the park bench

t h r e e

t h r e e

joanne crept back into her home, stripping off her grey hoodie and dumping it unceremoniously on her wooden floor.

her bed creaked. "jojo, where were you?"

she spun around to see joseph perched on the edge of her bed, his eyes shone in the dim light and face filled with worry. she whispered, "i... i wanted to... to get away from, well, here."

"please don't run away," the younger of the two murmured.

"no! of course not, i won't. don't worry, i just wanted to get away for a little while." joanne sighed, taking her hair out of her bun before sitting next to her brother. "screw mom and dad."

joseph snorted. "you went for a walk or whatever to run away from all this and the moment you come back, you talk about them."

"yeah, well. it's sort of hard to forget." the girl huffed at her brother's accusatory tone.

"i know." joseph got up, smoothing out his plain navy shirt and matching pants before giving his sister a soft smile. "don't make me worry. good night."

the brunette rolled her eyes. "night, worry wart."