The Battle

Camping

Later that night, we just sat around the campfire, under the stars, Niall and Liam playing their guitars. I was so tempted to get mine and start playing again, but the bittersweet memories with that guitar were just too painful for me to handle

So instead, I just sang along with them. We were singing Live While We’re Young. I sat between Zayn and Louis, all of us draped in blankets because of the dropping temperature of the air. My eyes scanned Niall’s fingers as they danced around the neck of the guitar. Oh how I missed doing that.

“Christy, you okay?” Louis asked, waving his hand in front of my face, which pulled me back to reality.

“Uh, what? Yeah” I muttered. “Just thinking” I added and he nodded, not pushing any further.

“How about we set up the tents?” Zayn suggested and we all agreed.

Liam and Niall left their guitars and helped me get the tents from the attic.

“Are you sure this thing can hold me?” Niall asked, eyeing the rusted hinges of the ladder that lead to the loft. “I never really got to it” I shrugged. “But I’m sure it won’t break” I assured him.

He looked at Liam for help and he just shrugged, making Niall groan. “By the way, why do I have to go first?” He questioned. “Because I need someone to pull me up” I answered.

“Why can’t it be Liam?” He quizzed yet again. “I’m supposed to wait here so that you can throw the folded up tents to me because you need both hands to climb down the ladder” Liam piped in. “Why can’t we ju-” Niall started again but Liam and I cut him off with a “Niall!” being followed by a laugh.

“Just get on the ladder” I laughed and he gave an inhuman sound before climbing up. The hinges started to squeak and Niall’s eyes widened at the sound of this then he tried to retreat, but I stopped him. “I don’t want your bum in my face” I whined since I was climbing behind him.

“Then go back!” He yelled. “Niall, just get up there” I groaned, getting impatient with him. He gave a final huff before continuing up the ladder. We had two fairly large tents for real camping, in the woods, out in the wilderness.

I grabbed them and tossed Niall the other one, until I noticed the family portrait that sat by the round window that had moonlight streaming through it. I immediately dropped the roll of tent, slowly walking up to the picture. We were so happy when they took that picture.

I was just 4 when the picture was taken and our life was almost perfect. My eyes landed on my father’s face; his mouth was agape and it was because he was laughing, laughing because I was sat on his lap and was trying to pull at his hair.

My mother was chasing James around. I didn’t know what got into the photographer, but he took the picture. Now I was mentally thanking him for it. This was the most perfect picture.

It was before things went down; before our life went down the drain. When I was about 7, I kept on getting sick for no explainable reason.  James, who was 10 at the time, kept on failing his subjects, along with our 12 year old sister; Anne.

Jessie became very involved in boys, causing her to be labelled as the “Whore of The Year”. Our company went bankrupt, causing dad to be depressed, which led to having many fights with my mother. But we managed. Even though dad died shortly after regaining our company’s finances and name, we still managed to pull ourselves together.

Now I realized how much I missed all of them. Even though I had four siblings, it was like I didn’t. They were never here. They didn’t stay when I needed them the most. They weren’t here when mum needed them the most. They basically abandoned us; except for Andrew. He was the only one who stood beside my mother and I, even though he had a tight schedule because of his job.