trapped | lierra

thirty one

Amber

"I bought you noise canceling headphones," Michael handed me the package, "and Crystal got a weird scrub,"

"What?" my eyebrows furrowed as I reached into the bag, pulling out a sugar scrub.

"It's not weird," she scoffed. "It's a lavender scent, and it helps you relax,"

"Thank you,"

"How are you feeling?" she asked as Michael hugged me from behind.

"I just want to shower," I admitted.

"Well, that can luckily be arranged,"

"I feel like I ruined the trip, I shouldn't have come,"

"What makes you say that?" she questioned, surprised.

"I had a panic attack, we can't watch the fireworks, and mom and dad are fighting,"

"None of that is your fault, things trigger memories and you can't control that," Michael reassured me. "And fireworks are stupid,"

"No they're not," I mumbled. "You're just saying that,"

"They are, and your parents fighting isn't your fault. You have no control over that, that is something they need to figure out,"

"And I'm sure they have," Crystal smiled. "It was a very emotional, tense night. They were on the edge, and I know that they have talked about it,"

"Where are they?"

"They went out for the afternoon, but they should be home soon," Michael told me. "Why don't you go shower? We might go out a little bit later, but you wanted to shower,"

"Ok," I agreed. I left the two in the living room and went up to mine, mom, and dad's room. I took a quick shower, using the scrub that Crystal had gotten me. I didn't stay in long, but came out once I had washed my body and face and got into comfy clothes. Once I was comfortable, I crawled into bed and watched some tiktoks until the door opened. I looked up and saw mom and dad coming in, making me turn off my phone.

"How are you feeling?" dad asked.

"Better," I mumbled as they sat down on the bed with me in the middle.

"We're sorry for putting you in the middle," mom apologized.

"I shouldn't have made you fight," I mumbled.

"You did absolutely nothing wrong. We were arguing about adult things, not about you," dad promised me. "But we talked about it, we worked it out, and we're going to do better,"

"Ok," I nodded.

"You know you didn't ruin the trip, right?" mom asked, but I shrugged "You didn't, this trip has been amazing, and everyone is having a great time,"

"I want everyone to go to the fireworks tonight,"

"You can't go,"

"But everyone else can," I argued, making them sigh.

"They don't want to leave you out,"

"They all want to go, I know they do," I told them.

"How about they go? We'll all stay home," dad suggested and I nodded. "I will let them know then," he got up and went downstairs, so I leaned against mom, wanting to drift off to sleep.

"We'll sleep later, but right now you gotta stay up," she told me, but I just groaned. "We have to go to bed early tonight,"

"Michael bought noise canceling headphones,"

"Well that will help," she smiled. "What should we do Wednesday?" she asked, so I thought for a moment.

Kayaking?"

"That will be fun," she agreed.

"Are you and dad actually ok?"

"I promise we are, there is nothing to worry about," she reassured me. And for some reason, I believed her.