12 am { ON HOLD }

Ch. 7

❝when everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching -- they are your family❞ ― jim butcher

“Em, I swear to all things mighty if you don't come out of that bedroom then I’m going to have to drag you out myself,” Nathan called over the music that she had playing at its loudest, standing by the half open door and watching as Emily kept her eyes closed, head hanging off the side of the bed and letting the music fill her both mentally and physically. “Emily,” he warned knowing she could hear him but striding over to her iPhone speakers and unplugging it anyway, the sudden quietness making her ears ring loudly and her eyes to finally open, a frown on her pretty pale face.

"I was listening to that,” she said turning around onto her stomach and lifting her head up, only to lay it against her arms at the sudden head spin.

“I know that, and I think the whole neighbourhood was too,” Nathan replied smartly as he crossed his arms lightly and leant against her desk, eyes on his little sister as she finally lifted her head up enough to look at him for more than a second. “I need you to come out,” he said more gently then before, a familiar frown on his lips as she eyed him warily now that she opened her eyes again.

“Why? The weather is rather terrible today and I really don't feel like it,” she sighed, forcing herself to sit up for the first time since she woke up more than six hours ago.

“You haven’t felt like it in over three weeks,” he said frowning deeper, “the only time you’ve ever came out was either to eat or go to school.”

She cocked her head a little and continued to hold his gaze; daring him to break it first. “I don't have any friends, Nathan, what other reason is there for me to go out?” she asked, as relief filled her knowing that her brother still didn’t know about her going over to Tyler’s house almost five days ago.

Sighing quietly through his nose (which was pretty much a giant exhale), he walked over and sat on her bed, a knee up so he was fully facing her just as she looked away and out of her window. “Come to the library with me,” he murmured after a pause, knowing she wouldn’t let the offer go – never has and most likely never will.

Her eyes met his.

An eyebrow raised.

“You want to go to the library?” she asked as something akin to amusement flitted across her eyes, her lips a thin line but her eyes sparkling with something close to a smile.

“Yes,” he smiled for her, “one of the professors said something about a book and I’d very much like to check it out.”

He was lying, of course, and they were both highly aware of it; but because she loved him so much and because the thought of the library never failed to fill her with ease, she couldn’t help the way her eyes sparkled and her head nodded unconsciously.

“Which is it?” she asked sliding off her bed to pull on a navy-grey Amity Affliction crewneck – a medium that was much too big for her small frame – over her thin jumper and plain black leggings.

Listening to her list more than enough classical books that she’s read in the past he couldn’t help but smile at the adoration that shone in her voice; the delight he hasn’t heard for quite a while now, before leading her outside of both her bedroom and the house for the first time in almost two weeks – bringing her somewhere that wasn’t to school for once. “No, no,” he chuckled as she still continued naming some, pausing between few to think of more before saying the next with even more excitement. “I think it was actually called one bird over the nest?”

“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest?” she asked as he started up the car with another chuckle. “By Ken Kesey?”

He shot her a look as he pulled out of the driveway, much smoother and much slower than Tyler had that Tuesday night. “Yeah,” he said smiling, “something like that.”