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It started as a normal day.
Ed woke up, went to school, did school, came home, ate something, and did his homework. Nothing out of the ordinary. Pretty boring, as days go, but that was normal.
Until it wasn’t boring when it was about 5:40 and Roy hadn’t come home yet. He usually got back around 5:30. Ed looked out the window and frowned. No sight of his car.
He wasn’t one to worry, especially about Roy, of all people. No, why would he worry about him?
But he worried. So he texted Al.
Roy’s not home yet. Did Ms. Riza come back?
Al texted back almost immediately.
I’ll be there with her in a sec.
Ed was befuddled. How come Riza was home but Roy wasn’t? Shouldn’t they get off work at the same time? He ran to get the door as soon as he heard a knock. He gave Al a customary hug then looked up at Riza.
“Where’s Roy?” He wondered.
Riza gave him a tight-lipped smile. She looked tired.
“Let’s sit down and eat. Then we’ll talk.” Her voice was calm, but the faint anxiety in her eyes betrayed her.
Al held up three plastic bags with sandwiches inside.
“We brought sandwiches!” He said cheerfully.
So, over their plateless dinner of sandwiches, they started talking.
“Something came up at work,” Riza started, “and they let me go home because someone has to look after the two of you, but Roy stayed with the team.”
This put Ed on edge.
“What happened?” He asked, doing his best to keep the worry out of his voice. He had to stay strong for Al in case he was scared. What he really wanted to ask was Is Roy in danger?
Riza sighed and looked down at her uneaten sandwich.
“Something about a gang hanging around downtown. It’s led by this guy who calls himself Greed. It just sounds like some irresponsible college kids, but, we can’t be too careful.”
Al reached across the table to lay a hand on Riza’s. There was a general sense of unease hanging in the air.
“Anyone wanna play a board game?” Al asked in a small voice.
~
After about two hours of endless rounds of Telestrations, it was nearly eight o’clock and Roy still wasn’t home. It was dark outside.
“You two should go to bed.” Riza told the boys.
They made no move to get up and Riza didn’t bother to argue at all. She knew they’d get no sleep if they went to bed now anyway. She stared out the window and Ed could tell how worried she was. He glanced at Al and they both nodded. The two boys wrapped their arms around her and Ed, as the current man of the house, put on a brave face.
“He’s gonna be okay.”
~
When Roy finally got home, it was nearly nine o’clock and the boys had drifted off on the couch on either side of Riza. When Roy saw her, he smiled as he ran a hand through his disheveled hair. He walked over to the couch and gave her a kiss.
“How long have they been asleep?” He asked softly.
“Only a few minutes, I think. They were pretty worried.”
Roy raised an eyebrow.
“Even Ed?”
“Especially Ed.”
Roy smiled.
“Well, everything’s taken care of.”
Riza carefully extracted herself from between the kids to stand up and pull Roy into a hug.
“You’re not hurt, are you?” She worried.
Roy shook his head and kissed her again.
“No… I guess you’ll be staying the night?”
“Yes.” Riza confirmed, eyes twinkling. “Nothing bad about that, is there?”
Roy’s eyebrows shot up, but he smiled and wrapped an arm around her waist.
“No,” he agreed, “that’s not bad at all.”
Riza rolled her eyes.
“You’re a real charmer. But let’s get the kids to bed before we do anything else.”
They carried the boys to Ed’s room and set them down in his bed together. As they were about to walk out, Roy heard one of the boys say his name. He turned around to see Ed sitting up and rubbing his eyes.
“Roy.” He repeated softly.
Roy gestured Riza to head on without him and he went back over to the bed.
“Hey, kid.” He whispered.
Without another word, Ed fully sat up and threw his arms around Roy. Roy looked down at him, surprised.
“I was worried about you.” Ed murmured so quietly Roy almost didn’t hear him.
Roy smiled and ruffled the kid’s hair.
“I’m home now.” He assured Ed. “I’m home.”