❝ it's exhausting, pretending to hate you. ❞
❝ you don't hate me? ❞
❝ we both know i don't. ❞
𝐈𝐍 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐂𝐇. . .
what was believed to be a harmless prank
ends up causing two best friends to turn
into enemies overnight. to this day, 𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚...
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CHAPTER FIVE !
[ real life, imessage ]
- ❝ NOVEMBER FIRST ❞ 💌
ʳᵉᵃˡ ˡⁱᶠᵉ !
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astoria and her fifteen-year-old brother mason have been sitting next to one another since she got home, and neither have spoken a single word. she'd come in, sat down next to mason, who had been on his phone, and had switched on the tv. they've been watching some dumb cartoon about teenagers on an island, but neither of them have actually been paying attention. astoria's eyes hurt from staring blankly at the tv for hours. she can't even remember the last time she blinked.
turning her attention away from the screen, she glances at the clock on the wall. it's nearing 8pm. this time a year ago, her entire family would've been on the couch with snacks, ready to watch the next episode of stranger things, which had been the show they'd all been watching together at the time. but now, their mom drowning herself in work to avoid their quiet home, and her dad...well, her dad isn't here anymore, and astoria and mason just sit there.
he's has been so quiet that she might as well be sitting there alone, but it's not like she's said anything either. there isn't really anything to say. even if they spoke as a distraction, they'd still be thinking about it, so they choose to watch tv instead. not that astoria has been paying attention to the show at all. it's been about seven episodes and the only character she recognizes is some blue-haired goth girl.
a part of her wishes her brother would say something, anything. or that he would just get up and leave. she doesn't know why either of them are still here.
reluctantly, she reaches for the tv remote and exits out of the cartoon, changing it to stranger things. she looks briefly at mason, whose eyes widen. but still he says nothing, so the two of them continue to sit in silence, now watching the episode they'd left off on about a year ago. it's bittersweet, as the happy memories begin to flood in but laced with the remembrance that nothing is the same anymore.
