Her Beast

Chapter four: Family issues

It was finally Saturday, but Zoey still had to work. The entire day was busy, and most of the customers were teens. They bustled all day long about the festival happening in a few days. The festival was the most exciting thing to happen to their town.

The festival was held every harvest year for many years. Children would always come dressed up in costumes, whether it was near Halloween or not. Most dressed as stories of the beast. The festival was full of games, food and tons of prizes. Zoey used to love the festival as it was all fun and games to hold an event for this mysterious shadow but lately she had a hard time going back.

Work went by slowly but soon Zoey was finally done. She thanked Ann a million times as she agreed to take over her the last few hours of her shift. She raced home so excited to see her brothers as it had been too long. Zoey hurriedly went inside and changed into something more presentable and waited for them to arrive.

Finally, the doorbell rang, and she heard her mom talking to someone at the door. She ran down the stairs and saw her sister with her kids in tow.

They said hi to their grandma then raced outside to the playground that Casandra and Zoeys dad, Darrell, had built for them.

"Hey Charlotte"

Zoey waved awkwardly to her older sister. She and her sister didn't have the best relationship. Zoey was a baby when she moved out of the house so they never got close. Charlotte seemed to have a dislike for Zoey. She avoided her at family events and would mostly focus on her parents or brothers.

Charlotette smiled softly while pushing a strand of her honey hair behind her ear.

Her husband, Sean, came in behind, and Zoey hugged him since she considered him one of her brothers. She felt as though they had the best relationship out of her siblings even though he was her brother-in-law.

"Charlotte, come sit while we wait for your brothers."

Landon and Adam lived in a city which was about an hour away. They both went to college there and decided to stay and live there. Zoeys parents had thought about moving there to be closer to them, but they loved Aria too much, and her sister lived there also.

After talking to Charlotte for some time, the doorbell rang again. Darrell opened it up to both his sons and their wives. Zoey's brother Landon had been married to his wife for about seven years and they have three kids. Her brother Adam on the other hand had been married for four years.

Zoey smiled widely as they came into the room. Landon's children did the same thing as Charlottes and ran out to play with their cousins. While Eleanor, Landon's wife, held her 6-month-old baby.

Zoey looked at both her brothers noticing how much older they looked than the last time. They had the same honey hair as their mom but hers was becoming more peppered with grays. Landon's eyes were a sky blue which he got from their dad whereas Adams were a stormy ocean blue like their mom's eyes. Zoey had wondered where she got the chocolate eyes but Cassandra had informed her, they were from her grandfather. She hated her eyes growing up since she wanted them to be blue.

They sat down on the couches and began to catch up on each others lives. They spoke on and on about life now and life back when they were kids. Most of the conversations were even before Zoey was born, so she felt out of place. She usually felt this way at family gatherings since she was too old to play with the kids but was too young to talk with the adults.

She practically stayed silent but occasionally laughed with them. Sometimes her name would be spoken in stories, but it was rare.

Growing up, Zoey felt like her sibling hated her. They always picked on her and called her names.