A water glass and epilepsy pills were place on the counter in front of me.
"Take those." Charles demanded, pouring himself a glass of coffee instead. "I'm serious right now."
I frowned.
"Do I have to?"
"Listen sweetheart." Charles placed a hand on my shoulder. "I don't know what you were trying to do, but that stunt of not taking your medicine for a fucking month was stupid and reckless."
"Yeah yeah sorry." I muttered.
He placed a tiny kiss on my forehead, grabbing the coffee with him.
"Oh and Delilah, school."
"But." I started.
"We made a deal..." He cut me off. "It's either you do your schoolwork, or you'll go back to school."
"Okay okay okay." I raised my hands up. "I'll go make that stupid math, if it makes you feel better."
"Good." He shook his head in amuse. "Oh yes and Anthony has been calling you but you haven't answered, so give him a call before he kills you."
"Capiche."
When my brother was out of the room, I breathed hard, letting the tiredness overtake my body. I slid down against the cabinet, putting my head against my hands.
I wanted to go to sleep, but I couldn't. Something was just keeping me awake. Fear probably.
"Lil, you good?" Aiden asked, stepping into the room along with his twin.
I lifted my head up from my hands, leaning it against the counter instead.
"Just a little tired, but yeah."
He raised his eyebrow, taking an energy drink from the fridge.
"I am fine." I said again. "Shouldn't you be at school anyways?"
Edwin took a look towards the clock on the wall.
"Oh look at that, we should Aiden."
Aiden looked towards the clock too.
"Good point."
"Go." I chuckled when they didn't show any kind of interest to move.
Aiden took the drink with him, going to put on some shoes, but Edwin stayed.
"Bryson's home today, because Abby's working." He commented, watching my tired looking self. "Go talk to him Lil, please."
"Yeah yeah." I closed my eyes. "I'll go... soon."
Uncertain
"Lil?" Someone tapped my shoulder.
I groaned in pain, as the hard tile floor was feeling uncomfortable under me. Opening one eye, I saw Edwin's Jordans poking my feet.
"You were supposed to go to school." I muttered, closing my eyes again.
"Oh but we went." He huffed. "And came back."
"Have you been sleeping on this cold kitchen floor all day?" Aiden asked.
I collected myself to sit against the wall and looked to the clock on the wall.
I don't know whether it was funny or sad, but I had been so tired that I fell asleep on top of a cold tile floor. And yes, I had been sleeping almost six hours on it. Maybe I really needed a real genuine sleep.
"No." I coughed, but Edwin furrowed his eyebrow. "Okay yes, but I was tired. Very very tired."
"Where are Bryson and Jordan, and Charles?" He asked. "Why haven't they noticed our little sister sleeping in the kitchen all day?"
"Charles is probably working." I yawned.
"Jordan is probably having the best time of his life with some girl." Aiden said, before clearing. "Fucking someone."
"Yeah, I did not need that." I placed my hand on my forehead. "But thank you brother."
"Where's Bryson then?" He grabbed, once again, an energy drink from the fridge. "He wasn't supposed to be with Abby today."
Just when Edwin was about to open his mouth, Bryson stepped into the kitchen his smile growing when he saw me.
"Look who's finally awake." He chuckled, brushing his hand through my hair while taking a cup of coffee.
"Dude." Edwin raised his hands up. "If you saw her sleeping on the kitchen floor, why didn't you wake her."
Bryson leaned himself against the kitchen counter, crossing his arms. Taking a sip from the coffee, he pointed Edwin a look.
"Why should I have done that, huh?" He asked. "She was finally really sleeping, why should I have woken her up."
I gave a tiny smile towards him, kind of because appreciation. I guess I was rather relieved that he had let me sleep, not thinking about the place or the time of the day.
"You could have even moved her to the couch."
"And woken her up?" Bryson asked. "Look, I didn't want to risk the fact that she was finally able to sleep peacefully."
"Whatever." Edwin rolled his eyes.
Bryson shook his head, before crouching down in front of me. He rubbed my arm, only lullabying me back to sleep.
His glasses were lifted on his forehead, making him look well-advised. He was wearing a college shirt which I was pretty sure was Aiden's, but I didn't comment on that.
"Lilah, are you okay?" He asked, watching me closely.
Before I was able to answer to that one easy stupid question, I was cut off by Jordan who walked to the kitchen, having a gossiping conversation on the phone with Anthony.
"Fucking no." Jordan laughed, taking a beer out of the fridge while all of our heads were turned towards him. "Anthony, do you want get out of the college quicker than I lasted in the football team?"
"It didn't exactly go as planned, okay." Anthony's voice ringed from the other side of the line, as he was trying to hold his laugh too.
"You..." Jordan gave a quick look towards me on the floor. "were having a warm interaction with a girl in the Janitor's closet and..."
"Got caught." Anthony finished the sentence. "Oh yeah and the girl I was 'having a warm interaction' with was Janitor's daughter."
All of my brothers in the room started laughing too. Even Bryson chuckled under his breath as much as he tried to be the adult.
"Bet it wasn't a warm interaction. It was rather sweaty..."
Bryson put his hands on my ears, trying to prevent my ability to hear, but the harm was already made. I placed a hand on my forehead, being disgusted by the conversation.
"Dude." Bryson shook his head. "Here's a little girl listening."
"Oh get over it." Edwin pointed me a look. "She's sixteen and probably hears this every day."
"It doesn't mean that I want to hear your stories." I rolled my eyes.
"Lil I've been calling you like million times, you idiot!" Anthony's voice boomed in the kitchen.
"My phone is..." I scratched my forehead. "Not in the mood to talk."
"Yeah right." Anthony snorted. "Jordan, give the phone to Lil."
Jordan passed the phone to me, making me breath hard.
Anthony's face popped into the screen in front of me, the call being a video call. He was laying on his bed, wearing the college's football team's hoodie. When he saw me, a smile made its way onto his lips.
"Baby sis." He smirked. "How's life?"
"Anthony." I nodded. "Nothing special, what about you?"
"Now that you ask, I'm doing great." He said. "You know, a lot of girls and parties and friends and yeah."
"Good to know." I muttered.
There was a long silent pause when none of us said anything.
Jordan was leaning against the counter and taking sips from the bottle of beer while keeping an eye on me. Bryson was still crouched in front of me, and the twins were sitting on the stools in front of the island.
"I miss you." Anthony sighed after a moment.
"I miss you too." I commented. "When are you coming home?"
"When this shit gives me a chance." He chuckled. "I'll try to come as soon as I can, I promise."
"Uhu." I muttered. "Just, be safe."
I had lost a brother, so the fear of losing another was in my mind all the time. Anthony was somewhere in the other side of the country, and none of us knew whether he was okay or not.
Maybe it was just the trauma.
"Don't you trust me?" He joked. "C'moon Lil, I'm not that..."
"Anthony." Bryson shook his head cutting him off.
Anthony sighed.
"Yeah Lil, I promise."
I nodded.
"I love you." He smiled.
"Love you too."
Uncertain
I placed my head against my hand as I was trying to concentrate.
Charles wasn't exactly the happiest when he found out that I hadn't even touched my schoolwork. So, that's why I was forced to sit in the kitchen to do math right under his eyes.
Well, after 10 minutes Joe spotted us in the kitchen and had to talk with my brother. Charles with all the rush, forgot his phone on the counter and it kept ringing.
"Charles your phone!" I shouted for the tenth time, being distracted from the only assignment I was finally being able to understand.
When no one still answered, I got frustrated and decided to answer to the phone myself. Not the best idea if you asked me later but I didn't think there would have been any harm.
I picked the phone up, being rather surprised that the caller, who had been calling him ages, was an unknown number. Although, I wiped the feeling off pretty quickly, my brother was a boss of a business anyways.
I pressed the green button.
"Hey umm, it's Delilah Charles' little sister. He can't talk now, but I'll leave him a message."
A really sharp breath was taken in the other side of the line. It was almost like a gasp, but if I really focused I was able to hear the shakingly part of it.
"Uhm, I'm sorry." I muttered when he didn't say anything. "I can go get him too if you want, he is probably gonna get angry to me if I interrupt him but I can get him. Anyway..."
Before I was able to continue, the phone was snatched out of my hand.
"Delilah what the fuck!" My brother snapped, giving me a serious look. "Who gave you a permission to answer my phone!?"
"Sorry." I mumbled.
"Sorry?!" He shook his head. "Are you stupid!"
Someone grabbed my trembling hand making the pen I was holding drop on the table.
"Chill." Bryson commented, having a tight grip on my hand.
"I just answered to a call." I shook my head. "Not like I killed someone."
"And this is my phone, not yours." He stated. "Don't touch it ever again, do you understand?"
I blinked, taken aback by my brother's so sudden behavior. Charles almost never lost his temperature, so I was really confused why he got so angry about me answering his phone.
"Do you understand?" He asked again.
"Uhu." I nodded.
"Good." He put the phone against his ear and left the room.
"Don't care about him." Bryson said, pouring him a cup of coffee. "He's just having a bad day."
I shrugged, focusing back to the math work in front of me. The common factors weren't exactly my favorite part of the wide world of mathematics, not that I liked anything about the impossibility of numbers.
"Hey..." My brother tapped my hand, sitting down next to me.
"Yeah yeah." I muttered, brushing my hand through my hair.
Bryson pulled my half ponytail a little, getting my full attention. He was looking at me a pout on his face, make a smile crack on my lips.
"Stop it Bry." I chuckled, turning my head back to my notebook.
He pulled it again, making me slap his hand.
"That's not very nice of you." He said, shaking the hand. "Haven't we taught you enough not to hit other people."
I groaned.
"Stop."
"No." He pursed his lips into a straight line. "I'm bored, and I'd like to watch a movie with my favorite baby sister."
"Your only sister." I rolled my eyes. "I'm doing math."
"Oh c'moon party pooper." He ruffled my hair. "I promise that angry bear won't mind if you watch one movie with your favorite brother."
"You are not my favorite brother."
He snorted.
"Ouch little girl, ouch."
"Okay fine, but I'll choose the movie." I commented.
He patted my back.
"Sounds like a deal."
Uncertain
I was snuggled against my brother's side, feeling the silent comfort inside my heart.
Bryson's hand was wrapped around me, and I was pretty sure that he had fell asleep after the first ten minutes of that 'boring' movie. I on the other hand was rather enjoying the break from math.
"Delilah some fucking guy is in the door asking for you!!" Aiden shouted from the front door.
I sighed, unwrapping me from the stack of blankets.
With slowly steps, I dragged myself to the front door. I found it pretty confusing to be honest. I wasn't excepting anyone and certainly not wasn't thinking that someone would ask after me.
"Finn?" I questioned, my eyes opening wide open. "What are you doing here?"
Aiden gave a look towards me, then turned his head towards the young boy on the door.
"Do you know this fucker?"
Finn looked older, and his hair had grown into a longer version of his old short hair. He had a pearl necklace around his neck, which was actually kind of cool.
"Fucker?" Finn asked, pointing a look towards my brother. "Nahh, I'm not that fucker."
Finn walked past him, showing Aiden's hand which was keeping him away from me out of his way. Taking me by surprise, he pulled me into a hug.
"Woah get off her." Aiden hissed.
"Hey Lilah." Finn cut him off. "I missed you."
"The fuck dude?"
"Aiden stop." I muttered, grabbing Finn's hand. "C'moon let's go outside to talk."
"What about no." Aiden threw his hands in the air. "Lil get back inside, and fucker get out of here."
I closed the door, right in front of my brother's nose. Making my way to the bench on the terrace, I breathed hard.
"What do you want Finn, why are you here?"
"So listen up." He sat down next to me. "I'm turning eighteen this Saturday, and I'm having a birthday party."
"And you want me to come?"
He sighed.
"Look, I know you aren't exactly that excited about leaving this household, talking about a party with all of the familiar people, but please Lilah, it would mean to me so much if you came."
"Finn." I brushed my hand through my hair. "Can't you really just see it? You are Kevin's cousin, cousin. He hurt me so fucking much, and every time I see you, all I think about is him. I'm sorry."
Finn pressed his hands against his forehead.
"But I'm not him."
"And I'm not Edwin or Jordan or Charles." I nodded. "But all the things they do have an effect on me too."
"Oh c'moon." He muttered through gritted teeth. "I swear Lilah, he doesn't live in here anymore. I haven't seen him for over a year, fuck I don't even keep any kind of contact with him. What do you want me to do?"
"Nothing." I answered. "Go home and have the best birthday ever."
He leaned his head against his hands, breathing hard. His right leg was bouncing up and down against the wooden floor of the terrace.
"Finn." I said again, when he didn't answer. "Go home."
"Can you just..." He stopped the bouncing. "Can you even think about it please?"
I opened my mouth to protest, but he raised his hand up to cut me off.
"Do it for you, it could make you feel better if you saw some friends."
I didn't say yes, but I didn't answer no either. It was probably enough hope for Finn because he stood up and took the car keys out of his pocket. With a last look towards me, he walked to his Jeep and left the Miller household.
After few minutes of just sitting alone on the bench, Aiden joined me.
He was holding probably his third energy drink of the day, his eyes tightly on the same apple tree I was looking. The amount of caffeine he got in a day was not healthy, and still he was always tired.
"You remember when you fell of that tree." He asked after a moment, nodding towards the tree that we both were staring. "And Weston got so angry to me because I was supposed to take care of you. You cried like a hyena."
I snorted.
"I was like three."
"Pretty sure you were six." He chuckled. "And you weren't crying because you got hurt, you were crying because you weren't able to climb on top of a cloud."
A little smile cracked on my lips.
"That fucker didn't touch you or do anything stupid, did he?" He asked, turning his gaze towards me.
"Nope, I'm good." I muttered. "He's just Finn, you know, Kevin's cousin."
"Oh yeah he's that guy." He nodded, before he raised his eyebrows. "I thought he wasn't in our school, but I've seen that guy couple of times."
"He switched schools or something." I shrugged. "Hazel told me."
"Right."
I lowered my gaze down to my hands.
"Aiden?"
"Lil."
"Should I... Am I supposed to... Is..." I closed my eyes. "It's pathetic, isn't it?"
"What?" He asked.
"The fact that I'm not leaving the house anymore. The fact that I'm so 'depressed' that I can't even live like normal teenagers, or the fact that I cry like hundred liters of tears every day." I whispered. "I'm pretty pathetic."
"What, no, of course you are not pathetic." He gave me a questioning look. "It's normal to feel that way when you lose someone you really love. It is your decision whether you want to leave the house or not. It is not pathetic."
"But it's been a year."
"Look, I don't know what that fucker said to you to make you say these things, but Lil, you can take your time, you don't have to be okay a year after someone you really really really love dies." He put his hand on my shoulder.
"Really really really really really love." I whispered, taking a look towards my oldest brother's ring around my finger.
"Let's go inside, huh?" He stood up. "It's fucking cold."
"One more thing." I muttered, making him sat back down. "Finn is having a birthday party this Saturday and he invited me. Do you think I should go?"
"Okay, umm." He brushed his hand through his hair. "It's your decision Lil, it really is, but in my opinion it could make you feel better and it could be a good distraction from everything."
"Maybe." I muttered. "It won't hurt anyone if I just stop by there."
"Wow." He turned his head away from me. "Never could I have thought that I would want my little sister to go into a party."
He shrugged his thoughts away, before once again standing up.
"You coming now?"
"I'll come in a bit, you can go." I hummed, before smiling. "Thank you Aiden."
"Always."
I'm sorry guys...
I promised to update this chapter last week but I just didn't have the time to finish this.
Anyways here it is now, and it's a little longer than I planned to write, so hope you liked it.
It is pretty crazy that this year ends in few days. Hopefully I have the time to publish one last chapter this year.
But if I don't have the time, I want to wish you the best end of 2021 :)
Remember to comment, vote and follow.
Loads of love,
Author<3