- Skylar Miller -
Once I reached the shore, I scanned the beach for my sisters long, blonde hair.
But when I saw no sign of her, I panicked.
If she was stuck in that storm, she would die.
"Summer!" I yelled, panic lacing my tone, as I walked towards the edge of the water. Nothing changed, besides the howling on the wind becoming more prominent.
Should I go back in, or should I get help?
"SUMMER!" I screamed one last time, hoping for something to change, but when it didn't, I sprinted towards the house.
I frantically tried to unlock the back door, relief flooding me for a second when I got it open. I then ran into the kitchen, seeing the people I had been hiding from, but that would have to wait.
This was about Summer.
"Shane, Summer is out there!" I shouted out, turning back towards the back door as soon as I had let the words leave my mouth. I could feel my chest heaving up and down as my heart beat erratically.
"No, she is not. She's still in her room" Shane said, as he grabbed my wrist in a firm grip before I could go any further. I was prepared for the usual slap or command to 'stand in the corner and face the wall'.
"You don't understand! She came with me for a surf this morning, but it was getting too rough, so we decided to head back in, but she's not there" I then grabbed onto Grayson and Blake's hands, as Shane held my wrist.
"She said she was going for a walk, so she's definitely not here" Luke inputted. "Just help her" I begged, tears streaming down my cheeks, as I tugged them towards the beach.
Once they decided to follow, Brayden, Luke, Jay, George, and Noah slowly following suit.
As soon as I was out that back door, I sprinted back down to the water, re-attaching my board to my ankle as I dove back into the water.
"Skylar, get out!" Grayson yelled, but I didn't listen.
This was my sister; I had caused her this.
Someone then swam up beside me, grabbing the font of my board, dragging the two of us back into shore.
"Let me go!" I screamed, as Noah pulled me into his tight hold once I reached shore. I then saw Brayden's body head into the water to follow after the others.
"I did this" I sobbed, the words spilling out of my mouth, as I stood there, shivering.
My sister could be dead, and that would be my fault, because she wanted to help me win this competition. I could be killing my brothers as well, all because someone chose to help me.
Everything was done for.
Noah then turned my body so that I was facing him as I continued to sob.
This was my fault.
Everything these days was my fault.
I then felt sand being flicked up onto the back of my legs, so I took a deep breath which slowed my sobbing, and I turned to see my sister.
My sister who was limp in my eldest brothers' arms, her body a blue-purple color. "Summer?" I croaked out as I tried to rush after Shane and Summer, but Jay stopped me.
"You've done enough already. Stay out of this!" he yelled the last part, causing me to flinch back into Noah's body, as he wrapped his arms around my shoulders, producing some sort of warmth.
Those were the words that I had been dreading my entire life. I felt my heart stop beating as I cam to the realization. Of course, they wouldn't believe me. I was just a small, 10 year old girl that no one ever believes.
Who was I kidding when they wouldn't even follow me down to the water to save Summer?
I don't know if it's the fact that I have too much faith and hope that they will believe that I didn't even touch her or that this is the people they really are. That they have been hiding this side of themselves all along.
Grayson and Shane are normally moody and broody, but Brayden? Jay? Even Blake?
This was all something else.
---
Sitting up in my room, wrapped up in blankets, I let everything float around in my mind.
For the past 4 hours, I hadn't left my room. I had barely even moved from the spot I had chose to sit in.
Shane and Grayson had rushed to the hospital with Summer, which left me a few hours without having to wonder when they will barge into my room, to scold me or drag me out of my room and down the stairs so I could watch how much better my siblings were at surfing than I was.
A soft knock on my door interrupted my haunting thoughts. "Can I come in?" a soft voice asked from the other side of the door.
I recognized the voice to be Luke's; well not many people knock on my door besides Summer, Noah, or Luke. Summer wasn't here to knock on my door, and Noah hadn't come to see me again. Just like last time, they didn't even bother to hear my side of the story.
I mean who would want to come and see a potential murderer, that in reality had nothing to do with the person that was harmed. I didn't even lay a finger on her or her board.
"Come in" I croaked, as I hadn't used my voice ever since Jay had spoken to me.
I didn't even bother to turn to see him come in, I just heard the door softly creak open and close. "I know you had no part in it" Luke said, as soon as he sat down on the seat that was pushed up against the wall beside the window.
He wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me into his warm body as the two of us cuddled up on the small seat.
He was the only person that had bothered to come up and talk to me.
"I know you probably won't want to talk, so I'll talk. I always remember when you were probably about 4, you were in love with butterflies. You never understood why you didn't see the same butterfly the next day. You hated the thought of things leaving this earth, leaving you. Even when Shane would be out in the garden and accidentally squash an ant or worm, you would give him the cold shoulder for an entire day. That's how I figured you would never hurt someone or something. That's why I was one of the first people to believe you over Ella and Mia. That's how I know you wouldn't hurt any of us, especially Summer" Luke reminisced.
I remember my love for butterflies, hence why I have fake ones all around my side of the bedroom. Maybe this was the time to take them down because they reminded me of Summer. She did help me pick them out and then put them up when my other brothers couldn't be bothered to do it with me.
Because there is a potential that I have been the one that killed Summer.
"Have you eaten today?" Luke sighed before questioning me.
Now that I thought about everything, there were only the bare minimum that most of my brothers did for me. Luke and Summer were the main two that cared about me, followed by Noah and maybe Blake.
I just shrugged my shoulders.
At this point, I wouldn't be able to stomach anything because of what I had done to my only older sister. "Shane and Gray wouldn't want you to starve, even if they think you hurt Summer. None of them would want you to starve yourself"
They don't care if I eat on a normal day, so why would today be any different to any other day with them?
As soon as I can move out of this suffocating house, I will.
"Are you just going to go mute on me?" he asked, which I nodded to. If they don't want to talk to me, why should I have to talk to them?
Suddenly, Luke's phone rang, so he got it out of his pocket and saw who was calling him. I didn't even bother to tear my gaze away from the window that had rain drops running down it.
I liked to think that they were having races with another, just like my brothers and sister used to have races to the beach.
"Hey G, what's up?" Luke started to speak, causing my attention to drift away from the rain drops to his voice.
"Summer is stable, and the doctors believe she will wake up in the next hour or so, if the boys would like to come and see her, there more than welcome" I vaguely heard George's voice over the phone before I drifted back to the rain.
Of course, they wouldn't want me to come and see Summer. Yet, I was the one that made them save her and they couldn't give that to me.
"I'll let the others know, but I think I'm going to stay with Sky if she doesn't want to come and see Summer just yet" Luke responded.
"Skylar is not welcome to come and see Summer, so if you decide to stay with her, then you aren't welcome to see her" I heard George respond before the line went dead.
If Luke stayed with me, he would be banished from the 'we hate Skylar because she did this to Summer' group that they were now creating.
They didn't know that they were creating this group, but it was evident.
They would be stupid enough to not know what they were.
I thought family was supposed to stick together in tough times, but my family separates when things get hard.
Today is a clear example of this.
"I'm not bothering with them. They are just a bunch of fuckers for not believing you. How could someone like you drown her own sister? It's not right what they are doing to you" Luke comforted me, as he pulled me closer to him.
I couldn't cry anymore.
I couldn't speak to them anymore.
I couldn't eat anymore.
I couldn't do anything anymore.
This is just another time that shows that my brothers prefer everyone else over me.
They did this exact thing for about 2 months when I had a falling out with Ella and Oliver. Shane was in a relationship with Olivia, Ella's older sister and Summer was best friends with her.
They didn't believe me when I told them that Ella had sided with Mia, who had always bullied me, but Ella made it even worse. So, they continued to believe Olivia and her lies, until Oliver's family moved away from us, they all eventually wised up.
Luke was the only person that had stood by my side in this family, while the rest of them didn't even listen to them.
To them, I am just a little girl that they must look after. I am that sister that they must babysit when our parents went out. But I never had parents, so they never had to babysit me; they had to look after me for more than a few hours.
They had to be my parents. They had to baby me all the time.
There were even times when they thought that Luke and I were twins, but I am entire year younger than Luke.
But we act more like siblings than any of my other siblings act with me – excluding Noah and Summer at times.
"We don't need them anymore. Maybe we should run away for a little while; just the two of us" Luke broke my thoughts once again.
Currently, running away didn't seem like a bad option. It sounded like my only option at this point.
So, I nodded.
What had my life come to?
---