𝙳𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝙵𝚘𝚛𝚐𝚎𝚝...

Chapter 9

"Wait, so an ion...is an atom...that has a negative or positive charge?" Rosemary asked, and her mother nodded eagerly. 

"Yeah," she said. "And an isotope?" 

Rosemary blinked, bringing her hands to her temples, trying to think. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Will gesturing to her. Trying to look at him without seeming like she was, Will first put two fingers in the air, then a zero with his fingers and a thumbs down, and then a plus sign, and then finally, a thumbs up. 

What the heck? 

She stared at him doing it again, their mom waiting patiently without noticing. 

Will had just gotten to the thumbs up part when it clicked in her head. 

"Oh! Isotopes are like, the same element, for example if you have two of them, but the number of neutrons are different but the number of protons are the same...in the nucleus?" 

Will gave her a bright smile and two big thumbs up before scampering up the stairs. 

Rosemary smiled as her mom shouted a yes, and she carefully tucked away Will's hand gestures into her memory, feeling a surge of love and thankfulness for her little brother. 

---

"What would you like?" 

"A vanilla and..." She glanced at Will, a gleam in her eye, feeling just a tiny bit of pity for the ice cream seller. 

"Three scoops of ice cream, one blueberry, the other strawberry, and the last one chocolate. But I want them in the order of strawberry, chocolate, and blueberry. Any other order is unacceptable. Also red and blue sprinkles with that liquid chocolate thingy, but it shouldn't touch the cone or I'll cry. Please, with a cherry on top?" Will pleaded, eyes wide. 

The guy in front of them blinked. "Uh, can you please repeat that?" he asked, slowly pulling out a notebook from his apron. 

"Sure!" Will said charmingly, repeating the order, twice as fast as normal. 

"Right, your ice creams should be coming in a minute," the guy said hesitantly, backing away from the two and escaping toward the machines in the back. 

Will giggled, leaning into Rosemary. "I missed doing that," he mumbled, and Rosemary smiled slightly. "I also missed the blueberry, strawberry, and chocolate ice cream." 

Rosemary sighed. "Of course you did." 

She still couldn't understand why Will liked three very different flavors in one. She liked simple flavors; vanilla, chocolate, strawberry—all separate. But Will was wild. 

She, on the other hand, was not. 

It was a couple minutes until the guy came back, holding two ice creams, Will's looking like it was going to topple over. 

"Here," he said, gingerly handing Will his cone.

Will frowned at it. "You didn't put the cherry." 

"You didn't ask—"

"Yes, I did," Will pouted. "I said, 'Please, with a cherry on top.'" 

The guy rolled his eyes. "Okay, follow me. I'll get you your stupid cherry." 

Will brightened, glancing back at Rosemary, sending her a wink. Rosemary giggled, licking her ice cream as she watched Will annoy the older boy. 

---

𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐃𝐢𝐚𝐫𝐲,

𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭, 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥. 𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐈'𝐦 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥—𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐝, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐨.

𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐉𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬.

𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐉𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐝...𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧...𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐡, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐢𝐭—

"What are you doing?" 

"Wiiiiilllll," Rosemary whined. "Go away!" 

"No," Will said, trying to glance over her shoulder. "Whatcha doin'?" 

"I'm writing," Rosemary scowled. "Get out." 

"But I don't wanna," Will pouted. 

"Daaaaaaaaaaaad," Rosemary called, leaping to her feet with her diary, running out the room. "Tell Will to stop bothering me!" 

"William," their dad replied back in a shout, "stop bothering your sister!" 

She laughed at Will's downcast expression, ruffling his soft hair before shoving herself back into her room, shutting the door with her foot. 

---

"I know that...we weren't as close as I would've liked us to be," he whispered. "We fought...a lot. And that's normal for our relationship, right? I was told  to respect you. And I tried. I really, really tried. I loved you, I swear." 

He leaned against the headstone, staring at the sad trees whose leaves fell down with little gusts of wind. "I know it might seems weird, hearing it from me. But I...I'm sorry. I'm sorry, okay? I know I hurt you. And I—I—I'm s—sorry, I wish I h—hadn't, I wish I didn't.... You're gone now. And I can't make up for all those times I hurt you. I hurt other people, too. And I hate it. I'm sorry." 

He closed his eyes, which hurt from the continuous crying he'd done at her death. "I'm sorry. I get it if you left because you didn't want to deal with me. So why did you care enough to tell me?" 

He sobbed, hitting the ground with his fist. "I hate you. Why didn't you freaking tell me what was going on with you? I would've been there for you! I would've...I would've..." 

He wanted to lie down, right then. He wanted to sob, to cry, to hit something. Someone. He wanted to die himself. 

"I know you care," she had whispered into the voicemail. "And I'm sorry. For everything." 

"Why did you apologize?" he screamed, running his hands through his hair. "You didn't have to! It was me. Me! Why did you—why did you—"

~ Lyn 

Words: 902

Okay! Here's chapter...nine? Right? 

Do you think it's going a little too quickly? I'm not sure...

Anyway, was Mystery Italics Man's part interesting? 

Also...Will! I love Will! He's probably my favorite little child <3 

You guys ready for the next chapter? :D

Okay, that sounded kinda scary-ish. But I don't know what will happen next chapter, it usually just comes to me while writing. And, everything I write for Mystery Italics Man, I don't plan it. It just comes out of my fingers. Like right now, I just got an amazing plot idea! 

But...I can't tell you. 

I love watching you get antsy to know what's going on! 

But, I promise. 

Hopefully everything will make sense by the end! 

And then maybe all of you would go like, (*slap forehead* "Why didn't I see that coming?!") 

But honestly, it's quite simple...not very complex at all. But I love seeing your thoughts. They're funny. I like them. 

See you soon! :)) 

PS. Just thought of this! Do you pity Mystery Italics Man? I'd love to know what you think!