The Neighbor Next Door

When I scare the last away, the fault will be my own.

warning for thoughts of self harm / suicide [nothing actually happens]

And MePhone was ten years old again. Before his brother died, and just when he turned this age. It was their shared birthday, a convenience by their dad. It was never a huge event. They didn't really have any friends outside the family, but this was when their dad made any sort of effort. A nice dinner, and a store-bought cake. Nothing big, but it was something. Last year, their dad had gotten 4s his plushie, and this year there wasn't exactly a gift, but they didn't need anything. They had each other at the time, and that was fine.

And then he was eleven again, waking up on his birthday to nothing. He didn't know what to expect, but when he got out of bed, his dad was still home, getting ready to leave.

"Dad?" He asked, hoping he wasn't in a bad mood today. He wondered if he knew it was his birthday today.

"Don't even think about asking for anything from now on. You don't get to celebrate after what you did." He shot a glare to his son as he pulled his usual white overcoat over his shoulders, before grabbing his keys to leave.

Oh. So that answered that question.

His twelfth birthday was the only one where he was able to do anything, the whole fancy dinner-- which still wasn't even technically for him-- and then after that, he was left alone, left to himself completely. No celebration, because there wasn't anything worth celebrating. That didn't stop MePhone from trying himself in those early years. He couldn't go out and get a cake, or make any sort of nice dinner, but he could pretend. He had the plushie left behind from his brother, at least. A memento he could celebrate with, as if his brother was still there. As if things were still normal, just for a day.

He stopped doing that by the time he turned seventeen, not having the emotional energy to even bother with... Well pretty much anything at that point. He just never really celebrated things much in general. He wasn't a big holiday person either. He used to, when he was a child, but that kind of whimsey died with his brother. With his family.

.

.

.

And MePhone was lying on his back, in his bed, with the worst headache he thinks he's ever felt, and no memory of last night. He let out a groan, moving his arm to shield his eyes from the light in the room, even if it was very little, just trying to piece together last night in his brain.

He went to dinner, and... And... He failed to recollect exactly what happened. Which was bad. This was really bad. He shouldn't be having memory issues if nothing happened, so something clearly happened. His head reeled, an overwhelming dizziness entering his systems as he sat up, clutching his head to combat that as he hunched over a bit, letting out another groan. What the hell happened last night?

It took him a good ten minutes to feel like he could even open his eyes, squinting a bit as he moved his hand to his desk to look for his glasses, thankfully finding them... Folded? He didn't usually fold his glasses. That was weird. Whatever. He put them on, proceeding to search for his phone, which was also on his desk, plugged in. At least he had remembered to do that beyond whatever happened last night, he guessed. He winced, covering most of the screen with his hand as he pressed it on, having to turn down the brightness. A notification from OJ. MePhone didn't know why he was so nervous about that. Really, with not remembering anything, it could be anything. He could have said anything, or done anything, and have no memory of it now, because that's just what happened.

'We should talk about last night.' Was all it said, something that drowned out every other messy feeling in his mind, replacing it all with a steady, awful anxiety.