Azura

The car ride home was quiet for the most part, except for the occasional mumbling coming from Max. I could tell he didn't get his way during his conversation with Mr. Giant, from the bursts of annoyance when he muttered 'bastard' a bit louder than everything else.

Max has a habit of dominating the situation; he likes to be in complete charge of every little aspect in a situation. Which makes him a great soldier, but a bit of an overbearing brother. But, I know he just wants me safe and happy, so I can deal with his oversized ego.

"Hey, you want something to eat?" Max grumbles.

I smiled at him and nodded, signing I wanted some fast food. With that we turn into the parking lot for the McDonald's drive thru. Max ordered me a fish fillet meal, and he got a McChicken meal.

When we got into the driveway, my mother, in all her 5'4" glory, was waiting anxiously. She was pacing back and forth across the driveway and biting her nails, when she saw us I could physically see how much stress and anxiety was released from her shoulders.

We get out of the car and she immediately runs up to me, examining my body for any signs of injury.

"Are you alright, honey? Do you need a CT scan? How about an acetaminophen?" As always she is a worrywort mother who just happens to be a doctor and uses very big medicine-y words when there are shorter, more commonly known ways to identify a medication.

I smile at her and sign that I am fine and just wanted to rest after eating. She gives me a small smile but anyone looking at her can tell her worries had not vanished.

I sit down at the kitchen island and Max comes and sits next to me.

I can tell he's upset because he hasn't spoken to a single word since we got our food.

I tapped his shoulder to grab his attention and signed to him, "Why are you upset?"

"I want you to be safe. Personally, I don't think this school is capable of doing that and as your brother, as your guardian, I only want you to be good. You know?" he signs back.

I smile at him and get up to give him a hug, which he accepts and stuff his face in my neck.

I've learned really early in life, that Max's demeanor is the complete opposite of his actions. He looks deadly, like if you looked at him you'd die; when he's here accepting a hug from me, a 5' 1" girl, he seems like an oversized teddy bear.

I, 100 percent, understand where he is coming from, and I am well aware of the blatant animosity I get from everyone so I get why he deems the school "unsafe", but I still want to experience life as an average teenager. I don't want to be the loner new girl that everyone hates and she is oblivious as to why. I want to be the average teenager that has one or two friends to each lunch with and maybe hang out with after school sometimes.

Ya' know?

After I finished my food, I headed towards the stairs and saw my mom coming down. She still looks worried.

"Are you sure you don't need an CT?" My mother signs.

I chuckle silently, "No mom, I'm perfectly fine, I just need some rest."

"But what if you have a concussion? Sleeping will only make that worse!"

"I don't have a concussion, mom. I promise you I'm fine."

She sighs in defeat, "Fine then. Have a good rest okay? Let me know if you need anything.

When I'm in my room, I look around. Nothing much has changed in the past few years. Same plain white walls, with various sized paintings of the same thing, over and over again, same bed I've had since I was twelve, a chipped bookcase full of all my treasured escapes out of this world. After the accident, I apparently became very closed off compared to how I was before I turned eight. I don't really remember much of anything from that night except for the color red. I found out after I came home from being in a hospital for almost two months, that I sleepwalk. Each night within the first week, I somehow put my life in various life-threatening situations. One night, when I was ten, I apparently had gotten out of bed and walked all throughout the house, then woke each person in my family up, individually, I then walked out the front door, into the street as a car was speeding down the road, and almost got run over.