'Dysfunctional: not operating normally or properly'
That was one way to describe Clara Campbells family. Dysfunctional; not operating properly. That was just what happened when your older siblings leave you.
Or that's what Clara had always believed...
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| Colton Campbell |
Clutching my ribs to the best of my ability, I tried to suck in as much breath as I possibly could, before I was faced with the final blow of the night, nearly knocking me clean off my feet. "Let that be a lesson to who you mess with next time" a shiver wracked through my body at the familiarity of the words, but I pushed on.
Once they had all turned their backs, I didn't bother heading to my car, knowing that they would probably either steal it or track me down in it. I could get it at a later time. All I needed was to get to somewhere where they couldn't find me, or so I hoped. Elias had never brought his friends around to Auston's place, so that was my only hope.
I just hoped that Clara wouldn't mind that I hadn't seen her in two days, because in all reality, Caleb and I had been rushing around, trying to get her some last minuet things that we hadn't thought about. I had seen her room, and it looked bland, and I just wanted to do something nice for her, but the one time I get out of my car to get dinner, I am jumped by my brothers friends.
So, I hobbled my way down the street, almost breaking out in a run when I thought that I saw the same car that had pulled up beside my own, right as I had gotten out, and then I was dragged down to the side of the building I was supposed to head into to get my order. This was what I was used to though, as if it wasn't my entire high school experience.
My brothers had never known that, as I usually covered my face, but after a while, they weren't there to care much about what the three of us did. My phone rang in my pocket, but I didn't bother to move my hands from holding my ribs together just to grab the phone. It had scared me enough to jump, causing enough pain in itself.
Relief flooded through my veins when I saw the familiar front door of the house, but feeling like a warmth in my chest evaporated when I saw very little lights on. Not even a light was on in the upstairs, where I knew they should be. Concern was the next thing that filled me, at the uneasiness that filled my stomach at what I was about to be walking into.
I didn't dare walk through the front door, rather seeing a flicker of light through some blinds, knowing it was better to climb then to go through the door. My gut was telling me that it wasn't safe to walk through the door that I had walked through a hundred times before. That was how it felt when I walked through that apartment door, until it felt like it does now.
I pulled my arms away from my ribs as I grabbed onto the window, feeling immediate dizziness as I pulled myself up, not even registering when I made it to the roof of the downstairs, crawling up to the window and tapping on it. I heard movement, as I was then spoken to, as I murmured something back to the person, before I crawled through and laid on the floor.
Words were being formed, but I was just laying there, trying to pick one thing out from the other. Footsteps up the stairs worried me, so I sat up, and started talking more, unsure exactly what I was saying, but that I just needed to distract Clara, my baby sister, from what could happen.
