"I was so young, you should have known better." ~ Kelly Clarkson
June 6th, 2009: Anchorage, Alaska ~ 4 years before K-Day
This week had been insanely crazy. My sister's both came down to visit and I barely had time to go see my friends. Both of my sister's are significantly older than me. My one sister, Caitlyn, is 20 and still lived in San Fransisco with our father. My other sister, Abby, is 22 and lives in Sydney as an engineer on fighter jets for the RAAF.
Since they both live fairly far away, I only get to see them once a year. Despite the giant age gaps between me and my sisters, we are actually full siblings. Which is probably why it's so painful to see the two of them have a relationship with their father. Because he's also my father, he just wants nothing to do with me.
I was snapped from my thoughts as I approached the door to the Becket's house. I let out a long airy sigh before ringing the doorbell to the house. After a few moments, the door was opened by Dominique, their mother.
"Hi Mrs Becket!" I said excitedly which in turn caused her to smile.
"Emilia! We haven't seen you around in a few days." Dominque said as she ruffled my dark hair. I laughed and gave her a big smile as I shrugged. "Yeah, my sister's came down to visit so my mom wanted me to spend as much time with them as I could." I said while trying to fix my hair.
"Well the boys are around back if you want to go surprise them." Dominique smiled as she motioned with her head to the backyard.
"Thanks." I smiled in return as I headed for the back gate.
"That's not fair!" I heard a little voice cry out. In response, I heard two sets of laughter in.
"Yance, give it!" The small voice cried out once more. Suddenly, I saw a purple rubber ball go flying over the gate and land in front of me. I quickly scooped up the ball and held it in front of my stomach.
"I'll go get it." I heard one of the voices say in annoyance.
As soon as the gate opened, I was met with the bright blue eye's of none other than Raleigh Becket. "You should be more careful Becket Boy." I teased with a smirk on my face, still holding the ball. Without saying another word, Raleigh ran towards me and scooped me up into a giant hug, causing me to drop the ball.
We stood there embracing for a moment before he finally pulled away. "I missed you, Em." He said as he wrapped his arm around my neck, pulling me towards his chest. Before I could say anything, I noticed two more people walking out of the back gate to see what all the commotion was about.
"Em!" I heard a tiny voice yell as a little girl ran towards me to give me a hug. The girl quickly wrapped her arms around my torso as I returned the hug by pulling her into my stomach. "How are you doing, Jazz?" I asked her causing her to look up at me with her excited blue eyes.
Jazmine was Raleigh's and Yancy's little sister and she was absolutely adorable. "I'm good." She said as she backed away so Yancy could get in on the action.
"Hey, Kiddo." He said as he wrapped me into a giant bear hug. It had only been a week since I'd seen the Becket's, yet I missed them so much.
Once Yancy pulled away, the four of us stood in small a circle facing each other. "How was the sister visit?" Raleigh asked as he scooped up the ball and handed it to his sister who smiled at him in return.
"Oh, you know. Got into a fight with Abby." I shrugged as I shoved my hands into my pocket. The boys had heard all about how me and my sister would bicker so this was nothing new to them.
"What did she say?" Yancy asked, sounding almost afraid to know the answer.
Like I said earlier, my sister's have a good relationship with our dad. I was an accident, and my father never let me forget it. So of course, whenever Abby tells me to give him a chance, I shut her down immediately.
"Just that I need to 'grow up and stop making our dad the bad guy.'" I sighed, looking down at my feet. I felt two arms wrap around either side of my neck, and before I knew it, I was being wrapped into a giant hug by both of the Becket brother's.
I leaned my head against Raleighs chest as I wrapped both arms around each of the boys lower back. I felt a pair of tiny arms wrap around my stomach from behind me as Jazmine rested her face on my lower back.
Eventually the four of us let each other go, but Raleigh still held onto my hand. I felt the heat begin to rise to my cheeks as he squeezed once more before letting go. "You wanna go for a walk?" Raleigh asked with a mischievous grin on his face.
As I looked around at Yancy and Jazmine, they also shared the same grin.
"Sure." I shrugged, causing Raleigh's smile to grow wider. He stuck his hand out to me and I gladly took it.
Yancy lifted Jazmine up and placed her on his shoulders. Once Jazmine was up, she ruffled his hair playfully, causing the pair to laugh. The four of us proceeded to head around the house that lead to a path through the woods.
"You ready to step into the woods, kid?" Yancy asked as he turned to face Raleigh and I.
"Please, after you. Age before beauty old man." Raleigh teased as he gestured for Yancy to take the lead.
-
After walking for about 20 minutes, we came across a giant lake that was surrounded by nothing but large tree's. There were rocks that were spread out across the shore of the lake. I just stood there, staring out at the water for a moment.
Yancy and Raleigh had always talked about their secret spot and would joke about how they'd never show me. I looked to my side when I felt a hand touch my shoulder. "Welcome to our secret spot, kiddo." Yancy said with a smile as he squeezed my shoulder before letting go.
Yancy bent down to pick up a rock and then took a few steps back towards his siblings. They all had a small smile on their face as they held a rock in their hands. Raleigh held out one of his rocks in his hand out towards me.
I headed towards the three of them, grabbing the rock from Raleighs hand. "So, what are we doing with these?" I questioned.
Jazmine took a step towards the lake as she threw the rock up in the air before catching it again. "You throw it." She shot me a mischievous grin before turning back towards the lake.
"Stupid Christina won't share her markers!" Jazmine yelled as she threw the rock into the lake. I shot the boys a confused look which caused the two of them to laugh.
"We yell about what ever makes us mad as we throw it." Raleigh answered as he took a step towards the lake, ready to throw his rock next.
"I hate that I'm failing math!" Raleigh yelled as he threw his rock into the lake. I watched as his shoulders heaved up and down as the anger left his body.
Yancy was up next. He looked at his rock for a moment before winding up his arm. "High School is so stupid!" Yancy yelled as the rock hit the water, causing a giant splash. I once again watched as Yancy's anger left his body.
"Your turn, Em." Raleigh gestured for me to stand beside him and I obliged. I looked at the rock then back at the lake. I felt all of the anger and sadness build up as I had one question I wanted answered.
"Why doesn't he want me?!" I screamed as I threw the rock as hard as I could. I watched the rock hit the surface of water, waiting for the anger to leave my body like it did with the others.
But it didn't.
It just kept growing and growing until I couldn't take it anymore.
I dropped to my knees and I screamed at the top of lungs, hating the feelings that I was feeling. I felt the tears falling down my face, my knees stinging from scraping it off of the rocks.
Raleigh didn't hesitate to come to my side, instantly pulling me into a hug. Yancy and Jazmine followed shortly after, just holding me as I sobbed into Raleighs chest. "It's okay, Em." Raleigh said as he rubbed my back, making sure I knew that I wasn't alone.
After about ten minutes, I finally calmed down and curled myself into a ball.
"Em, you're bleeding." Yancy said as he looked at my knee's. I didn't react, I just nodded and sighed. I was too exhausted to care or cry about it.
Yancy looked at my knees as he gently removed the pebbles that were stuck in my knees, causing me to wince every now and then. "Hey, want me to kiss it better?" Raleigh asked as he winked at me, causing Yancy to slap in upside the head.
"Ow!" Raleigh yelled as he shot his brother a look, causing me to laugh. "Yes. Kiss it better." I said while still laughing. Without a second thought, Raleigh pressed his lips to my knee and gave them a quick peck.
I smiled up at him as he stood up, reaching for my hand to help me up. "C'mon, kiddo. Let's go clean up." He wrapped his arm around my waist, helping me walk.
"C'mere Jazz." Raleigh yelled to his sister as he bent down on his knee. Jazmine ran up to him and quickly jumped on his back. Jazmine gave her brother a kiss on the cheek once he stood back up and the four us headed down the path back to their house.
A/N
So I'm posting early because I have a shift this morning. I'm also going to be working full time so all of my chapters are going to start coming out later than usual. I don't really have too many updates so yeah.
Let me know if you have any likes or dislikes and I will try to add it during my next chapter :)
~ Jo