Chapter 4.
Edited: ✅
Moving.
*** Spencer's P.O.V ***
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"What's worse than being alone? Being used, lied to, deceived, fucked over, left behind, abandoned and completely forgotten."
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"Spence?" My mom called from downstairs, I could smell the pancakes from up here. It made me pack up the last of the books from my shelf quicker. Even after I knew we were moving I still hadn't packed all of my stuff up.
I'd fallen asleep last night before I'd done any more, and this morning I woke earlier than everyone else to try and get it all done.
"What is it mother?" I asked tiredly as I walked into the kitchen where she was making pancakes, humming a tune from my childhood.
"Oh I just wanted to see if you were ready to go, everything packed? I've already talked to my boss and got transferred to California, there's a place there that needs my management. They haven't had a boss for a few months and they were going to ask me to go there anyway," she told me as she finished doing the cream on top of the pancakes, topping it off with a strawberry and handing me the plate, "I've also already got us a house, the owner wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible and sold it to me for half the price! Can you believe it? And the furniture is all there as well, they didn't want to keep it, so all you need to do is pack and take your stuff."
"That's brilliant mum! I can't believe we're really doing this. It's mental isn't it? Is Reece helping Jessie?" I asked as I finished my pancakes off at the counter table. I was starved, I didn't realise until I'd eaten.
"Yes," she sighed, my mum looked so tired, she had bags under her eyes and her cheeks were slightly sunken, "could you help him when you're finished? She's just got so much stuff. I didn't realise."
"Sure," I stuffed the rest of the pancakes in my mouth, putting the plate, knife and fork in the sink before I went back upstairs and into Jessie's room, it was right next to mine and I was surprised I didn't hear the two from the noise they were making when I opened the door.
It looked like a bomb had gone off honestly, it was a mess with stuff everywhere going from toys to clothes, to books, everything was all over the floor. It was like they couldn't of put the stuff in boxes, oh no, it had to go on the floor. There was no space that wasn't covered.
"You're not really helping are you?" I asked, amused as I watched my older brother and little sister play dolls on the only open space. There was a small circle around them that didn't have anything covering it.
"Could you help instead? You know I suck at these things, " Reece asked me from where he sat on the floor, looking up at me with big, baby eyes.
I knew I wouldn't be able to say no, but I sighed and shook my head. Accepting my fate was easier than arguing with it.
"Jessie, comere," I picked up my little sister when she walked over to me and balanced her on my hip, I looked down at my brother who was trying to give me puppy dog eyes and succeeding.
"How 'bout we fold your clothes and look for some pj's to wear tonight on the plane?" I asked Jessie when I sat on the floor in the middle of the mess with Reece, I then looked at him, "you have to help seeing as you made the mess."
"Yeah!" She squealed excitedly as she buried herself in the mess, clothes were immediately stuck to her with toys getting tangled in with one another while I tried to fold the clothes she wouldn't need yet and put them in the boxes. For a small child of 7 she had a lot of clothes, more than even I had. But she was a girl, I guess she had the right to have so many.
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We finished packing up all of Jessie's stuff in boxes just after about 2 hours even with me, Reece and mum doing it. Mum had joined us after a while and got most of the work done. Jessie decided it was too boring and went off to do something else after half an hour of tidying. At least now you could see 95% of the floor.
"Right, me and Reece will go and get something to eat, you finish packing your room," mum pointed her finger at me in mock seriousness before kissing my forehead and going downstairs to get Reece. He too had disappeared because it was too boring. When mum left the room, I heard the front door close and went back to my room to pack the last of my stuff.
You'd think being in the house alone now would scare me, but I think I'd gone through enough that, it just didn't anymore.
20 minutes later there was a loud 'BANG' that came from downstairs where I knew Jessie was, the noise echoed around the room and I jumped off of my bed quickly, ignoring the sound would make me a bad brother and with Jessie I was the best I could be, so while I didn't have my mum to go off on me, I went downstairs to see what the hubbub was about.
"What's goin-" I was cut off from shock mid sentence when I saw my little sister holding something in her hand.
Was that a rock?
"Jess, comere, what have you got there?" I asked her sweetly, getting down from the final step of the stairs and crouching down.
She ran over to me, holding out the stone.
"Thanks Jess," I took it off her, and as I looked down at it, the front door opened and I spun around, hiding it behind my back.
I don't know why I did it.
Maybe I just wanted to see it first, without the interference of everyone else.
"Hey mum," I stuffed the note into my pocket, dropping the now noteless stone onto the floor by the shattered window.
"What the - what the hell happened Spence?" She yelled it at me, her eyes bulging.
"I - I don't know?" I said it as a question, but I guess I did know.
Somebody wanted to get a note to one of us and they couldn't have just posted it through the mailbox.
"Come here Spence," Reece pulled me over to him, planting me firmly in his place before he went over to examine what had happened.
I saw his eyes change. They flickered from their usual colour to a bright gold colour.
I nearly gasped, but I didn't as Reece turned to me and they were normal again.
My mom picked up Jessie from the floor as it was littered with glass and Reece came over to me again, wrapping me up in his arms.
"You're okay," Reece whispered as he squished me into his chest more. I wrapped my arms just as tightly around him, holding on as if my life depended on it.
I don't know why, but since they'd got home, it seemed that what had happened was more scary than I first thought.
"We need to go there's no point sticking around, the moving van will be here in an hour and get the boxes. Just grab the suitcase with the stuff you wanted to bring with you straight away," my mum said softly after a few minutes of silence. Jessie had finally stopped asking what was happening and I let go of Reece, he still stood firmly next to me with his arm around my shoulder.
"Come on," Reece dragged me upstairs after a few minutes of silence where I grabbed mine and Jessie's suitcase and Reece got his and mums.
When I had gotten the suitcases downstairs and into the hallway I sighed. Reece was right behind me.
"I'm glad to see the back of this place," I mused as I took a final look around the place I wouldn't call home anymore. It always felt like it should be this way, even with all the good memories, the bad outweighed them by ten fold.
"You and me both, little brother," I loaded the suitcases into the boot of the car while Reece helped mum with the last few bits. The moving men would already have a key and be able to get our boxes. Hopefully they would turn up in a few days time at our new house.
"It'll be a long trip so I suggest you get some sleep," mum told us as she got into the drivers seat. I had also, along with the suitcases, bought out a blanket for me and Jessie. Jessie was in the front so I gave the blanket to mum and she wrapped her up tightly.
"Okay," I said after a while as I got comfy in the back seat with my blanket, I put my head in Reece's lap as he sat in the back with me. I fell asleep to the radio playing and my mum talking to Reece quietly.
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The plane ride and car journey that took us to our new house took over 14 hours in total and all I wanted to do was sleep in a proper bed, the seats on the plane as well as cars weren't that comfy to try and get a proper sleep in. We still had about 15 minutes until we arrived at our destination, as our mom told us, again, as I complained and it looked like my mum wanted to show off the amount of money she earned this time as the house was in a luxury place with huge houses and gardens groomed to perfection. It was a white picket fence type of community.
"You three have school tomorrow by the way, I've already signed you up and sent in the paperwork. Or more like mailed in the paperwork as soon as I knew we would be moving," my mom beamed at us with a huge grin, it spread across her face while me and Reece just groaned. My mum couldn't let us settle in for a few days could she?
This was typical mum.
"You have today to get settled into the house and then school tomorrow, I know that look Spence, school always comes first, oh and you'll have to help unpack the rest of the stuff when it arrives," my mum carried on. She didn't realise the horrified looks me and Reece wore.
As soon as we arrived at the new house I was more than ready to just lie down and sleep, in a bed. But my mum was right I did need to unpack my stuff even if it was only one suitcase. It would be one suitcase less when everything arrived. Although it was full to the brim, and it was pretty large in itself, so, could it wait?
"Right! Go and choose your room," my mum chucked the keys to the house at Reece as he was the oldest, but I decided to let them choose first anyway as I got my suitcase out of the car and followed them in.
It was when I got up the stairs that I found my brother outside a room door grinning. It was slightly scary, if not a little creepy.
"What?" I asked as I inched my way closer to him, scared that he had something up his sleeve.
"This is your room," he opened the door for me, letting me look in on my dream bedroom. It was truly magnificent and what I had always wanted.
The walls were a blood red colour while the carpet and ceiling were black. The bed on the opposite side of the door was raised with three steps to get up to the platform, the comforter on the bed was black with a red design on, a walk in closer was on the right wall along with an en suite. A bed side table was on both side of the bed made out of oak along with the work desk on the left corner wall, and a huge T.V hung in front of the bed. In the middle of the room was a coffee table, a small two seater sofa and another T.V opposite the sofa.
"I love it," I said in awe as I went further into the room. It was perfect.
"I'm glad you like it lil' bro, now get some sleep," he made a hand movement shooing me further into the room and into bed.
"I have to unpack though," I whined as I got my suitcase from the hallway, just narrowly dodging Reece as he made a move to grab me.
"Nope, sleep first. You've had a long trip and what happened before, you need it more than anyone else," he tucked me into bed after I stripped down to my boxers and climbed in, he was just tucking the quilt underneath me when I made a noise of protest.
"I'm not little anymore I can handle myself," I lied as my insides were braking down.
"Okay," he gave me a small smile, closing the door after he left. Although, as he was leaving he gave me a pointed look, "you have to sleep though. If you don't, I'll know."
When I knew Reece was in his room and my mum was downstairs I got down on the floor next to my suitcase where I dropped it by the sofa and opened it. Inside was the small wooden box that held my best friend. It was buried underneath all my clothes, them all spilling out unceremoniously as I wasn't too bothered.
I opened it to see 3 smaller blades and 5 bigger ones.
I took my favourite out and examined it, the crocked edges showed that I had had it for a while and the small blood splatters on it from where I used it before, only a few days previously.
Unwrapping my arm of the gauze it had on to protect it, I took my jumper off, I dragged the blade the length of my lower arm. Blood slowly trickled out of the wound and down my arm to pool in the palm of my hand. It wasn't exactly a deep cut, but I knew it would be bleeding for a while if left.
Everything that has happened in the past week, it was too much. I couldn't handle this much emotional turmoil, and when I done this, I felt like I had a relief.
I had something else on which I could focus.
I didn't expect mum or Reece to understand, but I knew my reasons even if nobody else did.
I did three more cuts the length of my arm before loud knocks could be heard on my bedroom door making me jump and cut deeper. I was shocked and my hands were shaking, I couldn't put things away quick enough or cover my arm.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" I chanted as I tried to get the now flowing blood to stop.
"Spencer?" Reece sounded more than worried as he continued banging on my bedroom door making my movements more clumsy. I was shaking more and more as Reece continued to knock.
I wrapped the towel I found in my suitcase around my arm tightly to try and stop the blood while I chucked everything back into the box and then back into my suitcase. I then got my blanket and wrapped it around my body hiding my arm before I went over and opened the door. The smile plastered on my face was obviously fake, but I hoped it was real enough for Reece.
"What's up Reece?" I tried to ask nonchalantly but ended up having my voice be two octaves too high.
"Are you okay?" He looked at me funny and then down to where I was holding the blanket too tight to where my knuckles were turning white.
"I-I'm okay," my smile was more strained as I looked him in the eyes.
"Show me," he held his hand out to me raising his eyebrows expectantly, my smile dropped immediately.
I hesitantly let go of the blanket and let it fall showing the bloody towel wrapped around my arm.
"Oh Spence," he sighed dragging me to the bathroom by the arm that wasn't bleeding.
Reece unwrapped the towel carefully and and turned the faucet on for warm water. I sat on the counter while he let the water run over my fresh cuts. It stung at first, and then felt better after a while.
"Why did you do it?" He asked me as he got a clean towel from my suitcase, coming back in and wetting it under the water and gently cleaning the cuts off properly. He obviously didn't have any alcohol or he would have used that. Only to teach me a lesson.
"I couldn't deal with it any other way," I said quietly only a hissing sound coming out of my mouth when he hit an extra sore part.
"Come to me next time," he picked me up off the counter after putting gauze on my arm and making sure it stayed before putting me into bed once again.
"Now sleep, we have school tomorrow," he kissed my forehead telling me goodnight and leaving me alone once more.
Sleep didn't come as easy as I would have hoped, but eventually I did fall asleep to the sound of my music playing.
Why did I think that everything would be okay just because we moved?