undo// 5SOS

5

Michael

Today hadn't gone exactly how I had expected it to happen.

I had woken up early, and eaten oatmeal for breakfast, then headed to work as the sun rose and clocked in.

It was going smoothly, but we were pretty busy for the day, so I had left everything in the staffroom for hours and hours. Cal had my phone anyway, since I had woken up to a bunch of missed calls.

Honestly, I had thought Maya had probably been drinking and tried to drunk dial me because I did that crap when I was her age. To find out she was kicked out was a shock, but I also wasn't exactly surprised.

We had been brought up in such different ways, and in very different times. Most of the time, when I visited, she hadn't spoken much. I thought she was perhaps just quieter, and probably wanted to talk to her friends on the phone instead which was fair enough.

Turns out she just had the shittiest self esteem in the whole world because of our parents.

The relationship we had was complicated, and I always felt we didn't act as siblings. I tried to, but she was quite distant, and the age gap probably didn't help because we hadn't got much to relate to each other with. I believed there was more than she thought, but still, we were different.

Respecting her privacy, I left her alone and joined Cal on my sofa, unsure whether to message my parents or not. Part of me wanted to get really mad at them, but the other part of me wanted to leave them out of all of this. They didn't deserve another say.

My mind went to nothing but to support Maya when I walked in that room and found out her situation. It must've been terrifying to think she might be pregnant when she was so alone, and for mum and dad to not help her process that, was appalling to me.

She was a kid. Mistakes happened whether they were big or small, and they needed someone to help them through it all. I should've been there for her, I should've lived closer, but I could be here now. She needed her big brother at least.

"I know I should've asked you before, but she called and was really upset. I had to get her out of there,"

"Thank you,"

"She really needs a hug, and to be told it's gonna be okay,"

"I think I will take a few days off work,"

"I think you need to. What has she been doing this whole time?"

"Her hands are burnt, she works somewhere with very hot plates,"

"It's a shame she didn't finish school,"

"I'm gonna try and get her to, I want her to have friends, and I could get her through uni,"

"You know, she looks like you. More and more everytime I see her,"

I smiled and nodded, for she was a spitting image of me. The badly bleached hair was a cherry on top, because I also went through that stage.

Despite her protests, I decided to go online and order her some shoes to try, because I really couldn't let her walk round in my ancient converse anymore, then I decided to shower and also spend some time alone in my room.

I wasn't exactly sure what to do with myself. Maya was 18, and she could clearly look after herself to an extent, but I still felt like I had a huge responsibility to help her.