Jevae-

As I walked to my siblings school, I thought about what we should do this afternoon. The library was closed, so I guess we had to go straight home.

When I got to the middle school, my sisters and younger brother were already waiting for me. I guess my sisters had gone to pick up my brother and then came back to wait for me.

"Hey. The library's closed so we have to go straight home today," I told them grabbing my younger brother's book bag and swinging it over my shoulder so he didn't have to carry it.

"I can do it! I'm not five anymore!” he shouted at me. I returned it, not wanting to get in a fight with him today. I was just drained.

"Ok, let's just go home." I grabbed his hand and started walking towards the sidewalk. My sisters fell into step beside us. Kaisley grabbed Elijah's other hand and Victoria grabbed my other hand.

"How was your day?", I asked them as we crossed the street.

"Fine." They said in unison.

"Did anything interesting happen?" We were walking along the sidewalk, and then paused for traffic.

"Victoria got asked out by a boy!", Kaisley blurted out, stopping abruptly, pulling us all back.

"Why did you tell her?!", Victoria shouted at her, pulling her hand out of my grasp.

"She has a right to know what your doing!", Kaisley shouted back, letting go of Elijah's hand.

"It wasn't your decision to make!" Victoria took a dangerous step towards Kaisley.

"Stop!", I screamed at both of them. They turned to look at me, shock on their faces. It was the first time I had yelled at them. I sounded so much like my mother. I immediately realized my mistake.

"Sorry. It's just you guys were yelling about something so pointless. Kaisley, Victoria was right. It was her decision for when to tell me. But, Victoria, Kaisley was also right. You should have told me before I found out from anyone else." When I finished my short speech, Kaisley looked satisfied, but Victoria looked like she was about to explode.

"What?! You're not my mother. You have no right to know who I see outside of home. Just because you're not living your life, doesn't mean I won't live mine." The sting of her words like a slap to the face. I wish she had slapped me. It would have been so much more bearable than her biting words. She turned, about to walk away. I grabbed her wrist and spun her to look at me.

"I may not be your mother, but that doesn't mean I didn't care for you like one when our actual mother did leave. I'm sorry if I overstepped my bounds. That still doesn't excuse your behavior," I told her as calmly as I could manage. I loosened my hold on Elijah's hand, realizing I had been squeezing it a bit too hard. I continued on down the sidewalk, trying to control my breathing.

"Sorry," she mumbled walking behind us.

By the time we got home, it was already 4. A good hour of walking. Well, it wasn't like I was going to get more exercise today. I walked down the path towards the house. On the door of the house there was a white paper. I sped up, worry creeping into my mind. When I got there, I almost had a heart attack. There was an eviction notice. I snatched the paper from the door, hoping my siblings hadn't noticed. They did.

"Do we have to leave now? Why?", Elijah asked, staring at me with questioning eyes.

"No. I'll fix this." I hoped I could fix it. If not, we would be homeless. I stepped inside to see if our father was here. He was. We walked into the kitchen to see him drinking, like usual. I placed the eviction notice on the table and pointed at it.

"What is going on dad?", I asked him, hoping it was his first drink of the afternoon.

"I lost my job a couple of months ago,'' he told us. I looked at him with wide eyes. Today is a nightmare. This isn't real.

"I haven't been paying the rent. That's why we are getting kicked out." This could not be happening today. We had finally run out of luck. Not that we had much to begin with.

"Dad, you're joking right? You have to be joking," Kaisley asked him, pacing the room.

"I'm not. But, I'm going to fix this. Don't worry." He took a sip of his beer and I snatched the bottle out of his grasp.

"Hey! Give that back!" He tried to grab the bottle back from me, but I wouldn't relinquish my grip on it. After a bit more struggling, I decided to give up and let him grab it. The bottle slipped from his fingers and smashed on the tile floor.

"Look what you did now!" He got up to get another bottle from the refrigerator. I pulled him back and he threw me an angry look. I let him go.

"Dad. We need to talk. Without a drink." I led him back to his chair and sat next to him.

"Kaisley, Victoria, Elijah please sit down as well. You deserve to hear what I'm about to say. It involves you all." I placed my hand on my fathers as I heard the scuttle of chairs being pushed on the hard floor.

"Dad. You need to get help. You are an alcoholic. I think you know this. If you don't want us to worry, you need to get help. We will be there to support you. However we can. Before you can help us, you need to help yourself. I can find places where you can get help, but it is your decision." I looked at my dad. There was no longer anger in my eyes, just worry. I don't know the day when I became the parent. The person who made sure there was food on the table. The "man", woman, of the family. Wait, I do know when. The day that woman that called herself our mother left. She left her children and her loving husband. My dad broke that day and it was my job to put the pieces back together. I'm not sure if I'm ready. This isn't supposed to be my job. My dad had been talking while I was lost deep in thought. I blinked and focused back on his face.

"Can you repeat that dad?" I had to know what he was saying, to be able to process it.

"I said, let's do it. You're right. I do have a problem. The day your mother left, she took my soul and spirit with her. I need to get it back so I can be there for you children. The first step to that is fixing my drinking problem. You have been such a good daughter, Jevae. Always taking good care of your siblings. Your older sister would've been proud of you." My dad's voice cracked on the last sentence and tears welled up in his eyes. I could feel tears in my own and saw the same reflected in all my siblings eyes.

"Dad, what are we gonna do? We still lost our house. We have to be out of here in a week. Also, how are you gonna get help? Don't programs like that cost money?", Kaisley questioned, letting the tears fall down her cheeks freely. Elijah wiped her tears away.

"It's going to be ok. We'll figure this out. As a family." He smiled and this made everybody else's tears also fall. Dad picked Elijah up and put him on his lap, hugging him tightly. I got out of my chair and hugged my father. Kaisley and Victoria followed suite. We sat huddled like that together for what felt like an eternity. We all cried the tears we had been holding back for years.

"We have to make a game plan", I told my father, disentangling myself from him.