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Half asleep, I feel someone crawl onto my bed. I slowly reach under my pillow, fingers brushing against my gun, then my dagger until I hear my little sister's voice. Seriously?
"Lesi, you awake?" she whispers tugging on my ear, I squint at her, then at the clock. It's 2 a.m. Why is she up?
"What's wrong?"
"I need a responsible adult's signature for my excursion, I forgot to tell Alex," I groan grab a pen from my bedside and scribble my name on her form, glancing at her as she stares back at me. What now?
"Can I stay here, so quiet in my room?" Since when was my room loud? Before I can respond, she makes herself comfortable, resting her head on my arm, the audacity. I sigh, looking down at her cuddled up next to me. I don't think my choice is relevant.
2 HOURS LATER I wake to the sound of my watch vibrating against the bedside. I don't reach for it immediately. I take a second to feel the quiet hum of the room, the faint scent of the air conditioner, the faintest edge of leftover sweat from yesterday.
I remove Aleyna from my arm to the bed Then I sit up, bare feet on cold hardwood, it's so early that theres no morning light to hit my eyes which is a dream on its own.
I stare at my glasses on the nightstand. I loathe putting them on, but I need them. Every morning I lose ten minutes negotiating this. I grab them, sliding them on, and the world slowly goes into focus.
I get dressed in workout clothes and take my sister to her room cause Im not leaving a kid in my room unsupervised. I make a detour to the kitchen to refill my water bottle. On my way there, I get a call from Sebastian. I stare at the name for a minute before picking up on the last ring.
"Yo, what if tacos had legs, Mondays would, like, disappear, you know? Then the hospital would walk to the school and set fire to the sea. Then suddenly there's this random dude yelling about pineapples and a cat meowing about the economic and political state of the world, and honestly, why are clouds even allowed to be that high?" Why did I pick up?
This isn't even the first time he's called with random nonsense. I hang up and head downstairs. When I notice the bright light in the kitchen I try to turn back but it's too late. I've been noticed.
"What are you doing up?" she asks, gesturing for me to sit, I ignore her, filling up my bottle. It's way too early for a heart-to-heart. "How's life been?" It was better for the first 20 years until some people remembered they had 4 children and not 3. When I said I was going to work out I meant physically not fucking mentally.
"Aleksei, at some point you'll have to talk to me," um ok. I give her a blank stare, rolling my eyes. I don't even wanna work out anymore "You need to forgive and forget, we're your family," I huff out a little dry chuckle and nod grabbing my bottle and phone.
