The Little Things

Chapter 1:

The pouring rain drenched everyone standing at the grave, the wave of black in a sea of blue and green. Jupiter's eyes had tears in them, but she refused to cry. Her feelings, well, she didn't know what they were. She had loved her mother, but she was glad that Charlotte was finally free. Jupiter's eyebrow twitched as a single drop of rain slid down her face, and she heard her name. "Jupiter, the daughter of the life that was lost, will now say something in remembrance of the dearly departed." Her heart started pounding in her ears, her palms became sweaty. She stepped up to the podium, her eyes sparkling. With a deep breath, she began. "No one knew the torment she was feeling. What she was going through. Really, we only kept on seeing what we wanted to, and she probably felt as if we didn't care. We saw the outward smile, but never seemed to see the inner pain, we always dreamt that we would see her smile again, but she did not, and we never noticed that. I ask her forgiveness because we failed to see that we could do so much to help, but never even seemed to comprehend how much she really was afraid. I pray that her mental anguish will now forever cease, and all that pain and hurt will be replaced by peace. But now we know, that her pain invaded every single thought she had, and it made her cry internally." She took another breath, and saw that she had brought tears to the eyes of most people in the crowd. "But now, again, we remember the good times, not the bad. We remember when she would smile, that brilliant shining smile of hers. So now, when we think about her life, we shouldn't dwell on its close. We need to remember all life's good times, not the parts that made our hearts and minds hurt. We need to remember the happiness, the joy, not the tears. All the assurance and confidence, and try not to think about all our fears. Our lives have all been better, because she was here. So now, we need to leave her memory, in the care of people who might pay attention to her, and how she feels, and not be as careless as we were." Jupiter felt the tears coming from her eyes, but she didn't care anymore. She saw them in other eyes as well, and knew her speech had been spoken well. She walked back to her seat, and after that the funeral sped past. Everyone left for the after party, but it felt wrong to her. People's lives should be celebrated, but not with drunkens and straight after they buried her. She found somewhere to sit at the house where the party was being held, and she drifted off to sleep, her eyes fluttering closed.

"Go and try to find your mother." Her father said, his voice drenched with worry. She stepped slightly down the stairs, her knees shaking. She opened the closet door, her heart pounding. Her scream was loud and piercing, as she saw the blood. There, her mother, Charlotte Winster, was curled up into the tiny space, her wrists slit. She heard Charlotte groaning, as the life slipped out of her. Behind her, Jupiter's father gasped, and grabbed Jupiter from behind, pulling her away. But the image was burned into her brain. She sat on her bed, trying to pay attention to Naruto, but the image of her dying mother flashed through her brain. She walked to the driveway, and was welcomed by a sea of blood, The flashing lights of ambulances, and her fathers thrashing sobs...

Jupiter woke with a violent scream, and she was thrashing about, sweat pouring down her face. "MUM! Come back..." she yelled out, falling to the ground, wracking with vicious shakes. She glanced up, and saw a window, opening up to a 13 meter drop. A single tear slid down her face, and she put one foot out of the window, about to jump. Strong hands got hold of her from behind, stopping her from jumping. She turned to see shining blue eyes, brown messy hair falling into them, a cute but strong face. "You don't want to do that. You might want to actually, but how would your sister feel?" Jupiter hadn't thought of that. She stepped down from the sill, but the boy was already gone. He had looked incredibly familiar, but he couldn't place her finger on where he was from. She had been about to kill herself. Like her mother. Her heart was weighed down with a heavy feeling, worse than that of which she'd felt before. She was going to leave her family in twice the pain they already felt. "Jupiter!" She turned her head to see her father and younger sister, Rosetta, running towards her. She wrapped her arms around them in a bear hug, and Rosetta looked up at her. She stroked Rosetta's head, and with a loving smile, she let go of her family. "Sorry, dad. I don't know what I was thinking." She whispered, not wanting Rosetta to hear. "At least you're okay now. Let's go home. Everyone's getting drunk, and she shouldn't be here to see that." He pointed down at her little sister, and she smiled. They then drove home in silence, as the car felt empty and wrong without Charlotte. Jupiter instantly changed into long pants and a tee when they got home and she got into her room, as it was freezing. She then crawled into her bed, and curled into a ball. When she closed her eyes, she saw that boy's brown hair and blue eyes, and her mother's green eyes and blonde hair. She smiled to herself, as she thought of good times, like she'd told others to, and had promised herself to. Her eyes filled with tears anyway, as she saw all the signs they should've noticed about her mother: the dark eyes, the scars on her wrists. But most of all, she noticed that she couldn't remember when Charlotte had last smiled. She drifted off into an unrestful sleep, and hoped she wouldn't wake up.