The Spawns

The Spawns | Chapter XXI -- The Responsible for all the Breaking

THE SPAWNS

The Responsible for all the Breaking

Chapter XXI—Lilibeth

© DarknessAndLight

I spent most of the night staring at my ceiling. Because of that I heard my brother, Maika and… Cole leaving. I heard the Jeep engine start and I heard the car drive away. There was only one reason for them to leave with the Jeep and that meant they were heading to the Dump Creek.

            I didn’t remember one time where I hadn’t gone with them when they left for the Dump Creek. The realization had me almost crying, but I held in the tears because I didn’t even deserve to cry.

            I had yelled at Cole that I never wanted to see him again. Why would I have been invited for a trip with them?

I couldn’t even feel bad for myself because I had brought this on me. I should have known that by rejecting Cole so heartlessly I wouldn’t be welcomed with open arms by the Three Musketeers. Of course they were kind with me and I was their friends, but growing up, they had gone to the same school while I was lagging behind because I was younger. I hung out with them outside school time, but I missed all those years they spent together in school. And I might have understood then and got along with them but I never got them the way they got each other. I was in the group but always slightly outside of the loop. And that wasn’t a wrong thing, it was a normal thing. And I should have understood that. I should have made friends instead of waiting for the time I’d get home to my brother and his friends. Because they were my brother’s friends—not mine.

I relied on my brother too much and I assumed that I would always have their friendship, and of course I would, but if they had to chose between me and Cole, Cole would win.

            I should make friends—friends of my own that had no connection with my brother.      

            It wasn’t a question of picking sides, because I knew my brother loved me and if I asked him, he would include me, or he would turn his back on his friends and support me, but the truth was, I was the one in the wrong. I had hurt Cole. I had been mean with him. I had broken his heart along with mine. I was the responsible for all the breaking.

            Cole wasn’t.

            And I had to pay for it.

            Still, there was truth in what I was realizing—I needed to broaden my horizon. I needed to find myself friends. And I probably needed to leave too. Because Cole would be back at one point and I didn’t want my brother to have to pick a side. I didn’t want anyone to pick a side. I had done enough damaged as it was.

            When I finally fell asleep, the sun was rising. I slept like the dead, as dead as I felt inside, and when I woke up, it was past midday. I normally didn’t sleep in that much—it felt like I was wasting my day away when I did—so my parents automatically looked strangely at me once I walked into the kitchen.

            My parents were washing the dishes—well Papa Was, Mama was just sitting on the counter, looking at him.

            I waved a little, heading straight for the fridge. “Good morning.”

            “Good afternoon, actually,” my father pointed out.

            I nodded in acknowledgement as I drank from my bottle of water. Mama and Papa gave each other a look, and just like that, Papa walked up to me, kissed the top of my head, and headed outside, probably to his painting shack.