bucket list || l. norris

fifty

* hello. i am so, so sorry for making you wait this long for a new chapter. life has been so busy and wattpad has been the last thing on my mind - but i will always come back to this story. i return with some mila and micah love - because their relationship is so precious - and i really hope you enjoy. i hope it makes up for my hiatus. don't forget to engage as you read, but mostly, enjoy !! x *

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I awoke to the sound of crying. Not quiet, timid sobs but painful screams. They rang through my ears and sent shivers down my spine. I shot up in my childhood bed.

Lando was sleeping peacefully beside me, almost stirring but definitely not screaming.

Micah and Ivo were just along the hallway.

I rubbed my eyes and listened closely to the spine-tingling screams, before the adrenaline kicked in and I hurried into action. I pelted out of the door and down the hallway, bursting into my brother's room without knocking. I didn't need to make myself known.

The sight was enough to smash my fragile heart into millions of pieces. My older brother was on his knees, his face buried in the carpet, his shoulders heaving with so much force that the curls on his head were trembling. His fist was grinding into the carpet. I could feel the carpet burn on my own skin. Ivo - who was sitting beside my shaking brother - looked at me in complete bewilderment. The look on his face told me everything I needed to know.

"I don't know what to do." He mouthed in my direction, and I nodded, slowly approaching my brother.

Micah let out another blood-curdling scream and lifted his fist, before smashing it off of the soft, delicate carpet. I saw Ivo jump in fear, even though he tried to hide it. He's never seen Micah like this before. There was only one other occasion when I'd seen him in a similar position, but it wasn't this bad. He wasn't screaming like he'd had a knife through his chest and was bleeding to death.

Even the comforting hand of his boyfriend, placed perfectly in the small of his back, wasn't enough to pull Micah out of whatever he'd fallen into.

"Hey, Micah," I spoke softly as I approached him. "It's Mila. I'm here. Ivo is here, too. That hand you can feel on your back? It's his."

Micah didn't flinch from his position on the carpet. His shoulders were still quaking. His breathing was rough and unstable. It terrified me.

At that moment, before I could continue speaking, mum and dad entered the room, and the footsteps I heard from the hallway were very obviously my boyfriend's. This moment didn't need a crowd. I continued speaking to my brother like it was only him and I.

"This is my hand on your neck," I told him, resting my fingers at the ends of his curls on the nape of Micah's neck. "Ivo, keep your hand there. Exactly like you're doing."

He nodded. Mum and I made eye contact, and I could see the fear plastered all over her face. She hated seeing either one of us in pain, and when it came to me, it was all she'd ever known my entire life.

"Go back to bed," I whispered and used my spare hand to point at the door. "Lando as well. We will be okay here."

Mum was hesitant, but I watched as dad took her hand and gave her an encouraging nod. They both knew that in situations like these, I was the right person to be by Micah's side. It terrified me, really, because there would soon be a day when I wouldn't be here to soothe him.

In that moment, I hoped to God that Ivo was the love of Micah's life, and he would watch the way I comforted my brother so he could do the same should he ever need to.