He turns to face me once more and points to the picture in question.
"Trees?" he guesses.
I shake my head.
"Us. See? Boy, girl," i explain, as i point to the two figures.
"Ah." he nods. "I didn't recognise myself. You made me look so handsome."
I choose to ignore his patronising comment. At least he tried.
The sound of the letterbox closing startles me.
"Can i get the mail?" i ask, with hopeful eyes.
My brother raises a bemused eyebrow, not sharing my excitement.
"I won't stop you," he answers.
I grin, turning on my heels and excitedly skipping towards the doorway. I pick up a letter with nothing more than my brother's name written on it and skip back to the kitchen, handing it to him.
His eyebrows furrow as he sees the unopened letter, and he glances towards the doorway, and then the window, and then me.
"Aren't you gonna open it?" i ask, curious, as always.
"Later," he says, sounding strangely unsure, but he quickly plasters a tight-lipped smile onto his face. "I have cake to eat."
𝙿𝚁𝙴𝚂𝙴𝙽𝚃 𝙳𝙰𝚈...
A large, calloused, hand encases my own, its thumb gently tracing the bumps and grooves of my knuckles.
It stays for no longer than a few seconds, and i instantly feel a lack of warmth as the person's touch disappears.
"I'm sorry, Rori," they say. "I was stupid...I am stupid."
The voice sounds a lot like Zephaniah's.
I had a couple of not so nice dreams earlier on. Nothing unusual, just the good ol' dreams of drowning.
My eldest brother wasn't featured in any of them, but i was reminded of him anyway. Most of my nightmares link to him in some way or another.
"I should have known better. You'd defend even the most unworthy. Let alone a stranger. I wouldn't be surprised if you thought you could reform Henryk of his malicious ways."
Is that really Zephaniah? Or am i dreaming yet again, perhaps?
It does sound like something Zephaniah would say to me, though i don't understand why he reserves those rare moments of maturity to lecture me about being less caring.
And what is he lecturing me about exactly? I can't remember.
Did i hit my head or something?
"I warned you that your selfless attitude would get you in trouble with others, Sorellina. Perhaps i should have emphasised that this doesn't exclude me. Why has it taken stepping in the line of fire for you to finally pull your head out of the clouds?"
At the sound of his admonishing tone, i instinctively tighten my grip on Simba's neck, pulling him closer to me so that his head is resting on my shoulder.
YOU ARE READING
𝐒𝐔𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐇
Teen Fiction(Previously known as The Lost) Betrayal is nothing new to the Łabanowski siblings. Neither is abandonment. So when the eldest two disappear on the triplets' tenth birthday, it really shouldn't take them by surprise. Five years later: the remaining e...
