The girl behind her smile

- 33 -

It angers me how easily they shun each other, how easy it is for them to pretend the other doesn't exist. Even though they know each others pain the best.

"My dad is dead, and my mum is in hospital after a heart attack, it took me this long to realise how important people are in your life, family or not. And if you guys are alright with throwing that away because of the rift you father created, and you won't even try to make amends, then you two do not deserve each other."
I release the hand that was in Jaspers clasp, and move back to to door, "You decide if you want to keep it loose what you have."

Jasper hold my gaze, I can tell he's not too happy with where I've taken this, but I know he knows there is reason to my words. Which is why he decided to keep quiet.

He gives me one more meaningful look, one I am not able to interpret, before he moves forwards and walks past Zayn.

Before he opens his car door, he speaks up, "If you want to leave with me, get it now, because I'm going home."

Content fills my lungs, and I release the breath I have been holding. Jasper was changing. His stubborn and cold mind was slowly melting away, and he was finally becoming the real him.

I give him a small smile, as I watch the two of them climb into his car.

-

Closing the door behind me I notice the eerie silence the house carried. The blind were still open, although it was dark, and no lights were on.

I frown as I run upstairs, I assumed Ezra had come home considering he wasn't present at the hospital. This feeling was all too familiar, the dark hallways, the eerie silence the house held and the feeling of dread sinking in my stomach.

It was like the night I found Ezra lying unconscious on the bathroom floor.

My heart picks up and my breath becomes more shallow, and once again for the millionth time today, my head plays the familiar beat of pain. I force myself to stand deathly still in front of the bathroom door, my hand hovering just a few millimetres above the handle. My chest caves in and out.

I wish my life could return to normality. To before my dad's death, when everything bad could be chased away by my parents. Because now, there was no-one for me, no-one to comfort me and tell me that if I open this door, there will only be a toilet, a bathtub and a sink, nothing more. 

And certainly not the sickly pale body of my brother, my twin, decorated and adorned with many puncture wounds on his arms. 

I feel a weight bearing down on me as my breath becomes heavier, and my mind hollow. 

Would it be better if I avoided this altogether? I could feign ignorance and walk straight to my room. But the thought he mere anxiety eating away at me makes more nauseous.

Before I could make a decision, The handle of the door turns downs and it is yanked backwards, revealing Ezra. His hair was wet, and there was a towel hanging around his neck. A look of confusion washes his face as he watches me regain my breath. 

I look away, whilst taking a few steps back, I didn't think I could make eye contact with him after all the thoughts that had sprinted through my mind. 

"Hey, what's wrong?" I instantly the lack of energy in his voice, there was something sad to his tone. Almost like he didn't want to speak to me, like he too was drained.