| Clara Campbell |
Sitting in bed, a moving playing on the TV, and half the bed being occupied by the dogs, I felt comfort, all while I was finally being left alone. I had constantly had someone in the room for the past week, that now, it felt good to be alone.
Ever since I had told Auston what had happened to me, all while he looked at me like he had experienced what I had, I knew he had spoken to our other brothers about it. Knowing that he was one of the ones that had been hurt by our mother, hurt me more than anything. It hurt, knowing that he had gone through what I had, and I wished I could have helped him more, even though he was more than 10 years older than me.
He needed more help than he would ever ask for. He liked helping other people, and never asked for it, and I wanted to be the one that helped him, so that he wasn't going through it all on his own, like I had for the past 13 years, on the rare occasion that Caleb was dragged in with me.
The only person that I hadn't heard from or known if he knew was Greyson. He knew I had anxiety, but I don't think he knew it was from our mother. Mackenzie would not have cared, even though she showed care towards me when we had gone out for dinner, I still wasn't sure about her, after everything between mother and her.
A knock on the door resounded through the room, causing me to groan and roll over towards the dogs, before burying my head in the sheets. I wasn't in the mood for getting out of bed, and usually one of my brothers would come up at this time, to get me out of my room and down to the dining room.
The house had been mainly quiet; quieter than what I had grown accustomed to know. Not many conversations were happening between one another, especially between my brothers with one another. I felt like I was the one at fault for that, and I had no idea how to fix it. I knew that I had to be the one that fixed it, so that they all could stop looking at me like I was a broken piece of ice that was ready to break even further.
Been there done that all before.
I heard the door open, forcing me to push my face further into the comforter, breathing in that scent that my brothers had been leaving behind, as I had woken to some of them in my room. Auston or Cameron were always in here every night, it just depended on who had stayed the night. None of them knew that I knew, as I would wake in the night, but never wake them.
They needed the sleep and it was obvious.
"Clara" I immediately knew it to be Caleb as he had respected my wishes of calling me Clara, but right now, I wanted him to call me C, like he used to. I was his little C while he was my big C. "Yeah C" it slipped through my lips before I had a chance to stop it. I really hoped that it wouldn't change what was going on between the two of us, as I had started to enjoy it all.
But that was what usually happened. I got too comfortable and then all of a sudden, I was the one that was on the outer, searching to get back into the group, but I was always too small. "Hey C" he murmured, as he walked into my bedroom, opening and closing the door for himself. My heart warmed that he had used the same nickname back, feeling like I was getting somewhere with one of my brothers that wasn't Auston.
"Can I join you?" he muttered, as I sat up, noticing the red in his eyes, which was coupled with the bags under his eyes, as I just nodded, moving further into my bed, while holding up the covers for him. It gave me heavy Deja vu, knowing that he used to do this with me when we were younger, and I hoped that he felt the same way, now that he was experiencing what I had just experienced.
He was my best friend and I had truly missed him. "Of course" I muttered, as he slipped in beside me, before wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into his chest, where I rested. It felt like we were going back to the old times, where it was just the two of us, doing what we always did.
---
A knock sounded on the door once again, awakening me, as I sat up, before realizing that I couldn't get far. Caleb had fallen asleep, and still had a tight grip on me, as I was holding his spare hand. Slowly pulling apart, I watched as the door opened ever so slowly, revealing someone that I wasn't expecting to see at this hour once again.
He was coming home much earlier these days, and I knew that I was at fault for that. "Hey Ara" he murmured, nodding his head to Caleb, causing me to turn back around to my older brother, gently and slowly pushing a bit of hair that had fallen in front of his eyes, revealing our matching freckles that doted softly across his cheeks and nose.
A small smile crossed his lips, making me realize that he had woken up, but decided not to open his eyes just yet. The bags on his eyes had slowly decreased from what they had looked like before, when he had come into my bedroom, which still didn't feel real to me. Caleb came into my bedroom, the one that I had been the first person to ever set foot into it and call it mine.
A phone ringing caused all of us to finally look back at Auston, including the dogs, Daisy and Poppy, as Auston grabbed his phone out of his sweatpants. For once, he was dressed like the rest of my brothers, taking in the sweatpants and shirt idea, only that he had a hoodie on instead of being like Caleb with a short-sleeve shirt on.
The two of us watched Auston talk on the phone for a few minuets, as Caleb was brushing his fingers through my hair, as I was patting the nearest dog, not caring too much about everything that was going on around our little bubble that had been created in the last few hours.
"Someone is here for you" Auston said, a small smile gracing his lips as I, shocked, turned my head as fast as I could towards Caleb, hoping for some form of comfort. He just shook his head, looking just as confused and shocked as I did. Turning back to Auston, I slowly sat up as Caleb had started to move towards getting out of the bed.
I gave Auston a look, that said 'Do I have to', rather not wanting to leave the comfort of my bed. Also, the idea of not knowing what was coming next, scared me more than I know it should have. I was at that point, that I knew the person that I had built up over the years without my brothers and sister, was gone now, all within a few minuets of being hurt by girls my own age.
"You'll love it" that sent a slight shiver down my spine, but I tried to hide it, not wanting to make Auston in a worse position because of myself. I just nodded, before climbing out of my warm, comfy bed, behind Caleb. I clasped onto his hand, as I felt him gently tug me with him, as I kept my eyes on the bottom of his feet.
The two of us were following Auston, whom was walking us towards the stairs. The sickening feeling in my stomach churned, and I hated this feeling. I wish that I could just be like everyone else and take everything on the chin and know that it wasn't affecting me. I just wish that I could be someone that took everything without having to pretend like they weren't hurting deep down. I wanted and needed to so badly stop pretending and just get on with life.
Turning the corner, I was met with the top of the stairs, as Caleb had kept walking, while Auston had stopped a couple of steps back. Caleb suddenly stopped, but I still didn't dare to look up. I could hear people conversing, but I was so scared of what could possibly come next that I had no strength within myself to will my head to come up and look at what was going on in front of me, and that made everything worse.
I was turned back to face Caleb, as he pulled my chin up. Pressing a kiss to my forehead gave me more reassurance than I would ever need, as he squeezed my hand that was still intertwined with his, before we took a breath in together. This was always how we worked through things before we had to part, and go our own ways. The sad thing was, that this was one of our last interactions, and that added to the nerves in my body.
This could be our last, but I had a feeling that maybe it wouldn't or at least not yet. Taking a final breath on my own, I knew that I would have to face this on my own, as Caleb had already seen who was here, and whatever was there to greet me at the bottom of the stairs. So, slowly turning around, I kept my gaze down again, just as I took a few, slow breaths on my own.
Looking up, I was met with a sight that I was most definitely not expecting today. So, carefully racing down the stairs, I wrapped my arms tightly around them, as we squished one another together tightly, trying to fix all the time that we had had apart. What I didn't notice was the person standing behind one of them, shocking me even more.
"What about me?"
---
thoughts? xx
who do we think the mystery people are? who is the fourth person? do we want a hint?
also, sorry for the bit of a filler chapter, thought you all needed to know how she was going and that she is starting to get back into her normal life, but still thinking that everything is her fault.