Emilia Caroline Halstead

Vaping Part 2

Emilia woke up peacefully, until she remembered what happened last night of course. She slowly pulled herself out of bed, shattered from all the events of the previous night, before walking like a zombie downstairs. She was hoping that her brothers were both at work... but she knew they would never let her off with this.

She saw them both standing in the kitchen talking about something. She tried to turn around and go back upstairs before they saw her, but her poor attempt at avoiding them failed miserably. "Emilia" she heard Jay say in a suspiciously calm manner, she turned around slowly to face both of her brothers who were stood with their arms crossed over their chests. She stood there with the sourest look on her face ever known to man. "Go sit in the living room, we'll be through in a minute to have a chat" Jay stated, he was calmer than she was expecting.

Since he was so calm and she'd like it to stay that way, Emilia did as she was told and walked through to the living room and sat cross legged on the couch. She anxiously waited for Will and Jay to walk through, about 3 minutes later, they did.

Will sat beside Emilia, and Jay was on a lounge chair across from her. She felt like it was 100 degrees in the room, she was terrified right now. Jay was first to speak, "Look, we know you haven't been living with us that long, so we understand how hard it must be adjusting from your old life, to this one. However, I will say it again for the hundredth time, that you know how many kids come into my work, being arrested for stupid things like vaping, and you also know how many kids Will sees in awful conditions because of vaping." Jay spoke his words skilfully and calmly. Em was still in shock about how calm he was, she did feel kind of ashamed now, since they had both warned her so much about vaping.

"Now, we just want what's best for you, Em, really. We know that you know that vaping is really bad for you, so I guess, what Jay and I want to know is... Why?" Will asked attempting to make eye contact with the young girl, but you kept Em head down. This was the part Em had been dreading, she hated talking about her feelings but she knew this time it was for the best. She took a deep breath before starting to explain.

"Well, when I lived with Dad, he obviously didn't have many rules for me, hell he was on another planet most of the time anyway. I was so stressed out while I was living with Dad in that hell hole. I was at school one day and a friend offered me some of hers, she said it helped her to relax and de-stress, so I decided to give it a go. It worked, I had never been more relaxed, but I knew how bad it was for me, I started to find it fun as well to be honest. Of course, Dad never even found out, he was clueless but I still felt so guilty about it" Em said, feeling almost relieved to get it off her chest. She looked up from fidgeting with your hands to see her brothers both looking rather guilty and upset.

Will was first to speak, he cleared his voice then started talking "Em... we didn't know you were so stressed out. We're both really sorry that you felt that way and no one noticed. Now that we know though, we want to help you quit vaping and find healthier ways to de stress." Will said calmy, with an empathetic tone and caring expression of his face. "I- I don't know I hate talking about all my feelings and all that stuff" Em said looking down at the floor awkwardly. "Look, we'd love for you to feel comfortable talking to us, but that's not the only way you can de stress. We know you used to love dancing and going to the gym, so what if we signed you up for some classes and got you a membership at Antonio's gym?" Jay suggested looking up at Em with a hopeful expression on his face. Em looked up, she had stopped doing her sports when her dad started spending the money on alcohol instead, she did really miss it though. "Yeh, I think I'd like that" Em said, a small smile spreading across her face.

-------------------- a few days later ----------------------

The next few days were pretty rough if Em was honest, she was struggling to quit but Jay and Will were there to support her every step of the way. She eventually stopped having the urges.

Her dance classes had started again and she even got invited to join the competition team which she happily accepted. She was also loving going to Antonio's boxing gym, she found it was a great outlet for her stress and her anger.

Overall she was starting to actually enjoy her new life with her brothers, rather than just getting through it.

870 words

Hey guys! Please do let me know what you guys think and if you have any requests or writing tips, please comment them or message me! I might also be doing a few of these in the first person of Em as I think I'd find that easier maybe.