#tommyhblake

He hid under the covers, trying to sleep despite the flash of blinding light and booming thunder claps. There was a gap in the storm, must have been in the eye of it and Frankie felt the world slip into darkness.

Boom. Frankie suddenly found himself in the middle of a muddy field. He looked around he couldn't see anyone but he heard a lot of... what was that? It sounded like fireworks but much louder than usual. It was very foggy. In fact the only reason he knew it was mud is because he could feel it on his bare feet. He had trouble seeing through the stuff. He didn't know where he was. Frankie knew he had to get out of there.

He felt his feet slip out from under him, the mud felt cold, but he didn’t land in it for that reason. He had tripped, over someone. He quickly went to turn the man he had tripped over, finding him easy to move. The person wasn’t moving, no movement in his chest. He couldn’t see the man face it was covered by a mask, a gas mask. That didn’t appear to be working, maybe it was suffocating him? He tired to pull off the mask, panting loudly, trying as hard as he could, his muscles tightening. He sighed, he couldn’t get him off. He looked for something else to identify him, and notice his dog tags.

He froze; the tags read ‘Alex Castelluccio’. He did a double take but now couldn’t make out the words anymore. But he was certain it said- He blinked looking at Alex, his brother again and saw his body slip in to the mud. Frankie gasped and tried to pull him up, grasping his hand. Frankie’s hand was sweaty and warm; but Alex’s hand was as cold as ice. He sobbed loudly as the body of his brother slipped into the mud. He dug into the mud but couldn’t find him.  Suddenly he heard a new sound, snapping him out of his sadness. A plane. A plane meant there had to be an airport nearby. Maybe he could get a ride home and get out of this awful place as soon as he could. He ran as fast he could toward the sound. After running for what felt like ages the fog lifted and he found himself at a grassy plain. He looked up at the sky. His mouth open, surprised by what he saw. Airplanes in the sky were twisting and turning fast as bullets flew this way and that. That is until a blinding flash happened and very loud bang, and one of them went down. He watched in horror as it crashed barely thirty feet away from him. The whole plane had caught fire. Frankie stared in shock until he saw something, or really saw someone crawl out of cockpit. Frankie gasped, running as fast as he could toward him. The man was fire, he had to do something. "Hold on!" Frankie pulled off his coat, hoping it would smother the flames. It didn't and instead the burning took over the coat too. The man crawled closer and closer to him; until he could see his burning face. He gasped in horror. It was Nick. He looked into Frankie's eyes, with disappointment. However it wasn't Nick's voice. "It's your fault son...if you hadn't let us leave to go the w-" Frankie froze, his father, it was his father’s voice. His breathing hitched, Nick’s face began to turn into goop in front him. Frankie managed to force himself to turn away, only to be faced with another horror. One of the planes had dropped something very large, and the shape looked; well, Frankie didn’t have time to take it in. There was a blinding flash of light and every turned white. Boom! Frankie jumped, the bomb had gone off in the dream but in reality it was a clap of thunder only a few blocks from their home, that woke him up. But still little Frankie wasn't sure he was awake. As Frankie was catching his breath from the horrible nightmare another loud, bang, went off, it shook the whole house and the nine year old couldn’t take it, he was too overwhelmed by everything. He leaped out of his bed and out of his room screaming. He suddenly heard a grunt and Frankie looked up trying to see who had run into. But of course when he needed the lighting to see it didn't come. The figure had wrapped his arms around picking him up. Instead of being comforted Frankie just screamed until a familiar voice managed to reach above his screams. "Kid, Kid! Frankie! Relax Frankie. It's me. It's your pal Tommy. It's okay. We are safe in here!" Frankie stopped screaming and squirming as another flash of lighting happened to show on of his caretakers face looking down at him. Frankie was so relived he didn't even care that much about the thunder. Or that’s how he would like to feel, but he still clung hard to Tommy, while whole body shaking as Tommy held him up right and steady. Tommy chuckled, not like he was mad but more like he was relieved, just like Frankie was. He patted Frankie on the head. “It’s okay kiddo. I won't let the storm hurt you. No storm is gonna mess with Tommy DeVito. Not in this town." Frankie chuckled softly, but then froze as Tommy put him down. Tommy had gone to light a candle; the power must have gone off. It was only when Tommy lit the candle; he could see how worried the young boy was. "W-where is N-nick?" Tommy lit another candle before answering Frankie. He rubbed his chin, thinking "Well the docks are far out, but if it is real bad he should be headin' home..." Frankie looked back in horror, his head turned toward the door. "He's out there!?" Frankie made a dash toward the door. Tommy didn't miss a beat and was lucky his legs were longer and was able to catch Frankie by the back of his pajamas. "Woah there kiddo! Have ya lost your head, you can't go out there! It's dangerous for a squirt like you." Frankie looked back at Tommy, tears swelling up in his eyes. "But Papa is..." He sniffed and Tommy's face fell. He picked up Frankie and brought him to the couch. Tommy pulled Frankie in for a hug. "N- I mean your p-papa is a smart fella. He ain't gonna do anythin' that's gonna get himself hurt. He will be up when the sun rises or maybe before then, but you need to sleep kiddo." He spoke softly but he sounded sure in his words. That didn't stop Frankie's tears though as he hugged Tommy tighter as flash of lighting fill up the house, and even if Frankie's face was mostly hidden, Tommy could still see the fear in Frankie's face, he let out a little squeak when the thunder shook the house. Tommy patted Frankie's head not sure what to say. Frankie hadn't really been with them during a big storm before. Maybe he was always like this. It's not like Frankie was that worried about Nick during a snow storm and those were much more deadly. Still, it wasn’t good to have Frankie crying like this. He had to sleep or the little fella was going to be worn out the next day. Frankie tried to quiet him down with lullabies, simple humming. But even his stand by wasn’t working. Tommy let out a puff of air, looking down at Frankie. “You wanna tell what’s on your mind, kiddo?” Tommy asked softly, then chuckled, “I just think you would feel better in your own bed, sleeping.” Frankie looked up at Tommy, shaking his head. “Nah, I think I will just wait until Papa gets home before I sleep.” He said that, but truth was Frankie could hardly keep his eyes open when the only sound was the wind and the rain. As soon as another thunder clap sounded, Frankie was wide awake. He clung to the undershirt Tommy was wearing, Tommy raised an eyebrow. “Seems like your body wants to pass out, what, you don’t want to sleep?” Tommy sighed, holding back a yawn by taking a harsh breath in. Frankie bit his lip, sniffing, and wiping away his tears. Tommy pulled Frankie off his lap and sat him down the couch. “Maybe some cold milk will help ya sleep?” He stood up but Frankie had a grip on his wrist. Tommy let out a soft sigh, “What ya don’t want any milk? What do you want Frankie, use your words.” Frankie rubbed the back of his neck, turning red. “P-papa has this book in his room; he started to read to me. That way you wouldn’t have to make up a story?” Frankie blushed, giving Tommy a weak smile. Tommy wasn’t that good at making up stories.

Tommy frowned then smirked, “Hey! The stories I come up with are real s-stuff kiddo. Ain’t gonna sh-stuff like that in no books,” Still Tommy walked off finding a book called ‘The Boxcar Children’ on Nick’s bedside table. Hopefully this was the one they had started. He walked back in the room, after grabbing a flashlight, so he could read in the dark.

He sat down next to Frankie and pulled him close; he had the book in one hand and the flash light in the other. He had opened to wear the bookmark was, he smiled down at Frankie. “You are gonna have to turn the pages for me Frankie, got my hands full.”

Frankie nodded smiling up at Tommy, “Yeah okay, sounds fair.” Tommy smiled as he started to read where Nick left off. Frankie only managed to turn the pages fives time before he had fallen asleep. Tommy however didn’t move, he was too tired to make it back to his bed. He blew out the nearby by candles and turned off the flashlight and went to sleep.

Frankie didn’t have any more nightmares in Tommy’s arms like this. It also helped that the storm died down in their neighborhood as well.

At about six am, Tommy woke up to the sound of the front door opening; he glanced over rubbing his eyes. He flinched as Nick threw his boots off; Tommy waved his arms wildly trying to catch his eye. Nick raised an eyebrow, he had several questions, but he shut his mouth when he noticed Tommy pointing to Frankie who was still asleep, thus adding to the list of questions Nick had.

Nick sighed, rubbing his eyes as he walked over to pick up Frankie, bring him into his bed so his back wouldn’t get sore. Even though Nick was tired he was able to lift little Frankie easily in his arms. The young boy started to stir and Nick picked up the pace so Frankie was being tucked in as he really opened his eyes.

“Nick?” Frankie asked, still mostly asleep. Nick started to shush him, patting his tummy, and then ruffled his hair gently.

“Go to sleep Frankie. It’s early.” Frankie frowned reaching forward to grab hold of Nick’s arm, hugging it tightly. He sniffed and Nick frowned, something was wrong. He sat down on the bed pull Frankie close. “Look son what ever is bothering ya we can talk about it after we both have had more sleep. Now catch another few winks, okay?”

Frankie smiled, at hearing Nick call him son; it always made him feel better. Still he didn’t let go right away. “ Am I really your son?” He asked so softly that if Nick had been any farther away, Nick wouldn’t have been able to hear him.

Nick smiled ear to ear, “Of course you are and, “ He added standing up and kissing Frankie’s forehead, “Nothing on this earth is gonna change that. Now get some rest son, I love you.”