Red

8.

I hadn't realized I was crying, or someone came into the room until they spoke up.

"Tori? Are you okay?...oh..."

It was one of the triplets, who's names I can't even remember. I rubbed away the tears and set the photo down, facing down so I wouldn't have to look at it.

"I'm fine. Thanks."

I mumbled to him. An unnamed him. What is his name again? Malik? Soren? Scott? No Scout? And Maliki?...maybe.

"Uh...I'm Ren by the way. Levi told us that you probably don't exactly remember our names so we should tell you when we talk with you...Uh, my full name is Soren bur everyone just calls me Ren...it's pretty late and everyone is going to bed, I think you should be doing the same."

"I basically just slept for 9 hours. I'm not tired, but I am sweaty and feel gross from traveling so I'm going to show if you don't mind."

I snapped at the poor boy. He didn't do anything wrong, but then again neither did I and I turned out to be...well, me. A terrible person who can't trust people, can't make friends, can't let anyone get close to me without me flinching. I'm broken, bruised, abused, and everything is healing very slowly. The only reason I've been close to the 4, now 3, guys I call family is because they've been there for me, they've put in the effort, they haven't even gotten close to hurting me. They say they care and they love me, and they show it to me in the ways I need. Ren was now long gone. The door was closed. I locked it, grabbed pajamas, went to the bathroom and locked that door as well, then took a nice hot shower. Afterwards I went and sat on the balcony while watching the sunrise. It's only 5:48, but the sunrise is really pretty. I guess I didn't realize how tired I actually was from traveling because I ended up falling asleep on the sofa on the balcony. Eventually I felt someone pick me up, causing me to wake up. I was set down on the bed that was for me as I opened my eyes.

"Oh...sorry. Didn't mean to wake you, I just didn't want you to be sleeping out there. Especially since it's supposed to rain soon."

Who was this? He's one of my brothers I believe. I just stared at him for a moment, then he spoke up again.

"Oh right. I'm Luca. You're 4th oldest brother. I'm only 21...so um...yeah...oh, and Jay was looking for you and kinda panicked when we couldn't find you, but here you were asleep on your balcony. I get it traveling is a lot, but it's now 10 and you missed breakfast an hour ago. We saved some for you though so if you're hungry..."

I just looked at Luca for a solid minute.

"Who's Jay?"

I asked him and he immediately recognized how come I didn't know who this Jay guy was.

"Javan. His nickname is Jay or sometimes we call him Javie. We all have nicknames exept for Scout and Kit, Kit's the youngest in the family. He's out cousin."

I nodded to Luca.

"So...do you want to come down and eat a little? I could show you around."

I nodded again then went to the closet to throw a sweatshirt over my tanktop and shorts I slept in.

"Come on, I'll show you to the dining room. And all the other places in this house."