A Family of Her Own

06

I sat on my bed, urging the tears to stop flowing.

My brother hates me. I thought.

My shoulders hurt from where Archer had pinned me to the wall. I heard a knock on my door and I fervently wiped my eyes. The door opened,

It was Archer. He walked towards me.

My whole body tensed and I stared at him with wide eyes. To my relief, he sat down on the sofa right in front of my bed. He faced the window, facing away from the bed, and began speaking.

"Both of our parents died 3 years after you were born. It was on the same day that you were kidnapped. When you and Grayson were born, our family was happy, complete, and well-off. However 2 years later, our father's job stopped providing as much money for us, so he turned to alcohol," I could hear Archer's voice breaking up with emotion, "I do not remember our father to be the same person that the rest of our siblings do. They would say he was a courageous, kind man. I would say he was a hurtful, abusive father. I do not say this to justify my actions from earlier, nor to corrupt your view of our father. I cannot even begin to comprehend what you went through growing up, but if there is even one commonality between yours and mine, I just want to help you."

My brother, now in sweatpants and a tee shirt, sounded completely defeated as he was leaned up against my couch. He stood up.

Still not facing me he spoke, "Please do not speak of my father and I's relationship to our siblings, they have no reason to know, especially Jasper."

He began to close my door but he paused and then added, "Sweet dreams, Oaklynn."

Our siblings don't know?

I shook this day off, having more hope for tomorrow. I went under the covers of my bed. It felt like laying on a cloud with alpaca fur covering me.

While I was telling Oaklynn about my past, I could not help but let my emotions through. Being a mafia boss often left me hiding my feelings and putting on a front of a cold demeanor. I even tried to uphold it in front of my brothers. If I didn't, I'm pretty sure that I would cause them even more pain and suffering. For some reason, Oaklynn brought my emotions to the surface.

As I left her room, I wiped the stray tear off of my face before wishing her goodnight and shutting her door.

Jasper passed me without saying anything, headed for his room. He clearly did an evening workout as he was shirtless and sweaty. He had a bandage around his wrist and knuckles on the hand that he punched me with.

"Jasper," He stopped walking, "Thank you." He continued walking to his room.

I walked into Mom and Dad's old room, which my brothers and I decided to turn into a storage room to help us keep organized. I grabbed a box labeled 'Pictures' and began to dig through it. Eventually, I came across Grayson and Oaklynn's book, filled with baby pictures of the two of them. Grayson asked me to find it and give it to him, as he thought it would be a good idea for him and Oaklynn to do as a bonding activity.

I put the box away and walked to Grayson's room. I knocked on the door.

"One sec!" Grayson yelled. I heard a bunch of shuffling around and finally he opened the door. Immediately, I smelled the smoke coming off of him. I handed him the album.

"Thanks," he began shutting the door, but I stopped him.

"What are you doing?" I asked blankly.

Grayson answered like it was obvious. "Uh going to bed."

"You shouldn't be smoking, especially in a house like this. You'll probably set off alarms."

I'm really failing at this whole father-figure thing.

I went to my room and headed into my bathroom to take a cold shower in hopes of soothing my face. After I showered, I stepped out and wrapped a towel around my waist. I looked in the mirror. My lip and cheekbone/eye area was beginning to bruise.

I went out in my room to find a pair of sweatpants in my dresser when I heard a knock on my door.

"Who is it?"

My door opened, revealing Jasper who threw an ice pack at me, which I caught, but resulting in me dropping my sweatpants on the ground.

"Thank you." I told him, tossing it on my bed while I put my sweatpants on.

"Sorry."

"That's a half-assed apology. Pus, I deserved it anyway."

"Yeah, well goodnight." He told me, beginning to shut my door.

"Hey, wait."

"Hm?"

"Wake me up if you need anything, as usual."

"Thanks man." He nodded and shut my door.

I laid down on my bed and put the ice pack on my face.

Tomorrow will be better. I promised myself.