LOTTA LOVE ━━ paul lahote¹

i. someday

It was no secret in the Sullivan household that Maggie rarely slept. When she was a kid and the incident happened, she'd wake up screaming and crying from nightmares so bad that she was scared to close her eyes. She'd creep into Zeke's room and they'd read old comic books under the covers of his bed until Wren or Everett woke up to check on them. The couple eventually decided to put Maggie in therapy and it helped, for a while. One night, the screams and cries just stopped, and they were gone ever since.

Then on that fateful day three months ago, they came back.

Maggie woke up screaming for the first time in nine years, begging for Carson Burns to open his eyes, to come back to her. Her family hoped it would be a one-off thing, but the next night and the night after that and the night after that, Maggie's terrified cries echoed around the Sullivan household. Then she came downstairs one morning and asked her aunt to take her to the counsellor, and ever since she'd been having regular sessions.

As far as Zeke had seen, they'd been helping. Yes, her sleep schedule wasn't the best. She had a fair bit of trouble sleeping, but she wasn't waking up every hour on the hour screaming for her lost best friend, so Zeke counted that as progress.

"Right, well, Aunty Wren wanted me to wake you up. I give it five before she comes up here to check on you herself."

Maggie giggled at her brother's words, "I better get ready then."

With a "see you downstairs," Zeke left the room, rolling his eyes dramatically at Maggie when he saw that Dakota was still in the hallway, her knocking as loud and as persistent as ever. Maggie laughed again, amused as her brother shut her door for her, his voice echoing through the walls as he joined Dakota in trying to coax Vera out of the bathroom.

Sighing to herself, Maggie got out of bed, stretching her arms over her head as she crossed the room to her wardrobe. Searching through her clothes for a couple minutes, she eventually changed into a pair of light blue boyfriend jeans, a loose white t-shirt with a rainbow stripe across the chest, and an over-sized denim jacket with a faded yellow sun stitched on the back.

Lacing up her shoes, she was just about to leave her room when she spied one of the photographs stuck to the back of her door. Amongst the happy faces of her family and friends, Carson Burns stared back at her. He was sitting on the beach with Maggie on one side of him and Hayden on the other, his arms around their shoulders and a blinding grin tugging at his lips. He looked happy, they all did. It made Maggie's chest ache, and her eyes were quick to divert from the photo as she flung open her door and exited the room.

Dakota and Zeke were no longer in the hallway. The bathroom door was open and she could hear the sink running along with the faint sound of someone brushing their teeth. Downstairs, she could hear Vera and Zeke chatting with their aunt and uncle, so she figured Dakota had finally gotten her time in the bathroom.

"Morning, Mags," Dakota murmured at the sight of her sister standing behind her, her neon green tooth brush sticking out of the corner of her mouth.

"Good morning," Maggie muttered, leaning against the doorframe as she waited for her sister to finish.

Once she was done brushing her teeth, Dakota took one last look in the mirror before giving a satisfied smile, "The bathroom's all yours, Mags, I won't make you wait too long like Vera would."

Giggling at her sister's grumbles, Maggie took Dakota's place at the sink as the older girl made her way downstairs. After brushing her teeth, she ran a brush through her wild bed hair, leaving her dark brown locks hanging around her face naturally. Debating whether or not to cover the bags under her eyes, Maggie eventually decided to leave them as she finished off her business in the bathroom then joined the rest of her family downstairs.