¹𝐅𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐑, billy loomis & stu macher ✔︎

08, wishful thinking

F L I C K E R
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CHAPTER EIGHT,   wishful thinking
" I made you my temple, my mural, my sky, now I'm begging for footnotes in the story of your life "
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The relationship Kathryn had with her parents was complicated. Really complicated. Her mother had the twins when she was young, and with her own troubled relationship with her mother—their Nana, she didn't have much of a parental instinct.

Their father, on the other hand, had been over the moon when Kathryn and Nathan were born. But being enlisted in the military meant he wasn't home much, leaving the twins with a mother who cared more about her career than her own children.

When their father was home, he wasn't the same man who had left. He came back angrier, meaner. He drank more than he talked to his children, and the arguments between him and their mother were never-ending.

Kathryn and Nathan learned early on they had no one but each other. Desperate for their parents' attention, they began to act out more. But it was Kathryn who always got the brunt of it.

In their mother's eyes, Kathryn was supposed to be the perfect young lady—respectable and obedient—while Nathan was just a boy being a boy. It was acceptable when he snuck liquor to college parties or stole their father's car to drive out of town with a girl, but when Kathryn got expelled for sticking up for a bullied girl, it was like a switch had been flipped. Her father defended her, which was rare, and it enraged her mother. The fight that followed was something Kathryn could never forget.

You know how it ended—with the crash, the rain, and the threat her father made that she could never speak about.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Kathryn rose from her bed and stared out the window, a solemn expression on her face. The attack last night had revealed up memories she'd fought hard to bury. But being confined to the house with a concussion and a fresh scar on her chest left her with nothing but her thoughts, which was always dangerous.

"Kathryn, door!"

Her father's gruff voice snapped her out of it. She rolled her eyes-he was home today, and of course, it was just the two of them. Nathan was either at school or off somewhere else, probably skipping again. It was a wonder he hadn't been expelled yet.

"Coming!" she called back with an annoyed huff, pulling a sweatshirt over her head before rushing down the stairs of her smaller home.

She peeked into the living room and saw him sitting in his recliner with a beer in hand. It's barely even ten, she thought, shaking her head.

Opening the door, she was startled by who she found standing outside.

"Surprise! We brought—"

Glancing briefly behind herself, Kathryn rushed outside, pushing the two boys away from the door before one could finish. "What are you doing here?" she hissed, glancing back to ensure her father hadn't noticed.

Stu grinned, holding a bouquet of wildflowers in one hand and a movie in the other. "We wanted to surprise you. See if you were okay, and stuff."

"Yeah," Billy echoed, though his tone was more impatient than caring. His dark eyes flicked to Stu, clearly annoyed. "We heard about what happened. Whoever did that to you—when I find them, I'll beat their ass."

Kathryn watched as a silent exchange passed between the two boys—Billy's glare, Stu's carefree smile. It was only then that she noticed the massive bruise on the side of Stu's face.