𝐇𝐀𝐍

ℰℓ∊ṽℯη

a.n. - thx for being patient with me, i dunno what's been up with me lately.. i'm sorry i really didn't mean to like—be an attention whore. okay, phew we're back. oh thanks for the v nice comments about my writing y'all qts, even though i don't believe in myself...i know you guys do💖

The small ranch-styled home loomed behind creaky iron gates, flanked by rows of skeletal trees crowned in crimson, swaying gently to the cotton-soft spring wind. Ivy and ferns grew through the crevices of the old winding stone path, which led directly to the cottage-like structure.

After entering his family's code, Dan pulled through his gateway driving up his driveway finally parking at the tip top.

The memories always manage to sweep his mind as he steps on each stone making up the path to his doorstep. Not bothering to take his house key out from his pocket he pressed down on the door handle pushing open his wooden creaky door.

Stepping into Dan's home is the scent of lavender; the delicate flower blooms in one of Delilah's old jam jars. The perfume brings out the purple hue to the walls, the very same shade that is the colour of spring forget-me-nots in the morning light. Dan's mother and father never aspired to a large home, preferring cozy and friendly. It is their "cottage" in the sky, furnished with everything rustic, the old being a stage for their new creations, new paintings daubed on perfect squares of canvass.

Dan shut the door behind him, dropping his backpack to the floor with a tiny thump. "I'm home!!" He shouted making his mother beam. As Dan meandered deeper into the home he found himself wandering towards the kitchen. In routine, that is where his mother would likely be, cooking away at the dinner for that night.

Delilah stood blithely by her stove stirring around asparagus in a sizzling pan.

As Dan came closer his aunt and nephew appeared in the frame. He smiled happily staring at the tiny baby bouncing up and down on Aunty Cora's knee. Dan immediately leaned in as he got close enough, pulling his aunt into a tight embrace. "Hey aunty, what're you doing here?"

The corner of her mouth wrinkling as she grinned. She patted on her sons back looking at Dan. "Oh, I just popped in to say hello—"

Delilah cleared her throat as she poured the cooked vegetables into a flower decorated bowl. "Would my son have the curtesy to come and give his mother a sweet hello?" She finished with her veggies and placed her hands on her hips. "Since when did Aunty Cora become the star?"

Dan giggled sweetly, hopping over to envelop himself into his mother's safe hug.

Cora laughed, tilting her head to one side. "I've always been the star, sister. The real question here is how haven't you noticed?"

Delilah shook her head, putting her hands on the bowl looking up from it. "Keep it up and the baby is mine."

Dan then leaned over, easily swiping the baby from his aunt's hands. "I think we all know who baby Isaac belongs to," Dan affirmed smiling as Isaac started to giggle. He wrapped the small child in his arms, cradling it watching curiously as his mother lent over to open her oven.

"What're you making, mum?" He asks as he adverted his eyes back to the baby. He made faces at him, sticking out his tongue in order to make Isaac laugh again.

Delilah's dark chocolate locks of hair dripped past her shoulders as she stood up straight. Her appearance conveyed a mirror image of Dan's though his hair was shorter and his figure stood more slimly. Her facial structure was much more feminine than Dan's, though Dan did steal her single left dimple. She removed her oven mitten from her right hand, sighing slightly. "Just lasagna," she said without hesitation.

Though something clicked in Dan's brain, he didn't show any realization on his face as that would conjure suspicion in his aunt and mother. He continued to grin at baby Isaac muttering something to himself. "Oh, dad's favorite," Without looking up from the baby in Dan's arms, he could hear Aunty Cora's and his mother's neck snap towards him. The feeling of them casing his limp figure up and down with concerning eyes made him regret those words that so easily spilled out of his mouth; dad.

For some odd reason, that word could be a replacement for a curse word in the Howell residents.

"Yes," Delilah managed out in a facile manner. "Your father's favorite."

Cora's lips were pressed into a deep frown, she looked up at Dan from her spot, the air now becoming dense and uncomfortable.

Dan took glances from all around the room, starting at his aunt, swiftly at the paintings his dad created that hung so proudly on the walls of their kitchen, to his mother and back down to Isaac. "Yummy—I'm going to change," he sputtered, taking his baby cousin on his adventure in a swift manner. Dan took deep breaths as he hurried up the stairs to his bedroom.

Opening the door of his room a whirlwind of safety rushed over him. His sudden panicking calmed as he placed baby Isaac on his gray and white duvet cover. He moved his hand over his agilely beeping heart taking in a final, full breath.

Isaac stayed on the bed sitting up; slouched over. Dan looked down at the baby letting Isaac's smile take over his as he turned around heading towards his closet. "I guess I'm not meant to talk about dad yet, huh baby Isaac?" Dan slipped out of his cheer shirt, picking through his hung clothes to find a plushie soft baby pink hoodie. He pulled it over his head, tugging down the sleeves to the middle of his palms. "I guess it's still too early—but in my defense it's been a few years," Dan swiftly slides off his skirt letting it drop to the floor leaving on his spandex underneath. "I can't forget the man like he never existed!" Dan said in a undermining tone as he stepped out of the closet.

Isaac wasn't paying any attention to Dan's situation as he took a fistful of Dan's blanket sticking it directly into his mouth.

Dan shook his head as he picked Isaac up from the bed, placing him on his hip. "I guess I can't really talk, your dad has been completely gone, at least I adopted morals from mine," Dan then plopped on his bed and moved to lay down on his back. He put his feet up in the air resting the baby on the bottom of his toes making Isaac laugh hysterically. "Promise me one thing baby Isaac, that you won't follow in your father's footsteps because you'll break your mother, and then you'll break me and then Aunty Delilah, and that's not okay with cousin Danny, understood mister?" Dan smiled bringing the baby back down to his chest, hugging him gently as Isaac began to close his eyes.