Ian stared blankly at the script as she talked, begrudgingly amused at the turn of events. Generally it was Ian that got to make people feel uncomfortable, but this woman had managed to invade even his basest of security. When she mentioned his parents though, he flipped the script shut. "We're not talking about my parents," he told her with finality as he dropped the script onto the glass coffee table before plopping down to the couch again. "Like you said, practice."<br/><br/>There wasn't much to say about his home life. It had been unnervingly normal for the most part: two doting parents, a loving sister, two dogs and lots of money. His mom left when they were still young, but that had fucked with Abby more than it did with Ian. In fact, Ian felt nothing at all - that's pretty much<span style="font-style: italic">why</span>their mom left in the first place. Michelle had argued for years with his dad about what to do with him; he didn't show expressions like a normal child should, he didn't have friends, he didn't respond well to anybody but Abigail and that<span style="font-style: italic">scared</span>her. It scared her to the point that she tipped up bottles until she could forget that her child was showing all of the signs of becoming a monster when he grew up. It scared her until she left, and he was sure that even now she still saw his face in her sleep. The thought made him smile.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">"Shh," Ian tried to soothe his sister, smoothing her hair back as he peaked through the intermittent openings in the closet door. His body racked heavily with his sister's sobs; she was inconsolable at this point and why shouldn't she be? Their mother was leaving, and Abby was just old enough to understand that but still young enough to be confused about why. It left a bad taste in his mouth, he decided as he stared through the open louver shutters of the closet door, watching his parents yell and scream and blame. He was old enough to understand, but Abby? Abigail was only seven years old. This was going to completely destroy her entire foundation, and they didn't care one bit.<br/><br/>"Shhh," he whispered again, pressing his lips to Abby's forehead before taking her face in his hands and making her look at him, </span>really<span style="font-style: italic"> look at him. And to her credit she did, forcing those large, unfortunately confused eyes to remain open and meet his own. She was so strong, even when her world was crumbling. "Don't listen to them, okay? I don't want you to listen." <br/><br/>Abby sniffled, wiping her face with the sleeve of her shirt before burying herself in Ian's chest. "I don't want her to go."<br/><br/>"She </span>chose<span style="font-style: italic"> to leave us, Abby," he reminded her, squeezing her tight when he felt her sob in protest. It was hard to hear, he knew, but she had to hear it. She had to understand. "She doesn't care about us anymore, but I need you to look at me. </span>Look at me.<span style="font-style: italic">" He gently took her face in his hands again and forced her to look at him. "She doesn't matter. The only people that matter in this world are you and me. Fuck the rest of the world and everyone in it."</span><br/><br/>When he'd come to his thoughts, Ian watched Emmeline's eyes bounce around the room, looking from family portrait to family portrait. There were plenty to be seen, but not many with him. His mother still got one with Abby and their dad every year, but she refused to be anywhere near Ian. Which was fine with him, really, he didn't want anything to do with her, but it<span style="font-style: italic">did</span>make him want to spew bile everywhere.<br/><br/>With a sense of what might have been akin to defeat, Ian threw himself backward into the couch cushions and grabbed for the remote, turning on Netflix rather than reading anymore of that godawful local script. He appreciated theater and everything it entailed, except acting in it. He could hardly force himself to show emotions he didn't feel on a day to day basis, he didn't really feel like putting on a second layer of emotion just to act out a scene in a play with someone he didn't even know. Oh well, he supposed; he'd take the shit grade for it.