Chase stabbed the soggy pile of spaghetti on his plate with his fork. Propping his head up with his hand, he pushed his food around the plate idly. It wasn’t like he could have eaten that gunk anyway – it was pasty from being reheated too many times. Chase sighed and looked up from his dinner to instead stare at the empty chairs. Frowning, he slouched lower in his seat at the sight, scuffing the toe of his shoe against the floor. Letting his fork clatter as it fell onto the plate, Chase moved his hand from his chin to push away from the dining room table.
      The muted screech of the chair scrapping the hardwood floor seemed to almost resonate, echoing in the back of Chase’s mind. It’s so easy to focus on a single sound when all else is silent. The ticking of the clock, the electric hum of the refrigerator, the dripping of the leaky sink – the noises seemingly endless to the point of madness. His chubby hands balled up as fists against both his sides, Chase gritted his teeth and imagined himself punching the wall hard enough to make the whole building to collapse and everything along with it. Anything, anything, would be better than this.
      Chase dragged his feet as he went to his room, shutting the door behind him and flopping onto his navy blue bed. Eyeing the grossly pink crib from the corner of his eye, he sneered in distaste. He couldn’t imagine sharing his room with anyone, much less a noisy baby. Feeling a pang in his gut at the memory of his mom and dad cooing over baby names and tiny patterned baby blankets, Chase rolled over in his bed. What the heck made babies so special anyway? As he stared at the white plaster walls he tried to ignore the unsetting silence that had settled over the house, only disturbed by Grandma’s snores as she snoozed on the couch – unsolved crosswords still in hand.
       In a day, Chase’s parents would be coming home from the hospital and he would be a big brother. In a day, they’d say sorry for ever leaving and watch cartoons on the couch together, and everything would go back to normal. And maybe, if Chase kept telling himself that it would come true. He was going to have a younger sister, a new member of the family, and a new best friend forever. And his parents were going to have someone else to love. Chase hugged his pillow. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so alone.