With Fear or Without

62- Sunrise

The early Sunday morning. Cleo could think of nothing worse at this moment. Not after the fitful sleep she experienced during the night. And the night before that. She supposed she should be grateful that it was dreamless, but the waking hours seemed worse. The hours on end spent staring up at the dark ceiling, memories clouding her head and refusing to leave her alone.

It was the first morning in a long while that she was up early naturally. The house was quiet, the sun just barely poking through the dawn gloom. It was peaceful to be up this early, and it was a rare experience for Cleo.

Tired of the view from her bed, Cleo crept into the kitchen and poured herself a mug of bitter black coffee as quietly as possible. Her bare feet padded softly on the cold tile as she positioned herself on a cushioned chair and stared out the back door into the young day.

She watched as the sunlight slowly poured onto the dew colored leaves of trees and green grass. She watched as a couple squirrels scurried across the back wall of the yard. She sipped her coffee and just watched as the light's color changed from orange to yellow.

She sat there for a long time. It was the calmest she had felt in weeks, definitely since Friday night. She breathed in the smell from her mug, letting the comforting scent fill her up.

The floorboards creaked behind her, piercing the peaceful silence of the morning. Her heartbeat picked up speed, her nerves warning her of danger before she could even think. She spun around and pushed herself out of the chair, tipping over her mug of coffee in the process. The dark liquid soaked her pant leg, dripping down to her feet and over the floor and she stood staring at the source of the noise.

Cleo let out a deep breath she had been holding. Terra stood in the entrance from the hallway, her frazzled hair hanging loosely from a ponytail that had long since lost its shape. She rubbed her eyes and frowned at Cleo.

"What the heck are you doing?"

Cleo looked down at the mess she made. Her heart was slowly calming, but adrenaline still shot through her whole body and she shifted from one foot to the other. "Spilling coffee at five in the morning, apparently," she grumbled.

With Terra's help, Cleo cleaned up the spill. They flopped down onto the couch after the job was done.

"Great," Terra smirked and wrinkled her nose, "now you smell like black coffee."

Cleo grinned back. "It's the perfect perfume."

"Get away from me." Terra turned and placed her feet against Cleo's thigh, grinning as she pushed away the source of the coffee scent.

Cleo snickered, but as silence fell, her smile fell with it.

"Okay, are you ever gonna tell me what happened?" Terra asked. "You avoided me all yesterday, which just makes me more curious."

Cleo hesitated. She had managed to avoid talking about it the previous day. She ignored texts from her friends, avoided being alone with Terra, constantly making herself busy with fake chores. The truth was she didn't want to tell the story for fear that she would break. She didn't want to cry, to break down in front of her sister. She was supposed to be the older one, the one that kept it together.

But she knew Terra wouldn't let it go. And she knew she would feel better if she knew. If her best friend knew.

So they snuggled together on the couch in the early morning, and Cleo softly told her little sister her story.