SHE WAS THERE. Standing no more than a few yards away was Whitney, my mother. For the first time in ages she looked alive instead of merely breathing. Her cheeks were no longer hollow and her eyes were a vibrant green, the spark that had once been in them returned. She was staring right in my direction, but it was almost as if she was looking right past me. Like I was some sort of ghost that no one could see.
My body was entirely frozen in place. Any attempt at moving towards her was useless, my limbs failing to escape whatever captivity they were in. Panicked, I glanced down to see what was happening. There wasn't any ground beneath me. I wasn't standing up, but instead laying down in some sort of white box.
She was still in the same place when I looked back up at her, but this time her eyes were focused directly on mine. Her expression was taunting, daring me to come to her. She didn't speak because she didn't have to. We both understood that words were unnecessary.
I noticed some sort of wetness under me. Looking around the box again I saw a spout, dread settling in when I realized I was in a bathtub. The water coming out of the spout started out clear, but when it touched me it joined the pool of opaque black. It seemed to pour faster until the water had already covered most of my body.
And all she did was stare and laugh.
I screamed and screamed and screamed, begging her to help. Finally she resentfully reached out a hand, but before I could take it she snatched it away with a smirk and laughed even harder.
She then backed away, and the farther she went from me the more lifeless she looked. Her cheeks sunk back to regular, and the spark in her eyes was gone. And just like that, she disappeared.
The water kept rising higher and higher even after she left. Suddenly a figure came over the pool looking horrified, franctically trying to turn off the spout and lift me out. But I was still stuck, destined to drown in whatever I was in.
The black pool was less than a millimeter away from consuming me. It was hopeless. The figure was crying, sobbing, yelling, but I had accepted my fate. I knew what was going to happen. Then—
I woke up in a cold sweat, panting heavily. What was that? I couldn't remember the last time I'd had a nightmare that paralyzing.
Immediately I jumped out of the bed to make sure the door was still locked and sighed in relief when I saw it was exactly how I left it the night before. You're fine, Evie. You're safe. None of it was real. It was only a dream.
I shuddered one last time. There was no way I'd be able to get back to sleep after that, despite that it was still pitch black and I was more tired than when I went to sleep. I opened the smallest pouch on my backpack to check the time on my phone— 5:37 a.m. Despite my many protests, Ray and Claudia insisted on getting me one for Christmas three or four years back, just to make sure they could check up on me. That's when another feeling of dread settled in when I realized...
I never told any of them what was going on. Somebody better start planning my funeral now.
Underneath the time and date on the phone were dozens of texts and missed calls from them all, and I rolled my eyes when I saw that half of them were from TJ. I knew all of them were probably asleep at this point, so instead of calling I just sent a round of quick texts to the group chat I had with the boys.
the 3 stooges (+ evie)
me
guys i'm SO sorry i fell asleep
don't kill me i'm too young to die
also i'm safe everything's ok
i'll explain when you guys wake up
tyler <3
No no you're fine we were just worried
But you're okay?
nikooo
Thank goodness
^ What tj asked
me
yes i am, i promise
why are you all up this early
theo!!
we couldn't sleep because we were scared dimwit
can you call rn?
I stared at the message for a few seconds, still feeling slightly shaken up. It was before six in the morning, so I didn't want to wake anyone up from talking. I remembered that Eli mentioned there was a bathroom attached to my room last night, so as quietly as I can I decided to go there and shut the door behind me. As I sunk down against the wall I pressed the call button, and right after I hit it someone picked up.
"Hello?" I whispered softly into the phone.
"Hi, Vie," TJ said in a slightly nervous tone. A slight surge of guilt went through me for making them worry like that. "What happened? Where are you?" That was a good question. The car ride only took about half an hour so I knew we were still close by, but I never actually looked up where I was.
"Like half an hour away, don't worry. No foster care. The social workers, they uh..."
"They what?" Niko asked urgently. All three of them were silent, waiting on my answer. Here goes nothing.
"They found relatives," I whispered with a chuckle as they all let out sighs of relief, not even able to take it in myself. If I couldn't believe it, I had no idea how they were going to take the information either.
"Thank fuck. Who are they?" TJ asked, a hint of nervousness still in his tone.
"Well, I have brothers," I said slowly, and even though I couldn't actually see them I could feel their shock through the phone. Hurriedly I added, "specifically seven but that's not important."
"What the fuck?" they all exclaimed at once.
"Yeah, I fucking know," I whispered. All of this was strange. I know that my fucked up dynamic I had with Whitney wasn't really a mother-daughter relationship. The only true family that I was used to having was the three of them and Ray and Claudia. Some people may consider that sad, but for me it was normal. I wouldn't have it any other way, but that just makes all of this more confusing. I don't even know what I'm supposed to think now.
"You have seven brothers? Are they half or biological or..." Theo asked.
"Apparently Whitney was married to my father before she had me, and that's all I really heard. I just kinda crashed last night when I got back so they told me they'd explain later."
"No way," Niko said in disbelief. He sounded more shocked than I was, which was saying a lot considering how shaken up I was about the whole thing.
"That's what I thought, but imagine my surprise when I saw a guy that literally looks exactly like me. If I was a twenty-year old dude, that'd be me."
"That's... so weird," Theo said, almost speechless.
"All of this is. Just— the past 24 hours have been fucking insane," I whispered with a shudder, my voice cracking at the end. Whitney was gone, as in gone gone; I found out I had seven brothers; I moved away from the people I'd grown with for the majority of my life, and now I was living with this new "family." Not a lot of things could shock me but apparently, that could. They were silent for a moment like they weren't sure what to say. "Look, um... I just wanted to let you know what was happening and that I was safe. I'm kind of exhausted, can I call you back later?"
"Course," TJ said, and I gave a tired smile to the phone.
"Okay. As soon as I kinda figure out what's going on I'll try to come to the diner or something. I love you all so much. Tell Ma and Pa I love them too, alright?"
"I will," Niko said, and I could hear the smile in his voice. "I love you too, Vie. Take care of yourself."
TJ and Theo said the same, and I disconnected from the call. I couldn't go back to bed, but I didn't want to leave my room and risk running into one of my brothers. Brothers. This was completely absurd.
I pressed my hands against the bathroom tile and got up from my spot on the ground, moving towards a light switch panel with a couple switches. I had no idea which one turned on what, so I just went at it blindly until I found the one that turned on a dimmer light. That was when I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror.
I looked almost as dead as I felt. I could be a tough critic when it came to myself, but it was easy when it seemed like there was so much to be insecure about. My thighs were too big, hips too wide, and I hated the way my stomach wasn't totally flat like other girls I knew. I've always tried to avoid mirrors because staring at my reflection felt sickening. It didn't help that as I got older, Whitney and her boyfriends always had something to say about it too. So eventually I just started believing what I heard and thinking the same way. I know the thoughts wouldn't solve anything, but they were addictive. Thinking that way was easier than dealing with all my other issues at the moment.
I played with the bottom of my shirt in my fingers. Call me self-destructive, but I couldn't help myself. I lifted it up, cringing at what I saw. Scars and bruises were scattered all across my torso, some nearly faded back to the original pale color while others were fresh from just days before. Seeing them took my attention back up to the one on my jawline. It was much darker from than the day before, but I wasn't too worried. I'd keep covering it up with my hair or come up with some excuse later. The bruises on my ribs were looking worse too. It was starting to hurt more whenever I breathed, but I've had much worse. It was honestly the least of my worries right now. So I just decided to ignore it for the time being.
I looked back in the mirror one last time before running my hands under the sink to wash my face. The water was cold but refreshing, enough to keep me awake for a while. I turned the light off and went back to the soft bed, enjoying the warmth the silky covers provided. Without the comfort of sleep I was left with nothing to do but stare up into the black room and wait for time to pass.
In the meantime, endless worries traveled through my mind. Dax and Eli would expect me to meet everyone else today. Years couldn't prepare me for that, yet I'd have to in a few hours. But three were already down, so there'd only be four more to meet. At this point I just wanted to rip off the band aid and get it over with.
I must have laid in that same position for hours without realizing how fast the time was going. A series of faint, soft knocks came from behind the door. Before the intruder could tell that I had locked it in the first place, I sprang up from the bed like I had earlier and unlocked it.
"Oh, you're awake. I wasn't sure if you'd be up yet," Dax said. I just nodded again with a slight shrug, signaling him to continue. He scratched the back of his neck. "Well, I just wanted to let you know we were having breakfast. The rest are all down here so we figured it'd be a good time for you to meet them."
I nodded while managing to muster up a half smile. He returned the gesture.
"Alright. You ready?" he asked.
As I'll ever be.
༺ ♡ ༻
a/n:
quick reminder, i mentioned it in the second chapter but tyler is tj's real name. we get to meet the rest of the brothers in the next chapter ;) hope you enjoyed the chapter, thank you for taking your time to read my book<3
~ elle
wc : 1967