4.

David Roux grew up way too soon, and this is true going back as far as a few months before the loss of both his parents. As it was, he had no choice in the matter. The joys of youth had been taken from him, some before the double disaster occurred and a lot more afterwards.

Elise, his mum, was his number one priority before disaster took her. Her second pregnancy drained her emotionally, physically; in fact, it drained her in every way possible and it done so much more than that too. When dad had been away working Dave took care of mum. He fed her the best he could; he looked after her every need to the best of his ability.

Whenever Elise had not been to overcome by a lack of energy, she became extremely difficult. Dave knew the abuse she threw his way was not really her, it was the pregnancy and whatever it was doing to her that altered her personality so completely. As if he didn't already know this then it was confirmed to him when mum did not survive giving birth to Ruby.

The thoughts kept coming back to him that doctors must have known something about what was wrong with her long before that final day for there were many hospitals visits early on and when it got to be too much then doctors would often come out to her. Why didn't they do more to save her? Maybe there had been nothing they could have done; maybe they were not ready for the worst to occur, or maybe they really didn't know what was happening.

David may have been mature for his age, but he still was only fourteen, perhaps the whole truth was being kept from him. As it was and is, the whole truth could not have been known.

Aunts and uncles did take them in, and brother and sister would indeed be passed around a lot. Family those aunts and uncles may have been, but they were also distant. Orders were dished out instead of care as if David was expected to earn his and his sister's keep; emotional bonding appeared to not be a priority. Yeah, Dave and Ruby had clothes, food and roofs over their heads, and Dave had his schooling but there wasn't much more than that.

Any and all moneys he made and was allowed to keep from summer jobs and weekend jobs he acquired over time were saved in a bank account. He never bought or had the things most kids his age would have. That was alright. When he had himself enough money to get some of those things other kids had, David continued to save rather than get himself things so many others his age indeed would have.

Dave was strong, or at least he tried to be, he would get by. He had his sister, and they were relatively safe. The nightmares though, they were tough, perhaps tougher than he was. Whenever he could, he would keep the details of the nightmare to himself and if a relative cared enough to ask him if he was alright, Dave would just respond that he was alright, never going into any kind of detail about what his nightmares brought.

There was that nightmare when he was seventeen, there were subsequent and previous nightmares but this one in particular was a beginning of something. It felt so real. At about one in the morning someone entered the particular bedroom he was staying in. It was a man and his entrance into the room woke Dave.

Being in and out of sleep for more than a little while aided with this moment feeling all the more surreal, well that along with entrance into the room coming without the door actually opening or closing and the added ultimate discovery of who this person may appear to be.

David couldn't make out at first who that man was for the visitor was covered in shadow. It was no uncle who entered the room, that was clear right away, it was someone else ... it was ... 'dad? ... that can't be you ... w-wh-what is h-happening?'

That man hidden by shadow moves a little out of shadow and it does indeed appear to be Adrian Roux. 'Steady now dude ... it's alright?'

'But you ca- ... you c-can't ... be here.'

'Oh, I am here. I am real.'

Insects are swirling around dad's head and they seem to increase in volume by the second. There is a brief noise coming from somewhere out in the hallway outside the bedroom. Adrian turns his head in that direction then slips back into the shadow. Someone else comes into the bedroom and opens the bedroom door to do so. It's only now that David realizes that it hadn't opened when dad had arrived.

'Is everything alright in here?' asks Dave's uncle.

Having moved up a little in his bed Dave looks into the shadow and is sure that no one is there. Where did his dad go? Has he really been there or was his appearance a result of a nightmare? If dad really was here, then he no longer is.

'Yes sir, everything is alright. I had a bit of a bad dream is all. I'm fine now.'

'Well then, get yourself some sleep, young man. Goodnight.'

'Yes sir, goodnight.'

Thing is now, was it really only a dream or a kind of nightmare that brought father to son with son only fully waking at the moment uncle arrives into the room? Or did Adrian Roux, insects and all, really come and visit his son three years after his fatal crash?

While staying with others, David Roux always tried to be pleasant as pleasant could be. He may not like any or all of what is going on, but he does have shelter, he does have clothes and he does receive three to four meals a day and his sister is also well cared for. He won't get into any kind of trouble, at least not purposely.

A little over a year after this nightmarish night, David roux at eighteen, almost nineteen years of age is granted custody of his sister. Along with his savings, David has access to a grant so he can care for his sister and afford to rent somewhere small for them both to live together independently. Care and schooling are available for Ruby, allowing time for Dave to hold down a job or two and together they survive, together they do more than survive.

Things are weird, things are strange. They have been strange since Ruby was born and maybe even since before then too. Now out in the big bad world things are going to go many shades of crazy.