Til' Your Scars Fade

First True Heartbreak

Veneer trudged out of velvet's room as the door slammed behind him. He looked at Floyd and pointed a thumb towards the door making a face of annoyance.

"Get out of my room!" Floyd mocked Velvet in a hushed voice, Veneer cackling and coming over to hush Floyd. "She's so impossible," Veneer rolled his eyes. He saw that Floyd had folded all the socks and had gotten halfway through the towels before sitting down.

"Thanks little buddy," Veneer said, stacking up the towels back in the basket where they belonged.

"My knees are killing me. Pff, never seen her do laundry around here. And I know damn well she doesn't have any chronic pain to keep her in that bed. I'm pretty sure you guys don't even have bones..." Floyd gestured to Velvets door.

"Bones?" Veneer questioned, his arms looping around and around each other to show Floyd. He laughed. Velvet could be heard putting on one hell of a tantrum.

Floyd snickered, covering his mouth with his hands. Veneer tried not to laugh at his sister, but he couldn't help a few giggles. She was so dramatic. And this whole thing had been her fault.

"I'll help you stretch," Veneer said, "lay down."

Floyd did as instructed, laying on his back as Veneer gingerly took one of his tiny legs, bent at the knee and folded it against Floyd's chest. His knee popped a little. "Youch," he joked.

"Sorry man," Veneer said, still helping him stretch and moving to the other leg.

"I feel like it's kinda ok though... that I take care of everything, I mean." Veneer started, already feeling guilty for mocking his sister a bit. "She took care of everything for me when we were kids. Mom and Daddy worked pretty long hours sometimes, they did a lot of charity work to give back to the community. Lots of fillings they were never going to get paid for, y'know?"

Floyd nodded, listening.

"We always had everything we wanted, she acts like we were neglected. We totally weren't. 90% of the time when we needed something they were there. And when they weren't, I had Vels. I don't know why she's like this." Veneer admitted.

"Hmm... ouch, (Floyd was getting his back stretched now) ...what do you mean she did everything for you?" Floyd questioned, intrigued.

"Well," Veneer gestured towards the laundry basket, "she was always on top of laundry, made sure I had clean clothes, and knew how to style them. Our room was always clean and later when we couldn't share a room, she taught me how to actually clean. Instead of just telling me I needed to clean, that was Mom's job. I guess she did a lot of the dirty work." Veneer thought aloud.

"My point is, she took care of me when I was a dumb little kid and I didn't even have the wherewithal to know what she was doing, let alone be grateful. I kinda feel like taking care of her now in return isn't so bad. I like it. She's my sister and she needs me right now." Veneer said, helping Floyd twist to the side and crack his back.

"Yeah I guess I can understand that. But you got me thinking, if she was there for you when no one was, who was there for her? Maybe that's why she's messed up," Floyd added.

"Hey man, my sisters not 'messed up' ok," Veneer corrected, narrowing his eyes. Floyd gestured to his own legs, his own hair, in reference to his imprisonment.

"Oh- er, maybe we're both a little messed up then. I dunno, she just struggles a lot more than me. Maybe it is because of that. I had her but who did she have? Mom and daddy on occasion, but she was..." Veneer lowered his voice so Velvet wouldn't hear him speaking ill of her "...she was such a needy kid. Always crying over something, usually something to do with both of us. If I wanted McDonald's, she was begging mom and dad for it. If something happened with me at school, she was telling them about it. Usually shouting over a phone call." Veneer let Floyd sit up, starting to stroke his tuft of hair for something to fidget with