Change and Secrets

Chapter 13

"Oh my god", Raffael exclaimed as they walked into the living room of their home. 

Friday afternoon Saphira went back home with her four brothers. 
It was the first time in three years that the boys had come back here. Usually, every four weeks the students would go home to their parents, but Saphira's parents had taken the guys out since she didn't want to see them.

The last days haven't been very spectacular. Just the usual. 
Brad had beaten her up on four days, including today, and she had mastered that her brothers didn't find out. She had gone to her check-up and Jake said everything would be fine. 
She had gone to the Bads several times and she had spent some time with Tom away from the Bads too.

Being around Tom and talking with him about everything helped a lot too. 
So, Saphira was happy that they would meet tomorrow night again. She had also sat down with another thing. Tom. She knew it, but she had to accept it too. She was in love with him, but she could never tell him that. 

He deserved someone better than her. Someone who didn't make problems all the time. Staying best friends would be the best she could get.
Sometimes it felt easier to concentrate on her brothers than her feelings for Tom. Just like now. 

"That looks amazing. Is it a photo or a painting?", Jayden asked in an admiring tone. Each of her brothers stood in front of a different painting. 
Yes, painting. She had drawn them about a year ago and her parents have hung up a lot of them. She was proud of her work because they did look professional. Some were of landscapes, but some others were of her family and looked almost like a photo.

There was a painting of each of her brothers and then there were paintings of them all. They looked happy, maybe it was true happiness they had felt in those moments. These paintings were created out of her memory.

"Paintings", she answered. 
"But where from? Some of these paintings were never taken as a photo, so how could someone draw them?", Jack asked, looking up at one of him and Zack playing soccer. It was from a soccer match, they had won and went out for pizza later. 

Mrs. Halfblood looked at her daughter, telling her to decide what to tell them. 
Saphira can't explain why she lied, but she did: "I told him how it has to look and we gave him old pictures. He did it until I told him it's good."

"Wow. He's amazing", Zack said. 
"I would suggest, you go to your rooms and fresh up. I'll finish cooking and we can eat dinner", their mother told them. Mr. Halfblood wouldn't be here. He suddenly had to do a business trip.

They agreed and went upstairs to their rooms. 
Her room had been untouched since she left two weeks ago. A lot had happened in two weeks.

...

And a lot had happened the next two weeks. 

The weekend at home went without any incidents, there were no fights and they actually had fun. The days after had been like always. Brad had beaten her up on several days of the week, luckily she didn't have to go to hospital, only for her check-up.

There had been no fights with her brothers, but she had been observing highly and she was only seeing one thing. The love they had for her. The lie Brad had told her all these years and made her believe it. She was able to be the bigger person and see that she was wrong. 

Guess, her brothers did not lie to her. Saphira had also remembered their words. Things they said before they knew who she was and things they didn't know she heard. 
Which reason did they have to say that?

She had accepted this, but she hadn't talked with them yet. She had to, she knew that, but she was still a little afraid of what would happen, though Tom did a pretty good job in building her up. He had been there those two weeks and promised her that she would be safe. 
She felt safe, thanks to Tom. She had talked with him about what she had observed, he had confirmed it and told her to risk.