Keep quiet.

The Plan

"You're drunk and you're being stupid. Destroying something so huge is stupid. Burning down an entire building just to make a point is... stupid. And dangerous. Is this really the best thing to do?" Mirren said, her voice raised slightly, eyes closed.

"Ummm.. yes." I replied, dizzy with the amount of alcohol I had consumed.

Mirren was right; I was drunk and I was being stupid - we all were - but what other choice did we have? Something had to change around here and this was the only thing that would make anyone realise this. It would make them listen; make them see that everything can be lost in an instant and nothing is permanent. It would make them realise they have more important things to be worrying and arguing about than money and materialistic things. It would mean that Gat could stay with me. We all know that deep down, the aunts didn't want to be fighting all the time; we knew they really did love each other. But we also knew Grandad liked the chaos and being in charge and able to have such a hold... such an effect on everyone and everything and it had gotten worse since Granny Tipper had died. Now, there was no one to hold him back and no one to reassure us that nothing he said, he would act on. She wouldn't let him act on them.

'You're fucking insane" Mirren moaned almost under her breath, massaging her head with her thumb and index finger.

"No, she's just... passionate... extreme." Gat interjected, smirking.

I smiled at him, a drunken, love-filled smile that probably looked like a grimace but I was sure he was also too drunk to notice. I rested my head on his shoulder for a brief second before removing it again.

'Casual. Smooth...' I thought to myself.

I loved Gat. I couldn't lose him now. Not when we were starting to get things together between us. Not when I thought that maybe we could work and be happy.

Mirren sighed and collapsed on the floor in a dramatic, defeated fashion,

"Johnny, you're awfully quiet over there, what do you think? Please tell me you think this plan is completely the wrong thing to do too?" She asked Johnny, turning her head towards his vague direction.

Johnny was sitting there, staring intently into the circle we were sitting in, listening - or at least pretending to listen - to what we were all saying. He stayed silent, just staring. He looked like he was contemplating something but, in truth, was probably in a world of his own, paying no attention to the matter at hand. I got onto my knees and leaned over to him, slowly so that I didn't fall flat on my face. I waved my hand in front of Johnny, interrupting his gaze and said,

"Jooohnyyyy?"

"Huh..? What?" Was his reply as he jolted slightly.

I laughed at this, finding it for some reason, hilarious that I'd made him jump and distracted him from his deep, engaging thoughts. I retracted my body and returned to my original position next to Gat.

"Jesus, do you not listen to anything?" Mirren said, exasperated by this point.

"I was listening!" Johnny snapped back, he was probably the most sober out of the four of us so hearing his opinion meant something to Mirren, hoping he would be on her side, "I agree with Cady." Mirren groaned. "But, I also think this is stupid and we need a better plan." He finished.

At this, Mirren perked up, sat up again and was more engaged now that someone had taken her side.

"Exactly. We're just going to have to think of something else to do." She said, smugly.

We all sat there in silence for a while, trying desperately to think of a new plan that would have a similar, if not the same impact on our perfect, broken family. We wanted to scare them but also provoke their real, human feelings so that they could see past their father's wealth and objects that mean nothing but money to them. We wanted to make them see that everything is so fragile and you need to hold onto the things that matter, things that will never be completely destroyed with enough thought and care; family. Their family that once meant more to them than their reputation and how much money they had in the bank. Although the silence only lasted that of five minutes, it felt like so much longer. The wine was making my head spin now that I didn't have anything to particularly listen or respond to. My thoughts were getting jumbled up in my head and I couldn't stay on one topic for more than thirty seconds before my train of thought switched to something completely different and off topic. When no one had suggested anything after a long, dull five minutes, we all portrayed a look of defeat.

"Well then, I guess we're sticking to plan A." I announced.

Mirren groaned again, obviously not pleased with the fact we were about to resort to risking our lives and carrying out an act of complete destruction and defiance.

"If we really have to do this then we have to be smart about it. We have to do it properly and we have to make it look like it was an accident." She said, looking around at all of us, deadly serious now.

"We each take a floor, soak it, throw around some newspapers for kindling and then light them. We leave down through the mudroom door; use the kitchen stairwell. This way, we make sure it all burns." I said, fuelled by hope and a new purpose.

"No, no, no. Splitting up is just asking for something to go wrong. We stick together. It doesn't matter if it all burns or not, we just need to burn some of it at the very least to make a statement. And anyway, if we leave it long enough before calling for help, it has a good chance of burning almost completely." Mirren said.

Her eyes were wild with fear and you could almost see her plotting and planning; the gears working over time in her head.

"In that case, I suggest we start the fire in the mudroom - it'll seem more like an accident then - but soak the first floor in gas so it'll catch." Gat suggested.

"We'll have to have an alibi." Johnny said, suddenly springing to life and getting involved in the plotting, "I saw that on CSI."

"We'll say we were here, watching a movie and didn't see the smoke. It wasn't until we smelt it that we realised what was happening. Then we called for help." Mirren replied.

"We also need to make sure we don't get any gas on us. Like our feet. And we should probably put our clothes in the washer after we leave and set them to wash. Someone should also make some coffee so we at least seem kind of sober. That will look suspicious too, if we're all smashed." I said.

"Whilst you're sorting the clothes and putting the left over gas back, I'll come over here and make the coffee and then meet you all here when you've washed the clothes and stuff. When we can smell the smoke, we call the fire department and then go and watch the blaze." Johnny replied.

"Johnny, your coffee tastes like ass." Gat joked.

"That's true. Maybe you should be responsible for all that." Johnny said.

"Probably best." Mirren confirmed.

Everyone nodded in agreement, looking around at each other for reassurance and understanding. Or maybe we were hoping someone would tell us again how stupid it was and refuse to help, making the whole plan faulty and unable to be carried out. Either way, we were in this together now and all that we could do was have faith.

We had a plan. It was a dangerous plan and none of us even knew if it would work or if anything would change but we were now alive with hope and excitement and if this was the last time we were all going to be together again, we might as well have it go off with a bang...