Avi slowly gets to his hands and knees and crawls over, picking up the broken dove. He holds it to his chest and breaks down in tears.

Suddenly an arm around him causes him to jump, he looks up into the worried eyes of Mr. Foust.

"Avi, are you o.k.?" Tim asks taking out a handkerchief and dabbing at the blood running from Avi's nose.

Avi holds up the dove in one hand and the wing in the other showing Tim."They broke it, Mr. Foust." He says between sobs.

He gently lays both pieces back into the newspaper carefully wrapping them up. Wiping his eyes, he begins picking up his broken art supplies. Letting a sob escape every now and then.

Tim starts helping him pick up the broken pencils, not really knowing what to say. "I'm so sorry but his can all be replaced, Avi."

"NO IT CAN'T, TIM!!" Avi cries angrily, shoving everything into his bag forcefully. "DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY HOURS OVERTIME MY SISTER HAD TO WORK FOR THIS SHIT!!"

He zips up his bag and slowly stands to his feet, groaning in pain. Tim lays a hand on his back.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for yelling, Tim. I'm just sick and tired of everything." Avi says wiping his eyes and looking at his blood covered t-shirt.

"I know you are." Tim says giving him a hug. "You need me to walk you to the cafe?"

"No, what more can they do." He says with a shrug. He turns around and slowly limps toward the cafe.

****

Esther was busy in the back so she didn't see Avi come in. He makes his way over to a booth. He sets his backpack down in the booth then slowly sits down groaning from the pain. He lays his arms on the table then lays his head down on top of them.

Esther came out from the back and instantly notices that Avi had his head down instead of drawing, like normal.

She takes a deep breath and walks over to the table sitting down beside him.

"You not drawing today?" She asks rubbing him on the back. He shakes his head no.

"It always makes you feel better." She says softly near his ear.

"My drawing days are over." He mumbles into the table.

"What?" Esther asks confused.

Avi raises up to unzip his bag, allowing Esther to see his bloody shirt for the first time.

"OH MY GOD! AVI?" She screams out

Avi reaches into his bag and starts dropping hand full of broken pencils and ripped up paper on the table.

"Oh my God, Sweetie." She whispers looking at the pile of trash. She reaches for her brother, pulling him into her arms.

She could no longer hold back the tears when she heard her little brother sobbing uncontrollably in her neck. She finally pulls out of the hug wiping his tear and checking on his swollen nose.

"Honey, are you alright.?" She whispers to him.

Ben walks up handing Esther a wet cloth to clean some of the blood off of Avi's face.

"I'm...I'm... I'm just so tired of everything. I made you something today. To tell you I was sorry for the way I was acting this morning." He says wiping his tears that didn't seem to want to stop.

"Honey, you didn't have to do that. I know you've been under a lot of stress." Esther says washing some of the blood out of his beard.

"Not that it matters anyway. Cause they broke it." He says, looking at her with tears in his eyes.

"Can I see it?" She asks wiping tears from her own eyes.

Avi looks around at his pack before reaching in and pulls out something wrapped in newspaper. He hands it to his sister.

She places it on the table in front of her and unwraps it.

"Oh my God." She whispers picking up the beautiful dove. "Avi, it's beautiful." She says through tears. "Did you do this?" She asks running her fingers over her name.

He nods, "Yea, I wanted Mr. Foust to do it so it would be pretty but he made me do it. He said you would like it more."

"Oh I do, and I'm glad he did." She wraps her arms around his neck and gives him a tight hug.

"Thank-you. I love it. It's beautiful" She whispers to him.

"But it's broken." Avi says softly.

She pulls out of the hug. Taking him by the chin, she whispers "Some of the most beautiful things are broken."

***********

VOTE & COMMENT PLEASE!!!