"Morning," Hannah groaned as she squinted her eyes from the light coming in through her window,
"Morning," I laughed.
"I'm supposed to help Jimmy and Chandler with a YouTube video today, wanna help too?" Hannah asked as she got out of bed and started to get ready for the day.
"No, I'm going to head home soon," I sighed.
"Myra, you should stay here."
"I should go home," I replied quietly, "make sure no one is dying from alcohol poisoning or anything like that."
"You're a pain in the ass," Hannah laughed.
"I know."
I changed into my jeans and a t-shirt, leaving Jimmy's hoodie on Hannah's bed. I put my hair up into a messy ponytail and looked in the mirror Hannah had on her dresser. I had a black eye, like I knew I would, and a few cuts around my face.
Hannah handed me her concealer without saying anything which I appreciated. I carefully blended out the concealer, making sure not to press too hard. I could still see the bruise, but it looked a lot less obvious than before. I could probably brush it off as being from the floor burn.
Hannah and I walked downstairs together, going into the kitchen.
"Morning," Chandler smiled at us as I sat down at the counter next to him.
"Morning," I smiled back.
He carefully grabbed onto my chin and moved my head to look at the left side of my face. I pulled back from his hand and looked forwards to where Hannah was standing.
"I'd put some ice on that," Chandler spoke carefully.
"I'm sure you would," I smirked, "I'm sure you'd do a lot of things."
"I would," Chandler answered, "you're coming with us to the store to get supplies for Jimmy's video."
"No I'm not, I'm going home."
"Over my dead body, Marx," Chandler scoffed before he picked me up off of the barstool and threw me over his shoulder.
"Put me down," I instructed.
"Nope," Chandler laughed.
He held me there for a few minutes until he carried me back upstairs. He walked into his room and dropped me down on the ground.
"Rude," I laughed
"You want to tell me what the hell happened now?" Chandler asked.
"Not really," I answered honestly.
"We're not leaving this room until you tell me. I know it was your mom, Marx, but what happened?"
"She was passed out when I got home. I picked her up to bring her to her room and then she woke up and freaked out. It's fine, Chandler," I explained.
"It's not fine, you know that isn't okay."
"But I will be fine, I'm a senior and I will graduate and move away to college. I will be fine," I explained.
Without saying anything else, Chandler wrapped his arms around me in a hug. I've only ever been in Chandler's room a few times, but it's always been the same. He's always been a big brother to me no matter how much people thought there was something else going on. He looks out for me, and I love him for it.
"Do you have a boyfriend, Marx?" Chandler asked with a smirk on his face.
"What are you talking about?"
"You smell like cologne, it's just a question," Chandler laughed.
"No Chandler, I don't have a boyfriend. Never have and I will probably die alone," I laughed.
"Doubtful," Chandler smirked, "the right guy is probably right under your nose, you just can't see him yet."
"Are you trying to tell me something?" I asked.
"No," Chandler laughed, "just saying."
I looked around the room after Chandler let go of me and found a picture of us sitting on his nightstand. It was a picture from my freshman year, Chandler's senior year. It was the night of Homecoming, and Chandler was senior homecoming king and I was freshman homecoming princess. Hannah and I would always go to all of his baseball and football games and he's always been there to support us too. He misses some games, but you can always count on Chandler. Chandler saw the photo I was looking at and lightly pushed me out of his room before we both went back downstairs.
Hannah walked out the front door with us, me giving up the fight and just getting in the car with them. I watched out the window as the world passed by, until the world stopped moving and we were parked. I followed Chandler and Hannah into the store, suddenly feeling weirdly insecure. I kept my head down and followed behind them through the aisles.
"Hey man, how many boxes do we have?" a voice that I didn't know spoke in front of us.
I looked up and saw a few guys standing in front of Chandler. I recognized the unknown voice to be coming from Chris. Jake was standing there too along with someone else.
"We have one hundred so far at the warehouse. Guys you know my sister, and this is her friend Myra. Myra, this is Chris, Jake, and Garrett," Chandler introduced us.
"The volleyball star has a name," Chris laughed, "nice to meet you Myra, now let's get some legos."
I listened as Chandler explained to me how many boxes of legos we were buying, he just wouldn't tell me why. I helped load hundreds of boxes into carts, what could they possibly be doing with this many legos?
"Need some help?" Chris asked from behind me.
I stopped reaching up to the high shelf and Chris grabbed the boxes down for me.
"Thank you," I smiled.
"Sure thing, are you coming to the warehouse with us to film?"
"I don't know," I answered honestly, "Chandler said I wasn't allowed to go home yet so maybe."
"You should. I'm sure Jimmy would be happy to have you there," Chris smiled.
"What does that mean?" I asked with a laugh.
"You should ask Jimmy what it means," Chris laughed as we walked with the cart towards the car, "but for what it's worth I think you should come."
I nodded, still not understanding. I helped load the boxes into the truck and we went back inside to do it all over again. We kept grabbing boxes until there were none left in the store.
I just followed along. I got in Chandler's car with him and Hannah and I watched out the window as we drove. So much has happened in the last 48 hours and it's a lot to take in. Meeting new people has always been exhausting for me, and it's even more so because of everything else going on.
When we got to the warehouse, I helped everyone else unload all of the boxes of legos and got more and more skeptical about whatever they are doing with these as the boxes piled up.
"Shit, sorry," I laughed as I ran into someone with a tower of boxes on my arms.
"No, my bad, let me take some of these," his smooth voice flowed.
I watched as Jimmy grabbed some of the boxes from me.
"Thanks, I'm sorry for running into you," I stumbled.
"No, my bad for not seeing the walking tower coming in," Jimmy laughed, "I didn't expect to see you today."
"Yeah, sorry, Chandler brought me," I laughed nervously.
"Don't be sorry, it's a nice surprise," Jimmy smiled as he took the rest of the boxes from me and added the to the pile.
"So, what are all of the legos for?" I asked.
Jimmy gestured for me to follow him, so I did. He opened a laptop at a nearby desk and pulled up plans for what looks like a tiny house.
"We are building a house," Jimmy laughed.
"Out of legos? And doing what with it exactly?"
"I'm going to live in it for 24 hours," Jimmy laughed.
"Why?" I laughed, "and what are you going to use for supports?"
"It seemed like a fun idea," Jimmy shrugged, "what do you mean supports?"
"Have you never built anything with legos? Structures don't exactly stay the most stable or sturdy. You could super glue all of them together but that probably won't fully support this either. You'll need some framework of some kind to keep it together, and it probably still won't stay up to be honest," I laughed.
"Well shoot, looks like I missed that."
"Hey, what are you two up to?" Chris asked as he walked over to where we were.
"Myra just pointed out that we don't have anything to make this house stand. We need some kind of frame and support to keep it up," Jimmy sounded exasperated.
"Okay, then we go buy something to use as a frame and support," Chris said like it was obvious.
"No, we'll go," Jimmy smiled over at me, "Myra will be able to help me figure out what we can use. Can you take care of things here until we get back?"
"Yeah sure thing, have fun," Chris smirked as he walked away.
Jimmy stood up and placed his hand on my lower back as we walked out of the warehouse. He opened the passenger door for me before walking over to the drivers side and getting in the truck himself. I didn't say anything in the car, I didn't know what to say, so we just sat there as Jimmy drove. When we got to the hardware store, we walked in together and over to the lumber yard.
"So what do you think?" Jimmy asked as I looked around the shelves.
"You could use a sheet of plywood as the bottom, it'll be flat and eliminates the need to build an entire floor. Then some 4x4s can make the frame for the walls," I explained shyly.
"I'll take your word for it," Jimmy smiled.
We grabbed armfuls of planks and placed them on a cart. We got more than enough, but too much is better than not enough. We paid and made our way back to the warehouse.
"So, how do you recommend we build this?" Jimmy asked with a smile on his face.
"How big is it going to be?" I asked.
Chris read off the dimensions they planned on and I started measuring. I made a square out of 4x4s and secured the plywood onto it to act as the floor. I placed a piece of wood across the center of the floor to make sure it would be stable. After that, I constructed four walls, with horizontal beams to help stabilize the walls. Chris helped me lift the walls up and attach them together, creating the base for the lego house.
When we were done, I stepped back and smiled at Hannah. We built a treehouse together when we were in middle school. It started a lot like this did.
"Now what?" I asked with a small laugh.
"Now we have to put together all the legos," Chandler laughed.
The thought of having to put together one million legos to make a house made me want to jump... off a cliff, but I'm here and this is what we're doing. The boys brought in some totes that were filled with legos and we got to work. Slowly, we built the house up. I had just finally gotten into a rhythm when there was a tap on my shoulder, snapping me out of that rhythm.
"Let's go, I'll bring you home," Chandler smiled at me.
"Oh, I'm allowed to go home now?" I laughed.
"I'll change my mind," Chandler threatened as he grabbed my hand to help me stand up.
"Fine," I laughed, "later guys."
Chandler, Hannah, and I left the warehouse, but I didn't want to go. It was weird, and I don't know how to explain it and I don't understand it, but I wanted to stay. Why did I want to stay?
When we got back to the Hallow's house, I knew I would be driving back to my house instead of going inside with Hannah.
"Call if you need anything," Chandler told me sternly.
"I will, but I'll be fine."
I left Chandler's car to get in my own and waited until Chandler left before I started my car. I didn't want to go home, but I never really do. It's my home, but there's so much darkness there. I took a deep breath before I made the short drive back to my house. I climbed up onto the roof outside my window and pushed my way inside.
There was a loud banging from outside my door. I had just gotten inside and all I wanted to do was leave.
"Hey! I know you're in there!" my mom screamed from the outside of my door as she kicked and pounded on my door, "Come out! Come out! You pain in the ass!"
I sat down on my bed and listened as more slurred screaming came from outside of my room and let myself dwell on the realization that today was like a dream and now I'm sitting in a nightmare. I'm away from here in a year, but this year will be the hardest to get through. I'm so close but so far from getting away.
I laid back on my bed and tucked my knees into my chest as tears fell down my face. The screaming couldn't ring louder in my head and I needed it to stop. I pulled my pillow over my head to try to block out the noises as the I laid there, tears falling and my nightmare sinking in.