The Hours We Have

chapter forty-five

Some weekends are better than others.

I was used to working straight through the weekends but ever since the incident on the street, I hadn't gone back to work yet. They were allowing me some time off after I gave them a little white lie version of what had happened, just for legal issues. Although Mikeal had to convince me that I could take the time off because I knew we were still tight on money. 

Either way, with Malia staying the weekend, I don't think the house had ever been so lively. Aside from the usual charm that Finley brought. But I had been sitting on the couch with snacks strewn across the coffee table, watching the twins and Malia competitively game with each other. Ezra and Mikeal would occasionally come through but they were mainly busy upstairs. 

Malia had easily come out of her shell with the twins. After breakfast, they had decided to be a lot nicer, and I got off the hook with them trying to embarrass me. It was nice to finally see my brothers getting along with my only friend, basically. We were like a bunch of friends hanging out and it made things feel normal for once. 

Ever since the tragedy that had made us distant from each other, my brothers were the only people I was regularly around, and as far as I knew, they didn't hang out with anyone else either. Aside from the usual people we had to see for school or work. 

I was happy that it was gradually changing. 

We couldn't stay in the past forever and we couldn't let the past keep us from living either. Sometimes, I truly believed that none of us ever healed because we wouldn't allow ourselves. Bad things happen, but that doesn't mean good things can't happen again. 

Pain has a habit of making us believe lies, and there is a lot of struggle in letting go of the pain, but just because we hurt doesn't mean we can never be happy again. We just have to learn how to make the best of our lives, which is the unspoken secret to healing and growing.

There will always be a challenge in life. 

"Aha! I beat you again!" Malia declared victory, grinning wide at the twins as the round of Call of Duty ended, "How is it two against one and I still win?" 

Roman grumbled under his breath, "You're cheating." 

"Am not!" Malia scoffed. 

"I say we let Jordyn play the next round of zombies," Julian piped up. 

"Oh, no, I'm good," I raised my hands, "You guys keep playing." 

"Aw, come on, just one round?" Julian whined. 

I looked at Malia. She grinned. "Ugh, okay, fine," I begrudgingly took her controller and Julian hooted in victory, "But I really suck at this, okay?" 

"We'll see," Roman responded. 

Well, they did in fact see. I had never been a good gamer and I panicked with the controller at times. The next round was simply a compilation of me dying, and the twins reviving me. Roman literally had to stay on top of me because I was constantly dead on the ground. Zombies were my arch-nemesis.

It only got worse when the crazy zombie began chasing me. 

"It's after me!" I cried out and went straight to panic mode as the zombie screeched louder. My screen was all blurry because I was hitting all the buttons at once. I mean, I was trying to run but with a zombie chasing after me, I was already as good as dead, "Help me!" 

"Just keep running," Julian laughed.

"Or you can shoot it," Roman said in a bored tone. 

I risked a glance at my controller, I was a terrible gamer, and I couldn't remember which button fired my gun. None of it mattered, though, because a second later I went down and the zombie moved onto its next victim.