Darkness and Everything in Between

Celio

I finally found Alacia in the back with her books open studying for a test we had in math. "Hey sorry I took a while I was talking with, uh, someone." For some reason I didn't want to tell her about my run in with Ashton, plus it wasn't a big deal right? We just talked.

"Oh it's fine. I really have to study for that test tomorrow in math." Alacia wasn't the best in school, but she wasn't failing either. I usually tried to tutor her in all the subjects I was good at. She always beat me in the arts though. She was a wicked drawer, but to my surprise, she wasn't trying to pursue any career that dealt with the arts.

"Well as much as I would love to help you with that I have to run. My mom will be wondering where I am." Truth was she probably wasn't that worried. She just always wanted to interrogate me about my brother Celio. He was the one she always worried about.

"Alright babe, but if I fail it's your fault," Alacia said jokingly glaring at me.

"Oh how will I live with myself," I responded just as sarcastically. "See you tomorrow." The end of school was always my favorite part of the day. It meant that I got to escape from its prison walls, and enjoy my walk home. I lived about ten minutes from my school so walking wasn't really problem for me.

I looked up at the sky and noticed there wasn't a cloud in sight which was quite unusual for Georgia, especially when it was nearing fall. I decided not to question it as days like these were rare, and it was beautiful out.

I was nearing home and I could see my mom through the kitchen window. Not really ready for my moms' ambush of questions, I sighed and opened the door. "Hey mom, I'm home!" I called.

"Hey sweetie! Come here, I made lunch for us. If you want we could watch a movie or something with your brother. How does that sound?" I was shocked but I was more than willing. It wasn't often that we got to hang out together, but I loved the few times that we did.

"Yeah of course, that would be really nice Mom. Is Celio here?"

"He's upstairs. He never really left," she said quietly. I knew he'd been skipping, but to miss the entire day was different. My mom looked embarrassed, and I could tell she was feeling guilty. She always felt that if anything went wrong it was always her fault. "Hey but it's okay he probably wasn't feeling well. It is flu season after all," she said trying to come up with an excuse for him, but we both knew that's all it was. An excuse. "Go get your brother, and do me a favor and don't tell him I told you. I just don't want him to think we're talking about him behind his back."

"Fine. I won't. Don't worry." I headed upstairs with a weight on my shoulders. I couldn't take seeing my mom like this, so full of guilt. I stopped right outside my brothers' door, took a deep breath and walked in.

He was lying on his bed with his eyes closed, but judging by the way his eyes seemed to be darting under his eyelids I knew he wasn't asleep.

"Hey Celio, what's up?"

"Nothing, I was just resting. You just get home?"

"Yeah and you didn't even leave your bed. What's up with you Celio?" He turned his head in the direction of my voice, and finally-one by one- opened his eyes. They were hazy with sleep and something else I couldn't quite discern.

"So I see Mom couldn't hold back her big mouth, and was just dying to tell you how much of a terrible son I've been," he spat. The haziness in his eyes had turned to anger although there was still that something else.

"Celio what the hell is wrong with you?! She's our mother for God's sake. You have no right to talk about her like that!" Now I was the one who was filled with a fury. Who the hell did he think was? "Look I don't know what's gotten up your ass today, but for the first time in a long time, we're all at home together, and Mom's decided that we stay in and watch a movie. So get your lazy ass up because I won't let you take out your anger issues on Mom. We clear?"

"Fine," he said looking defeated. There was a certain tiredness to his voice and the way his shoulders were slumped over. He worried me. This was so out of character, not that he hadn't surprised my mom and I with some of the crazy shit he'd done in the past.

We froze as we heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

"Don't say anything," I said menacingly, and then softened my tone a bit, "please." He nodded right when Mom came into the room.

"Hey Kat, Celio. What's taking so long? I thought we were going to watch a movie." I could see she was trying to hide her anxious expression. All she wanted was to have her family whole again, and so did I, but constantly worrying and being overprotective wasn't going to solve anything.

"Yeah we were just heading down. Just wondering what movie we were going to be endured to watch," I said trying to lighten the mood. My mother- obviously relieved we hadn't been talking about her- let out a sigh.

"Good. Popcorn's ready."

                A/N: Hey guys! This chapter was a bit longer just trying to introduce all the characters. Hopefully it's good so far and yeah vote and comment please, that'd mean so much to me! Update will be soon as I'm on spring break whoop whoop!