An Aftermath Of Many Years (CrankGameplays)

3

3rd November 2016

I was fast at taking tablets, usually. It went down first try and there was really nothing to it. I stood there, now, watching Ethan. He had vibrant blue hair and was scrolling through his phone. He wasn't watching me, and I doubted that he was even aware of my presence in the same room as him. I had two tablets on the bench in front of me and a glass of water next to them, but I just couldn't take them. Ethan was bothering me too much by existing. We had just finished filming a video. I had, with great ease, been not enjoying it.

"Fuck off." I looked directly into him. He looked up, confused, but scared of me.

"Sorry?" He had a narrow face. He had a narrow everything. With his body type, he should've been taller, but he wasn't.

"I said, fuck off." I leaned closer to him and he instantly put his hands up in surrender and got out of the seat. His eyes glanced down to the tablets on the bench then back to me.

"What are those for?" He asked. It was an innocent question, but I hated him for it.

"Get out of the kitchen." I was giving off low growling tones that filled the space dramatically. It was nothing more than a whisper, but it didn't need to be anything more.

"Kiara?" I came around to his side of the bench and grabbed his shirt by the collar. His body seemed to tense up at my closeness. I pushed him out into the living room and sat him on one of the oversized couches. Mark was watching the interaction from the table but didn't say anything.

I went back into the kitchen and took the tablets with silent ease. I knew that both of them could see directly into the kitchen anyway, but it was the unnecessary presence of Ethan being directly there that put me out of things. I shifted my weight from each foot and leant forward. My body was hurting and there was nothing I could do about it, other than take my antidepressants and deal with it.

I went outside and sat on the concrete platform. I could still see into the house, but from here, I felt more alone than in the house itself. I didn't have my phone to quietly play music or call Jenny, so I ended up tucking my legs up to my chest and just sitting there. There was this constant feeling that made me want to bash Ethan's head in with a rock, despite never actually having a conversation with him and I just couldn't explain why. I wasn't going to tell him about it though.

Mark ended up coming outside to sit with me. He knew me best, and I could always fall back on him, even if I didn't want that to be the case. He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and just held me there comfortably. He was good at that. I rested my head on his shoulder and looked at the ground.

"What's going on with you?" He asked. I didn't say anything in response. I didn't know what to say because I didn't know the answer.

I had a heavy headache. One that hit the back of my head and made me drowsy. I pulled out of my brother's grip and sat alone. He had a warmth that I noticed the lack of instantly but my attitude didn't want it back.

"I'm going to head home. You should too." He didn't want to say no out loud, but I could see that he was thinking it. He wanted me to stay longer and not just leave unhappy. I just wanted to curl up in bed and hide from the world.

He sighed, "I'll drive you home."

I was going to call Jenny, but we both knew that this would be faster, so I held out on arguing with him. I wouldn't have one anyway, so there was no real point. I sighed and stood up, dragging the sleeves of my thrift store jacket behind me as I walked inside. Ethan was still sitting where I had shoved him. He saw me and smiled, trying to get me to smile back, but I just wasn't feeling it anymore.

"You alright, Ki?"

"Don't call me that. Only Mark calls me that." I grabbed my bag off the ground and pulled my phone from Tyler's phone charger. It was at thirty-eight percent, but I sighed and shoved it into my pocket anyway. "And I'm fine. Just tired."

"I'm taking her home. See you tomorrow, Ethan." Mark grabbed his keys and opened the door for me. I knew that he was likely to ask questions in the car, but I wasn't in the mood anymore, so it was the first thing I let be known as soon as he had shouted out to Tyler that we were leaving and had shut the door.

The silence of the late afternoon traffic was a nice change compared to my overall stubbornness. I, not being the one driving didn't mind it all that much. I could just sit back, listen to music and practically fall asleep. Practically, because Mark was playing music and I was not. He was just trying to not make it so eerily quiet and I knew that it was my fault. He liked to talk to me. He wanted me to be alright and my head was the entire loose screw. The whole thing.

I looked over at him. His red hair still managed to startle me, yet my eyes fell on his nose. We had different noses for sure. Mine was much smaller.

"I'm sorry if I'm a really shitty little sister." I could feel that he wanted to look over at me, but with the forward trudging cars ahead, his eyes stayed on the road. "I feel like you spent so much time looking after me, that things with you were never as fulfilling as they could've been."

"Huh, then I guess I'm sorry I was a really shitty older brother if I made you feel like that."