"We fought an uphill battle. One we had no hope of winning."
~~~
Felicity-Flick as most call her-Carter, has learned a thing or two in her 12 years of life. How to deal with drunk parents without waking the neighbors, how to smoke a cigarette withou...
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"So is she coming or what?" Jackson asked, leaning back against the headboard of my bed. He closed his eyes, hugging one of my few stuffed animals to his chest. He looked beyond exhausted. Today was the last day of school before winter break started on Christmas eve, tomorrow. Jackson had stupidly decided to go, even when I refused, and now was of course regretting his decision to wake up that early for something as pointless as school. He'd gotten here a few hours ago but was half asleep for most of that time.
"I have no idea."
"Well did you talk to her?" I sighed and laid back on the bed beside him.
"Yeah, for like two seconds." I had called Mom again this morning to confirm if she was coming or not. Thankfully, she picked up the phone this time but unsurprisingly, I got a bullshit answer to my question.
"I'm trying to get away from work, honey," She'd said as if I believed that she was working. To be fair, I did believe that she was working, just not in any way I cared to think about. "I'll try to be there for Friday, but you know I can't promise anything." That was Mom's way of telling me she didn't want to come. She was already preemptively making excuses for her probable absence.
But a part of me still had faith. A stupid little piece of my heart that I hadn't managed to shut off like the rest of it. That was the part of me that still felt too much, still cared too much. That was the part that kept a person like me in pain.
"You know how she is," I said, shaking my head at the thought of this morning's phone call with her.
"Shifty," Jackson concluded with a hum.
I sighed and nodded.
I hadn't seen any of the intruders today, except Cameron. He was sitting in the kitchen when I went out to call Mom but thankfully didn't attempt any conversation with me. He didn't even acknowledge my presence when I walked in. But that's what I wanted. I wanted him and all the rest to leave me alone for the next few days. It would be good if we all ignored each other until the holiday was over. I knew it was the truth, so I couldn't understand why my heart sank a little when he didn't even look up at me.
"So what now?" Jackson asked, popping one eye open to look at me. I shifted around on the bed, trying to get comfortable. I had only managed a few hours of sleep last night after Emil and Jules left. I didn't remember much about last night, but I did recall them being there. Or maybe that was just a bizarre, lack of sleep-induced figment of my imagination. I would ask one of them if I knew where either of them was. They were gone by the time I got up this morning. I didn't know where, and I didn't bother to ask, because I didn't care. The less interaction I had with them, the better.
"I don't know. Wait it out I guess." Jackson slid down a little so he was lying on my pillow. I reached up and ran a hand through his dirty brown hair. I had been trying for years to convince him washing his hair more than once a week didn't make him 'unmanly' as he claimed it did, but so far I haven't had much luck. I think of Jackson like a puppy most of the time. Cute, loyal, with some very animalistic habits.
