❪    h  /  eldguilt  .      *    ━━━━      mother  dearest     ̖́-

❝    archie, there’s something we need _{to talk about..   in case your father d-doesn’t make it..       ❞     she hates that she has to have this talk with her son  ;   she hates that this happened to fred, that she wasn’t there.   mary swallows, moving to take her son’s hands in her own.   god, they were once so small.   where did the time go   ?    ❝    honey, i’m not saying he won’t..   i’m just saying that, worst case scenario, we need to talk about where you’d like to live.    ❞}

that  should’ve  been  him   .      that  should’ve  been  him   !      _{archie  should’ve  been  the  one  who  got  shot  not  his  dad   .      his  dad  didn’t    DESERVE    that   .      lower  lip  is    already  quivering    as  his  mom  grabbed  his  hands  .      he  didn’t  want  to  think  about  life  without  his  dad   .      the  one  who  was  always  there  to  lend  a  helping  hand   .      the  one  who  offered  a  shoulder  to  lean  on  when  archie  was  overwhelmed   .}      the  one  who  supported  him  through  everything   .       _{tears    threaten  to  spill    over  cheeks  that  already  have  been  covered  in  tears  more  than  once  today   .      he’s  sure  that  he’s  void  of  all  feeling  by  now   .      there’s  been  sleepless  nights      &      nights  where  he  ended  up  crying  himself  to  sleep   .      even  nights  where  he  felt  four  years  old  again  ,    curled  up  against  his  mom  seeking  that  comfort  she  always  brought  him   .}

                                        ❝      _{i   —   i  don’t  know  mom   .}      ❞            _{he  has  given  this  a  lot  of  thought  lately   .      every  time  he  thought  he  had  a  definitive  answer  there  was  something  telling  him  no   .      he  didn’t  want  to  leave  his  friends  but  with  his  dad  gone  ,    it  would  probably  be}    too  difficult    _{for  him  to  live  here  anymore   .      if  he  moved  then  who  would  be  there  for  him  when  his  mom  couldn’t   ?      he    needed  his  friends    right  now  more  than  anything      &      with  moving  he  wouldn’t  be  able  to  go  to  them  for  distracting  him   .}            ❝      _{i  don’t  wanna  leave    but  i  wanna  get  as  far  as  i  can  away  from  here   .}      ❞