The night falls and Carter finally arrives at his destination. He stops in front of the entrance and hesitates a few minutes before ringing the doorbell.
"Who is it?" A woman asks.
"It's, it's Carter." he answers hesitantly.
"Carter?" The woman dressed in a beige sweatpants and a beige sweatshirt opens the door. "Carter!" she exclaims.
"Betty."
"What are you doing here? I thought you were in jail."
"I was released. " Carter explains before being cut off by the voice of a young child.
"Mom, who's that?"
"It's-"
"Noah!" Carter exclaims as he approaches the child
"Dad? Why are you here?" said Noah as he stepped back.
"They freed him..." says Betty. Noah steps back again.
"Why are you backing up? It's me. It's your dad, Noah."
"I don't have a father anymore." Noah leaves for his room.
"What does he mean by he doesn't have a father anymore? Betty what did you say to him?"
"We didn't know if you were coming back Carter... It was hard for them."
"Hard or not I'm still their father. It's not because of a mistake that-"
"Yes it is. It's because of your mistake that we're like this. It's because of your mistake that Noah is like this." Betty falls silent and sighs then walks away to the kitchen.
"Can I get you anything?"
"No I'm alright. "Carter replies.
Betty goes back to sit in the living room with a cup of tea in her hand. A teenage boy comes down the stairs and walks slowly out of the living room.
"I heard Dad was back..." The teenager freezes in place as he looks at his father.
Carter gets up from the chair and walks over to his son. "Colton...It's me. I'm back..."
Colton walks over to his father and gives him a hug while crying. "I thought I would never see you again dad..."
"Of course we were going to see each other again. I'll never leave you!"
"Don't throw around big words like that Carter..." said Betty as she headed off to the kitchen. "Call your brother to eat, Colton." she adds. Colton dries his tears and goes upstairs to call Noah.
"Those aren't big words Betty, I mean it."
"The kids are coming back down... we'll talk about this sometime."
Noah comes downstairs again, bowing his head. "What are we eating?"
" You're right, it smells good!" adds Carter.
"Never mind, I'll see for myself." Noah leaves to sit at the table.
The family sits down and starts to eat. "I see the seats haven't changed. It's good to know that not everything changes. " says Carter, chuckling.
"When is he leaving again mom?" asks Noah.
"You know you can talk to me, right Noah?"
"When are you leaving?"
"I'm not leaving, I came back to stay. I even got a new job!"
"You did? They took you back to your old job?" exclaimed Betty.
"No, but I found something better."
"Shouldn't we be celebrating?" exclaims Colton.
"There's nothing to celebrate. I'm done, I'm going to sleep." Noah gets up and goes to his room.
"He'll get used to you in time." Explains Betty.
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