𝙍𝙚𝙙𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 [𝘼𝙐 𝙕𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙘𝙝𝙞 +18]

8: A lucky day

Ajax sighed, turning over as he pulled a pillow over his head, closing his eyes tightly.

He lay curled up on his bed, listening to his older siblings fighting with their parents. What was it about this time? Maybe Anton asked for a toy, or Tonia and Teucer wanted to go to the cinema.

They all knew very well that their family couldn't afford that sort of thing, but it was inevitable that the younger siblings didn't quite understand why. They were kids, they just wanted to have fun like the rest of kids their age. But of course, their parents didn't understand that simple fact either. They struggled to provide for their large family and their empathy for their children was sometimes quite questionable.

That's why the older siblings always had to defend the little ones.

And he? Oh yes... Ajax. The middle brother, the one who had been cast aside as soon as Tonia and Teucer were born, the one who had to learn to do things for himself... And the one who caused the most problems for the family.

He didn't hate his siblings, they weren't to blame for his parents' negligence. His older siblings took care of the younger ones, and the fact that his mother had given birth to two babies caught them between a rock and a hard place. Ajax could take care of himself at that time, right? When Tonia and Teucer came to this world, Ajax was ten years old, what was he capable of doing by himself at that age? He had to get used to no longer being the youngest; who received all the attention and care... To be pushed aside, to not receive even a quarter of the attention he once received, regardless of whether he was able to do things on his own or not.

But hey, that phase was over.

He was eighteen now, he was no longer a kid. He had learned to take care of himself for too long, to live outside of that environment —that was barely holding on by a thread.

Ajax turned back, grunting as he sat upon the mattress, careful not to hit his head on the top bunk.

He shared a bedroom with his brothers: a small room with two bunk beds. There were five of them sleeping there since Teucer and Anton shared a bunk. Soon his older brothers —Alexander and Kliment— would leave home to become independent. Oksana —his older sister— would probably go with them too. Although they had been saying for two years that they were going to leave and they never did.

Ajax knew that his younger siblings were the main reason they hadn't left yet and that he was the other reason. But not because they were worried about him, but because of the things he could do. Because of his actions.

Oksana was the only one who could deal with him when he came back from fighting in the streets, stealing, or the like... Well, his daily bread. He had received several slaps for coming back drunk and bruised over the years, but it wasn't like he cared too much.

Ajax loved his family, but he couldn't ignore the fact that he had almost been kicked out. It had upset him, the pain that he had to repress in the loneliness of being only a child could not be so easily erased. And now... Let's just say it was too late, and it's not like anyone put the effort into trying to reintegrate him.

He got out of bed yawning, a phone in his left hand.

Ajax had arranged to meet Scaramouche and Dottore to go see a house he wanted to break into. He had seen it last week on his birthday, having followed a car being half-drunk. It wasn't the best plan to celebrate his eighteenth birthday, was it? Well, he wasn't celebrating his birthday. Not because he didn't want to, but because he didn't have the desire or someone to celebrate it with.

Scaramouche and Dottore were the closest things he had to friends, but deep down he knew they weren't. People used to say "better alone than in bad company", but how much can a person handle being alone? He had already been lonely for many years, and although the time he spent with those two was not always pleasant, he could sometimes just forget about his daily problems.