Avery

~2~

My alarm rings in my ears and I hit the snooze button, I think, but I don't open my eyes.

After 25 minutes of procrastinating, I stand up and walk, sort of like a zombie, to the bathroom.

I open one eye, the light burning through it, and glance at the clock.

4:27am

Never get used to that.

I throw cold water on my face and reach for a towel.

With my eyes closed, I blindly search, finding no towels around.

I take a step back, bumping into the glass wall of the shower and scraping my ankle.

A small whimper escapes my lips and I try to open my eyes with the water still coating my face.

I just grab some toilet paper and smother my face in it.

The only makeup I own is my mother's old face-pallete thing and some dollar store concealer and mascara.

Needless to say my skills are definitely not fanatstic.

Deciding there's no point when only a drop of concealer is left, I stroll out the bathroom, throwing on a knitted jumper and some jeans.

I brush my teeth and fix my hair and grab some shoes.

As I walk out into my living room, I hear a quiet noise.

It sounds like snoring, but I live alone.

I look on the couch and see my brother, completely knocked out.

"Will? What are you doing here?"

He doesn't move, his snoring still in rhythm.

"Will!" I slap him around the back of the head and he shakes his head.

His eyes blink a few times before zoning in on me.

He gives me a bright smile before jumping up to hug me.

God, to be this energetic in a morning.

He's also 17 years old and 6 feet tall, he's not a weight I want on me at 4:30 in the morning.

He seems genuinely happy, all the time, I don't know how he does it.

Here's the thing with grief.

We all deal with it in different ways.

I, for example, worked and filled my days so I didn't have enough time to really handle my feelings.

My brother- denial.

He still pretends nothing happened and acts like he's completely happy every second of the day.

And my sister is the complete opposite. She sat through therapy and genuinely healed.

It's obvious she's the more 'put together' sibling.

But Will, he's getting so good at his act that I'm even starting to believe it.

"How's it going, my favourite small person?" he holds me at arms length.

I hold my 5'5 height proudly, I don't think that's even that short.

"Good! Just heading to work."

"How boring. You need a break. How about I take you to that one place you like? The library?"

"Oh, that place has been dying for years, when they got rid of the last classics shelf, it was the last nail in the coffin."

He furrows his brows, shaking his head.