Zodiac Story ~ The Chaos Flat

Prologue

Libra's pov

It all started out five weeks before it actually happened.

Dad was screaming. Mum was crying. And my brothers and I were just hiding upstairs, waiting for it to be over. I can still see Sag's frightened eyes, as he looked up and asked me what was going on. I assured him it was nothing and if we'd give it time, everything would be fine. He nodded, and the fear in his eyes melted away. I had no idea back then. None of us did.

A week after that, the fight continued. This time, it was about Taurus' grades and judging from the voices downstairs, my older brother took part in what could only be described as a vicious screaming match. An hour later I finally heard his footsteps on the stairs, but he stormed past me before I could get any words of comfort out. It was the first time I'd seen him cry in years.

Three weeks ago as I came home from school, I walked in on a deathly silence in our living room. Both mum and dad had blood-shot eyes, and as I quickly made my way upstairs to get to my room, I found Taurus in my doorway, giving me a helpless look as he nodded towards our sobbing younger brother who was spread out on my bed.

Then two weeks back, everything finally seemed alright again, and we even went out for dinner. Unfortunately, it didn't exactly go as planned and long story short, the entire restaurant overheard an argument between my parents which definitely should have been personal. We came home barely an hour after we had left, and mum and dad hadn't talked since that evening.

That was fourteen days ago. Time goes by slowly when you can feel something ominous is about to happen, but even so, those fourteen days went by rather quick and when our parents called Taurus, Sagittarius and I together to talk, we already knew what was going to happen.

Horror unleashed.

'And why don't we get to have a say in this?' Taurus yelled, banging his clenched fists on the table. Next to him, Sag flinched and retreated even farther into his hoodie. Dad had gotten up a few minutes ago and had been pacing back on forth through the living room. For some reason, I couldn't tear my gaze away from him.

'Sweetie, listen –' my mother started, but whatever she would have said was cut off by my younger brother.

'We'll still see you a lot, right? Right mum?' Sag asked, his voice trembling.

Our mother sighed and shifted awkwardly in her chair, waiting seconds that felt like minutes before she answered. 'I... can't promise a lot. New York isn't exactly around the corner, and –' 

'Not around the corner? It's in another continent, for fuck's sake!' Taurus cried out.

'Taurus, language.'

'Wh- seriously? I really don't think now is the time to criticize my actions –'

'Listen to your mother,' said dad, turning on his heels to start another round of pacing. He looked far too calm for someone who had just told their children their parents were getting a divorce and they'd have to move out of their childhood home, but his voice betrayed his true emotions.

I heard mum sigh again. 'I know things are going to be different – that's inevitable, but you boys are going to be fine, trust me. It might be tough the first few weeks, but we'll make it work. I will call every other day and when Christmas break comes, you can come visit. I know how hard it must feel to leave our home behind as well, but please, don't worry. Your father has already found a new place.'

'Already?' I asked. My throat felt sore, even though this was the first time in the conversation I spoke up. Dad stopped in his tracks. He turned towards me, ready to answer the question I had left hanging in the air, but I finally tore away my gaze and looked at my mother for further explanation.

'Some place on the east side, just outside the city.' She smiled at me. I stared back.

For the first time, the roomwas entirely silent. It was kind of nice; a quiet calm had settled, and for amoment, I thought I could maybe, perhaps make my peace with this –

Taurus slammed his fists on the table once more and pulled me right back toreality. 'So what, you're just going to live in the States indefinitely? A oneweek notice and that's it? How is this fair?'

Mum closed her eyes before responding. 'To be honest, I don't have any clearidea of when or if I'm coming back to England. If my career doesn't work out,or if I can't find a good place to settle after all –'

'Yeah, because that's what all the sitcoms tell you; living in NYC during yourmidlife crisis is the worst,' Taurus sneered, folding his arms angrily.'You know what, I'm done. I'm gonna pack my stuff, since apparently we'removing in a couple of days and this – this talking about whatever is going tohappen – isn't helping at all with that. Come on Lib, Sag.'

Sagittarius stood up, conflict in his eyes as he turned his head between me andTaurus, who gave my mother one last dirty look before he stormed off into thehallway. Sag looked at me, helplessly, before he caught our mother's eye aswell. His expression contorted into one filled with pain while he moved pasther to follow our brother. 

Another silence settled over the room, this one much more unsettling than thelast one. I kept my eyes on the door through which both my siblings had justleft, even when my parents sat down next to me and attempted to strike up aconversation about our new apartment. I only caught a few things; how we'd gofurniture shopping and I could have whatever I wanted, or how I could choose myroom first – bribes to soften the blow of everything, no doubt. It didn'tmatter, nothing they said would really come through right now. Eventually, Inodded a final time in agreement to whatever they were talking about and slowlypulled myself together. 

I remember walking upstairs, making a mental note, laying down on my bed, and...not much after that. Everything was going to change. For good. This new placewe were moving into... even though my parents had kept their descriptions of itto the minimum, I could tell something was up with the place. But what thatwould be, was something I had yet to discover. 'I should make sure to get thebiggest room,' I mumbled to myself, before finally drifting off to sleep.

And that's the beginning of how we moved into The Chaos Flat.