Divine Falls

Chapter 4: A Piece of Home

The morning light burns my eyes. I was dreaming of that car crash that I'm not even sure happened now.  Maybe it was just my imagination going wild because I had never been on a motorcycle before. I still can't shake off the feeling that I need to know if it was or not.

 I look up at the millions of white stars on my ceiling. I have always been obsessed with the heavens and the galaxies. Looking at the sky just calms me and makes me feel safe. It helps me when I write poetry too. 

I hear a faint knock on my bedroom door. "Come in." I say.

 I thought it would be my mom ready to battle over me leaving with Vee and cutting her off like that. Instead it's my older brother Leon. I smile and jump out of bed to hug him. I feel better already with him here. He's always there for me. I let go to look at him. His hair is neatly braided in a cornrow design. It looks like he recently got them done. He has that same sweet smile and warm brown eyes that I missed so much.

"I'm so happy you're here. A lot has happened since you've been gone." I tell him. He squeeze me gently and I can tell he misses being home. I would too if I was the golden one.

"I missed you so much. My last visit home feels like forever ago. I mean you've grown." He lets go to look at me like I changed that much since he's been away.

"Yeah I grew an inch or two. Don't ever go that long without visiting again." I say smiling. Leon is my best friend and it's been hard since he went away to college. I went to him more than my parents when I was a kid. I'm so happy that he's graduating this year so I can see him more often.

"I promise. I will never stay away like that again. This last year of school has been kicking my butt. How's school going for you?" He asks. 

Well besides meeting a strange boy who won't leave me alone and is possibly a killer, life and school is going so well. I casually sit in my chair so he don't see how stressed I actually am.

"It's going fine. Life is just dandy. Skylar thinks she's a real-life barbie and mom stays on my case. Oh, and Vee will be happy to hear you're here." I laugh at his "help me" expression. My brother was Vee's first crush when she was eleven and old enough to think boys were cute.

I think he was sixteen at the time. She wanted to marry him and have his kids. I thought it was the nastiest thing I ever heard. She always came over when she knew he was here. Leon was weirded out and said she should be in an insane asylum because she popped up every time. It was hilarious to me that he was kind of scared of her.

"Are you still friends with her?" He says it like he didn't know the answer.

I laugh. "Well duh she is my only friend, or did you forget that?" I ask.

"I'm your friend too Phina not just the big overprotective brother."

"I know." I smirk and try to kick him when I spin in my chair but he bends down to flick me on my ankle bone and I miss. "Ow sensitive. Don't worry about Vee though. She likes this other guy a lot." He let out a sigh of relief which makes me laugh. With him being here I feel whole and worry free. I can tell him anything except about Pierce. I won't even get into the whole fake or real motorcycle accident.

"How's things going with mom specifically?" He ask. Damn he's all serious now. I look down and shrug my shoulders. Our relationship has been complicated since I was younger. I still don't say anything, and I look up to his blank face.

I groan. "You know she hates me. She wishes I was never born, you know." I start to play with my sleeves not wanting to make eye contact with him. He has this way of making me feel guilty when I am innocent. He gets down to grab my hands and makes me look at him. He has that be a bigger person speech written all over his face right now.