The summer break was ending, but the weather was still warm. Jane, a white-skinned teenager with brown hair and brown eyes, was riding her green bike in her quiet neighborhood near Brooklyn to go back home. All the houses were looking the same, but not hers. She had a garden in front of it, yes, like the others, but her house was a natural wooden house, not painted in white. She liked that little difference; her house was unique. The road wasn't busy which allowed her to enjoy her ride as she wanted by weaving and trying to do some wheelies, which she was miserably failing.
It was 7:15 pm, meaning she was late. But she didn't want to go home for now, wanting to enjoy the sun a little bit more. She worked all summer, so she could offer herself a few minutes of break. The ambiance at home was awful anyway, if she could stay away from it, she would, even if it meant being late.
She arrived in front of her house, entered with her bike, and saw her sister, Constance, a tall and masculine blonde teen with short messy hair, and her father at the table. Immediately, Jane lost her good mood, feeling a knot inside her which was upsetting her. She joined them in the heavy decorated living-room and sat at the table without saying a word.
- "You're late," Axel, her father, stated firmly.
- "It's 7:20, it's not late."
- "We eat at 7, every day, and you know it."
- "I know."
- "Your mother was eating at 7."
- "Maybe we could stop living like if she was still here," Jane replied with an irritated tone.
- "Respect your mother!"
- "She is dead! Okay!? She died two months ago, maybe we could stop eating at 7! We were eating at 7 because she had meds to take and she couldn't stay awake until 8!"
- "Don't talk like that about your mother, Jane, you can't talk about her like that!"
- "I'm just stating what had happened for years, now that she is dead, I would like to hang with my friends after work or after school and to eat when I'm hungry, not when she was supposed to take her meds!"
- "Stop that! Right now! GO TO YOUR ROOM! NOW!"
Jane clenched her jaw, pushed her plate, and stood so violently that her chair fell on the floor before going upstairs to her bedroom with heavy steps, letting her sister and her father at the table. The man loudly sighed and threw his fork in the plate, done with this dinner, while Constance was pouting, playing with her fork and staring into space, used to be in the middle of their arguments.
- "I'll talk to her," Constance said.
- "Yeah, do that! Like if it would change anything! She is always angry lately, it's unbearable!" the man grumbled.
- "She is mourning too."
Constance quickly finished her plate before leaving the table and going upstairs. She walked in the corridor, making crack the wooden floor, and noticed that Jane's door was opened, enabling the oldest sister to check on her little sister. She took support on the door and softly asked:
- "Hey, what's up?"
- "You're here to lecture me!?" Jane grumbled, laying down on her bed in direction of her wall.
- "Nope, not today. I was wondering if you were okay. You seem...nervous, lately. Is everything okay?"
- "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. It's just..."
Jane had been feeling weird lately, different. She discovered a part of her that she didn't know about, and she had no one to talk to about it. She had new sensations; she thought she was sick first, but then, it became clearer, and it scared her. Even if she undersood what it was, it was still hard to control it and she was still not sure it was that. But she wasn't ready to talk about it yet.
- "...I miss her."
- "I miss her too," Constance said.
The blonde teen entered the bedroom and sat on the bed before laying down next to her sister and facing the ceiling.
- "I think he is worried about you," Constance said.
- "I don't care," Jane mumbled.
- "He doesn't wanna lose you too."
- "What about you!? He is not scared for you!?"
- "I don't have the same medical history as you."
- "Sorry for being interesting."
Constance chuckled which made smile her sister. Jane didn't like being considered as fragile; she knew her own limits which the others didn't. They couldn't know as they were not her, and it was getting on her nerves when people were telling her to not do this or that because she could be hurt or she could feel tired. She was old enough to know what was good for her and what was not.
- "Don't go to bed too late, okay? You have school tomorrow," the blonde teen smirked.
- "Please, don't remind me this!"
Constance giggled, rolled on her side, and took her sister in her arms before tightening and kissing her cheek, which annoyed Jane a lot and made laugh more Constance. Constance got out of the bed and waved to her sister to mock her while Jane answered her with her middle finger raised.
Once her sister out of the room, Jane playfully shook her head and rolled her eyes before taking her Teddy bear in her arms to hug it. She was fearing her last year in high school, she knew it would be complicated as she would be working in a store almost every day to have some money for her. For now, she just wanted to be alone without all her thoughts to trouble her.