Fanon:Broke family (K6ka)

The Broke family is a family in my version of Pleasantview. It consists of the widow Brandi Broke, her oldest son Dustin, and her youngest, Beau.

It is Pleasantview's poorest family, and probably some of the most desperate. Dustin is the only one who has a job, and it doesn't make much. The family's poverty may be holding Beau back. Not to mention there is another mouth on the way to feed!

Due to their poverty, Brandi and Dustin often skip lunch and sometimes even dinner in order to feed Beau, and it may go on with the new child on the way.

Brandi is pregnant at the start of the game. Because she was impregnated using the Tombstone of Life and Death and technically doesn't have a father, the baby will always be a male. The name will be announced later.

Part 1. Wake up!
''beep! beep! beep!''

Dustin rolled over and glared at his alarm clock. 7:00 AM it glared back.

In a move that he frequently dubbed "uses too much energy," he shot his arm out and hit the Snooze button. Then he threw the covers over and slept some more.

''beep! beep! beep!''

Oh no, Dustin thought. Not again. Has it really been five minutes?

He rolled out. 7:05 AM.

He hit the Snooze button again and went back to sleep. Five minutes later he did it again. And again. And again.

Until 7:30 came and his own mother decided to supplement the alarm clock.

"Dustin!" the voice oozed underneath his door. "You better get out of bed now! If you don't, you'll be late!"

Hell no, Dustin thought to himself. Hell no, I'm not going to school today. Screw school.

"You're wasting your time in that bedroom of yours!" his mother shouted.

You're wasting time yelling at me in that kitchen of yours, he thought.

"Dustin, if you can't even get out of bed in the morning, what hope do you have of ever being the big brother of young Beau here?"

Brandi, if you can't even get a job, what hope do you have of ever being the mother of young Beau here?

"If you don't come out of there, I'll have to call Mrs. Henderson to babysit the both of you!"

If you don't go away, I'll have to call Gordon to hassle you.

"Now don't you dare talk back to me!" his mother screamed, as if in reply to the unspoken words in Dustin's head. "The bus comes in thirty minutes, and if you're not on it when it leaves, you better have a brilliant excuse ready."

Sure, I have an excuse ready. I was too tired and I was trying to get more energy so I don't pass out at school.

Pounding at the door. "Dustin! Get out of bed now, or you're grounded for the weekend!"

I've snuck out while I was grounded before. Your threats don't scare me.

"DUSTIN! GET OUT NOW!"

Dustin sighed. There was no way he could ever rest with all the ruckus going on. He crawled out of bed, taking a full minute to stand up. Groggy. Fuddled. Punch-drunk. It felt like the time he and Gordon went to that shady bar in that alley in SimCity. He was too young for alcohol, but then again, so was the bartender. Gordon challenged him to five shots of tequila, and he accepted. He could barely make it to the bathroom, almost went into the room of the wrong gender, and couldn't vomit straight. His memories of that time were fuzzy, but he did remember that he got vomit everywhere in the stall except for the toilet itself.

That's what he felt like now, minus the vomiting and the fact that he was drunk.

He fumbled with his clothes. His foot got stuck in his pants. His shirt was inside-out. And his hair... let's not even go there.

"Dustin..."

"I'm up mom! I'm up!" he called out.

With some extra effort, he managed to free his foot and finished putting on his pants. His shirt smelled of putrid sweat and dirt. He had a comb somewhere, but he couldn't find it, so he just ruffled his hair and hoped it was acceptable. Somewhat.

He opened his door, still trying to put his socks on. His mother gave him a look that said "Finally, you incompetent idiot" and pointed to a bowl of breakfast cereal. "Eat it quickly. The bus comes in ten minutes and you haven't even brushed your teeth. And your hair is like a garden gone wild! Comb it!"

Dustin grabbed the bowl and sampled the cereal. It was soggy and damp from sitting in the milk for too long. Beau was in his high chair, being fed spoon after spoon of baby food. Like any toddler, he found it more fun to play with the food that escaped his mouth rather than actually eating it. Dustin turned around to hide a grin of his mother's apparent "suffering" over getting Beau to eat.

His mother detected an unwarranted smile and yelled, "Hurry up and get to school already!"

Dustin dumped the remains of his soggy cereal into the sink (I'll just pick up a muffin in the coffee shop across the street, he thought), rushed into the bathroom, and fumbled for his toothbrush. Well, at least I try to practice personal hygiene, he thought.

The school bus pulled up in front of the house and blared its horn.

"Run!" Brandi shouted, feeding the last spoon to Beau. "Hurry up or you'll be late late late!"

Dustin grabbed his backpack, filled with incomplete homework assignments (Oh, who cares?) and left the house. Brandi came out a second later and shouted, "And you'd better bring home at least a B today!"

Dustin heard her, but he wasn't listening. As soon as the bus started moving, he pulled his phone and earbuds out and drowned out the world.

Brandi watched as the bus drove off into the distance. She sighed and retreated back into the house to clean up after Beau's breakfast frenzy.