just the way you are

what had been shattered

---Notes----

Despite the contrary opinion, I'm alive (supposedly??? Yay???) and back with another chapter. I know. Stunning. Can't believe i got over my insomnia and writer's block it's fantastic!!!!!

So this chap is kinda short and mediocre

Lmao

But heyyyyy it's a chapter!!!! My emotional support demon likes it!!!!! The other entity that comes out at midnight likes it!!!! I hope you like it!!!!

HAVE FUN *insert sparkles*

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Kayla gently turned the device over in her hands as she sat cross legged on her bed. The door was shut tight, but her window was open, and the smell of smoke from the attack was wafting in.

She could still almost smell the familiar scent of the lair, lingering in the air like an embrace.

If she closed her eyes, Kayla could drift off to another world. She fell onto her back, clutching the T-phone to her chest, her heart burning, her legs swinging against the side of the bed. It was a gut-wrenching feeling that left her in pieces.

She couldn't believe that it had been here this entire time, and that she'd never known. "Why am I so stupid," she whispered into the dull lights of her room, her stomach sinking as the words left her dry lips.

She hadn't wanted to find out, but now that she had, she found herself regretting all of the time she'd wasted.

She stood up so fast she staggered, grumbling as she reached for a water bottle on her bedside table. The slightly stale-tasting water relieved a bit of the burning sensation starting to build in her throat. It was like a chokehold.

She could have been there when April hurt Donnie. She could have stopped her somehow.

Or perhaps not. If Donnie himself couldn't get through to her...

But still, it kept her thinking... it kept her feeling this way...

Her parents were late because of the traffic caused by what had just happened. She'd never been more glad. It had only been Justin yelling at her when she arrived back home to her duplex.

In all her life, she'd never seen her brother so mad. His eyes were full of tears, and he got right up in her face, yelling about how she just left.

It was eating her up inside. The light in her bedroom was dim as she traced over the oval turtle-shell shaped case, breathing in deeply. It felt so strange to be holding an object that was such a normal part of Donnie's life. Slipping it into her pocket, she took a few steps into the hall. "Justin?" she called, trying to sound as friendly as possible. "Can I talk to you?"

"No," he snapped through the door, sniffling. "You literally left, Kayla. You could have been dead for all I knew."

She inhaled, her hand frozen, hovering above the door handle. She hesitated for longer than she should have. Warm light cast from the lamp in the corner, illuminating her shadow on the door.

It grew smaller as she walked away, nearly reaching her room.

She was going to lie down and blast her playlist as loud as possible to forget the world.

But the doorbell sounded, causing her to jump, almost falling in the hallway. "Swiss cheese, JUSTIN!" she yelled back towards his room. "MUM AND DAD!"

The bang of a door against a wall signalled the hasty arrival of her brother. He pushed past her, sprinting down the stairs. She smiled down at him as he ran, but it was bittersweet. She was distant from her brother. Two years, four months and one dimension distant.