The World Behind My Wall

Chapter One: Air In My Lungs

It is recommended you read Complications of the Heart, as well as Let Love In first!!!

So I began writing this back in November 2012, lost interest for a while, and recently found the notebook it was written in. The first five chapters were pretty awful and I had to rewrite them. Anyway, it starts off (coincidentally) in November 2012; hope you like it. Let me know what you think!

I wake up on the floor, drenched in sweat and gasping for air. I've had awful night terrors ever since I was a little girl; the only person who could ever calm me down was my older brother Mark, so we've shared a room for as long as I can remember.

But tonight, Mark was at work. He'd just started night shifts at the local bar, and of course, everyone knew him. Our father had been the town drunk, before he left for Mexico nine years ago. We haven't seen or heard from him since.

I got up, knowing I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep and walked down the hall to to my sister's room. Light escaped through the bottom of the door and I knocked twice.

"Come in." She called, and I hurried in. Carolyn was the youngest of us three and had a knack for getting into trouble. Mark and I had usually taken the blame for her antics, to spare her from the rotten tempers of our parents.

"I couldn't sleep." I sighed, sitting on the foot of her bed.

"Meaning you had a nightmare. I could hear you talking in your sleep." She closed her sketch pad, placing it on the nightstand closest to the bed. "Mark's shift ends in a half hour, and I told him I'd pick him up."

"I can't believe he actually wanted to work there. He's so against alcohol."

"Yeah. We need the money, though."

"We should visit Mom tomorrow. It's been at least a month." Mom lived in the psych ward, not even twenty minutes away.

"I'm still mad at her." Carolyn pouted. The last time we'd visited, Mom and Carolyn had gotten into a huge fight. It was over the stupidest thing, I can't even remember what had caused it in the first place.

"You are such a baby. Get over it already."

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes and shut off her TV. "Are you coming with me or not?"

"I guess so." Sighing, I headed back to my room, pulled on some shoes, grabbed one of Mark's hoodies, and met Carolyn in the kitchen.

As we drove through town I felt myself dozing off. Carolyn shook me awake, and I glanced out the window. Mark was standing on the curb, talking with two attractive guys. They had very similar faces and appeared to have the same body structure, so I figured they were brothers. The slightly taller of the two caught me staring and I quickly looked away, wishing Mark would hurry up so we could leave.

"Hey, honk at him. I'm getting hungry." I whispered. I just couldn't take my eyes off them. They seemed familiar somehow...

Mark finally made his way over and motioned for Carolyn to roll the window down. "Hey. You guys wouldn't mind it if I had a couple people over?"

As Carolyn and Mark fought, I turned my attention back to the taller guy. He wore dark grey skinny jeans, a maroon v-neck, a black leather jacket, and had loads of piercings. Normally I paid little to no attention to guys. They didn't seem worth my time to be honest.

Mark waved them over and they sat in the back seat. The drive back felt so awkward. Carolyn was in a foul mood; she hated it when Mark invited people over. Mostly because it drove my anxiety through the roof and I wouldn't talk when they were around.