Lunar Awakening-Chapter 37: Little Trish

A beautiful young girl ran down the stairs hopping and jumping over each step, her face was radiant and her hair long and black, done in pigtails. Her eyes were bright blue, on her face was a wide smile warm enough to melt the heart of any man.

She wore a beautiful peach dress with white flower petals embroidered on it.

Her exhilarated chants soon filler the house, "He’s here. Dad he’s back."

She could know the rythmic knock on the door even if she had her ears clogged, it was their signature rhythm after all.

As she reached the door the turned the handle and twisted it, pulling the door open in one quick pull. Standing behind it was none other than her loving big brother who had not been home in months.

"Nardo!" She screamed as she jumped into his arms, tears of joy flowing down her face.

Leo hugged his little sister tight, a smile forming on his face. "Hey there my little moonbeam I see you’ve grown again."

She giggled in the most innocent way, "Yep, I had another growth spurt. Dad says it’s because I EA a lot of veggies but we all know it’s because of the sweets."

Leo chuckled as he walked into the house and shut the door quietly behind him, "Where’s dad?"

"He’s coming", she peered at his bag and changed the subject eagerly. "Did you bring something this time?"

He gave her a long hard state before patting her on the head, "Yup, there some ramen in my bag. I bet it’s still warm."

To his surprise she jumped up for joy, "Yay! My friends who have tasted ramen never once stop talking about it."

"Oh is that so?" He said as he felt her taking the bag off his back.

His ears twitched slightly and his gaze went up to the stairs where he could see a man seated on an electronic wheel chair.

The man looked old and weary for his age, he had thick brown hair and strong dark eyes. There were several stress wrinkles on his forehead, and on his face a slight smile.

"You’re finally home son."

Leo’s face brightened slightly, he could tell his father was under a lot of stress managing everything from his work to the well being of the family without the help of his son. And more so he was always threatened by the thought of his son leaving and never returning one day.

"Hey, dad."

Trisha rugged at him prying his eyes from his father, she giggled openly. "I was soooooo worried, I thought you would miss my birthday. So do you have any stories for me?"

He gave her a soft pat on the head and said, "Maybe a few."

She jumped up happily and hugged him tighter, Leo had missed the warmth of his sister so much. He had missed a cut smile, her warming laugh and most of all her voice that always alleviated all his pain and stress. Making her happy made all of his sufferings in Hellscape worth it.

By now Leo’s father was already almost at the base of the stairs, the wheelchair was made with a level technology that used magnetic force and air propulsion system that allowed the ability to go up and down stairs with ease.

Unlike the older models which did not have this advantage this was something more worth buying. After he had lost his mother some years later his father suffered a horrible accident that left him crippled, he was confined to the use of a wheelchair to move around.

This change greatly affected his father’s mental health, it forced Leo to be more responsible at a young age. He did all he could to ease his father’s stress.

His father worked in a fitness gym which he owned when the accident happened, there was huge fire leading to no one dead hopefully. But his father suffered greatly, his fitness gym lost more members by the day. And by the time he recovered there was not much to go on about in his place of work.

His first year in Hellscape had been used to pay for a sophisticated wheelchair that would ease his father’s stress while he was not around.

He had learned most of what he knew about fighting from his father, Jonas before the accident.

Jonas looked at his daughter happily hugging her brother and said to him. "Son, I am so glad you came back home safe. Trish was crying her eyes out thinking you would not show."

Trish turned and stared at him, "Don’t believe him, daddy’s a tattletale."

"That he is." Leo said with a light chuckle before letting his eyes fall on his father, then he pat Trish on her back. "Say what Trish. Why don’t you set up the food and I’ll talk to dad for a bit, do we have a deal?"

She gave him a happy nod before dissolving into the the dining room.

With her disappearance Leo’s face grew more stern as he looked down at his father to find him staring into the wall.

"You okay dad?" His tone carries a bit of concern in them.

His father heaved a deep sigh, "This time I swear my heart almost gave out waiting for you to come back."

He placed down a hand on his father’s shoulder and squeezed hard, "Don’t worry things are gonna change now dad. I’m finally strong enough to earn enough to help the family."

Jonas looked up at him and formed a weak smile on his face. "You’re starting to sound like your mother, she always felt like she had to do everything right." He broke up with a heavy sigh before saying, "I can barely even get anyone to pay for membership, hard to do whan the coach is strapped to a wheelchair. I had to get a loan just to pay the bills and they are going to take the house as a lease. With Trish’s school, it’s just a lot."

Leo bent down and gave his father a reassuring pat on the back. "Don’t worry dad I’ve got things covered. You can just tell me how much we are in debt and after tomorrow we can deal with it."

Jonas chuckled nervously. "That’s exactly something your mother would have said, you’re right. Tomorrow is Trish’s birthday so it’s much better we just relax, I would hate to bother you when you just returned."

Leo stood upright and laughed, "No need, you already did."

They both entered to find Trish waiting diligently for them and kicking her legs in anticipation. They watched her mouth water from the smell of the meal.

"Common guys, let’s eat already."