The Royales

Beginning of it all

Someone knocks at the door, and Gale responds, "It's open!"

     Sasha, the youngest of all 4 siblings, enters the room nervously. In her hand rests an item she had borrowed from her brother a day earlier for her school project - now broken. She starts shaking from her fear of angering her older brother, her fear is expressed as she struggles to speak.

"G-g-gale, I-I-I am sorry, I-I didn't mean to break your things - I am sorry I-"

     Before Sasha could continue any longer, Gale interrupted her knowing that getting mad at her would fix nothing but hinder her self-esteem - saying,

"No-no-no...Sasha...it's ok, everything is ok... I can fix it later... please save your tears, no need to cry... accidents always happen, ok?"

     Sasha in a bit of relief manages to calm herself while saying, "But now you are never going to trust me with anything that you have... I didn't mean to break it... please don't hate me... I-" Sasha slowly begins to retain tears around the edges of her eyelids, like that of a droplet that is about to fall.

Gale stops her once again in an attempt to calm her down saying, "Sasha... no-no-no-no-don't cry... I will never hate you, Sasha... I will never stop loving you... this being broken won't ever change that - nothing will - remember that Sasha... it's ok, Sasha, accidents happen like I already said before, just learn to be more careful... I am not angry at you... I never will... I love you too much to be so, ok?" Gale leans forward to hug his sister, he then takes the item and places it on his desk to fix later.

Sasha now remains calm after the warm hug from her brother and stares deep into Gale's eyes as she prepares herself for what she is about to say, "Gale... when will you stop fighting with Mom and Dad?"

     Gale is stunned by the question finding it challenging to answer knowing that the past few weeks have been complicated between him and his parents. He manages to process the inquiry only after a few seconds of silence, but he doesn't know what to say - what to respond to his little sister.

"Was what I asked wrong...I didn't mean to upset you, Gale." Sasha's regret begins to set in as she looks at Gale's
reaction to her question.

     Gale quickly answers Sasha so that she won't feel guilty over her curiosity saying, "No, it's fine... it's something just difficult... that's all... but just know that I don't hate Mom and Dad, we just disagree sometimes - we don't fight... everything's going to be ok."

     Sasha understanding her situation and how Gale is ok about her asking questions, asks another saying, "Gale, what about Dain and Mark? One time I woke up to the screaming of Mom and Dad only after hearing a loud thud; things falling... did you and Mark... fight?"

     Gale reflecting on the past events that his sister brought up, realizes that for the past 6 years of her life, she has been witnessing the torment and violence caused by him. He begins to blame himself for all that he has done, and he begins to regret being the cause of the pain that hurts his family. Looking at his sister's eyes, he sees the person he's hurting the most. While staring into Sasha's eyes he says the only words that he has left to say,

"I am sorry..."

Sasha both confused and worried due to Gale's response, leaves her unable to understand - her only response being, "Sorry for what? You haven't done anything wrong."

"Sorry for not being a better sibling for you...I-"

     Gale is interrupted by his sister before he can finish what he is saying, "Gale, no don't say anything else or I will get sad because none of that is true... you are the best sibling I have and I couldn't ask for anything better... I love you, brother," said Sasha while reaching for his older brother to hug him.