Will & Indie

15.

The idea of writing entices me;

But the blank page torments me

Will sprawled out on his bed, letting out a hysterical groan. He was surrounded by crumpled up papers, notebooks turned every which way, pens that had been thrown if they were almost out of ink, and other various objects strewn about this way and that. In a previous state of anguish, Will had tossed his glasses to the end of his bed and his phone halfway across the room; his world was nothing more than a blur of worthless scribbles.

Alice practically sent Will's door off its hinges in her wake. She crossed her arms, walking in without asking if she could, trampling over papers as she made her way to Will's bedside.

"What is wrong with you?" Alice asked. She sat down next to Will, grabbing his glasses and setting them on his face.

Will groaned, accepting Alice's help as he sat up. He groggily readjusted his glasses with a sigh. "Hello to you too."

"Sorry, that came out a bit too strong." Alice rolled her eyes. "Hello."

"Hi." Will replied. "See, how hard was that?"

Alice chose to ignore him. "What are you doing?"

Will pressed his lips together. "I don't know, Alice. I need to have a poem done for class in two days, and all the drafts I've written are just... a load of feces."

"Barf." Alice furrowed her brows. "So... I assume that all of these papers here are the 'feces' in question?" She continued, gesturing to the disorganized mess around her.

"I don't do well with deadlines." Will replied, unable to keep eye contact with his sister.

"I hadn't noticed," Alice deadpanned. She leaned down to pick up the paper closest to her, but Will grabbed her arm to hold her back. "What-"

"No!" Will wailed. "You're forbidden to read those. I was a different man when I wrote them."

Alice furrowed her brows, turning toward Will as she clasped her hands in her lap. "Alright, bro, let it out."

Will looked around for a moment. "Let... what?"

Alice rolled her eyes. "You can't write when there's something wrong. You need to let it out, along with those fears of people judging you, or else the only thing you'll have to turn in is all your lame excuses."

Will raised a brow, almost defensively. "And how do you know there's something wrong?"

Alice snickered, once again gesturing at the mess around them. "Are you kidding?"

Will sighed, thinking back to all the things that had gone wrong so far that week. The list seemed to grow by the minute. "Well... ok. The whole thing with mom and dad has definitely been a bit of a shock."

Alice nodded. "Yeah, you can say that again." She replied. "I knew that dad was acting like an idiot, but I didn't realize it was this bad."

"Yeah..." Will rubbed his forehead. "I hate how it feels like walking on eggshells whenever they're in the same room."

"Do you really think it could end in them getting divorced?" Alice asked, seeking reassurance in Will's eyes.

Will sighed. "Well, I think as long as dad actually tries to change, things may not turn out as bad as we think they will." He remarked. "But if he doesn't... I'm not sure what'll happen. But I do know that mom isn't one to go back on her word."

Alice nodded slowly. "I know... I wish there was something we could do to help them. It makes me feel sick just thinking about it."