Invisible string~ Matthew Fairchild {1}

Fourteen

Amelia knocked on the door of her brother's bedroom, silently praying that he was awake. It was the early hours in the morning, meaning the sun hadn't yet risen.

In Amelia's hand were dozens of poems, nearly every one she had ever written.
The door opened to reveal Thomas, with messy hair and dark circles under his eyes.

Amelia instantly regretted knocking on his door. "Did I wake you up?"

"No," Thomas said. "Come in."

His room was a disaster. Clothes and blankets littered the floor, which was shocking for Thomas, as he liked to keep his room neat.

"I—I want you to read these." She shoved the papers in Thomas's direction.

"What is this?"

"The side of me I've never shown anyone."

He furrowed his eyebrows, taking the papers. "What do you mean?"

"Just read it," she whispered.

At this moment, Amelia was more vulnerable than she had ever been before. Someone was truly getting to know her for the first time, and she was petrified.

As she waited, Amelia reminded herself of her brother's love for her. He had sworn an oath to never leave her side. Hell, he had withstood the hallucinations of Lake Lyn's water, proving his loyalty and strengthening their bond for eternity. So why did she have doubts? Why was she preparing for him to run away and shut her out?

In reality, it probably only took Thomas about ten minutes to read the poems. But for Amelia, it felt like a lifetime. She never enjoyed silence, and this wasn't an exception.

She was the kind of person that always had something to say, whether she voiced her thoughts out loud or not. But now, Amelia didn't have anything to say to Thomas. Because he was holding her soul in his hands.

He read poem after poem, progressively getting more concerned as he read. There were poems dating back to 1899, during the time they were in the academy. They were all fairly happy, right until around the time James and Matthew got expelled. All of a sudden, Amelia's bright and cheery poetry took a sharp turn into the kind of poems Thomas always thought too sad to read.

But when these poems were written by his sister, he couldn't move his eyes from the pages. Her words were chosen carefully, describing both emotional and physical pain in intense detail.

Thomas remembered James asking him to check on Amelia about a year ago. When he did, she had insisted she was nothing less than happy, giving him a smile so bright and convincing that he had believed her and backed off.

But these poems were proof of her suffering. Amelia described herself as weak, pathetic, and undeserving of love. How could she consider herself worthless when she meant everything? Was Amelia really too blind to see how many peoples' lives she had made better?

Thomas looked up at her, sharply inhaling at the sight of her tear-stained cheeks and trembling lips. This was Thomas's little sister, who was witty and desperate to learn, The girl whose eyes held the stars themselves.

But the stars had gone out, extinguished by something only Amelia knew of.
She broke eye contact, her gaze flying to the floor. "D-do you hate me? Are you angry with me?"

"Mila, I could never hate you. I'm just upset that you didn't tell me sooner." Thomas gestured wildly to the papers around him. "All of this, you hid from everyone, from me. W-why?"

"Vulnerability is a weakness." She sounded hesitant, as if she herself didn't believe her words.

"You are here, showing me what you never wished anyone to see. That alone shows how brave you are and how brave you have been. And when you're done with whatever you are going through, look back and know that you were strong enough to overcome what you once thought to be impossible."