Thirteen Summers

thirteen

THIRD PERSON

At the dinner table, Kai sat opposite his little sister. He watched as she zoned out of everything. She had her elbow propped up on the table, her chin rested in the palm of her hand, her other hand pushed the food on her plate around.

Kai knew she didn't have the best day, he found out upon questioning where their eldest brother was back at lunch in the office, Roman briefly told him why he had left.

"He went to pick up Josie, something happened at school." Roman calmly answered, he was worried about his sister too but he didn't like to show vulnerability in front of his younger siblings.

"What? What happened?" Kai straightened up in his seat, confusion and concern in his voice.

"Everything's fine, your sister just had a hard day, that's all."

Not long after, they went home. Roman told him that he would finish his work for the day in his office at home.

At first Kai thought it was dramatic, he assumed she just wanted to get out of school or something but when they got back, he heard her talking on the phone, on the way to his room.

Her bedroom door wasn't closed properly, he knew he shouldn't have eavesdropped but when did Kai ever play by the rules?

Kai heard her on the phone, repeating the same thing.

"I miss you." Josie's voice cracked.

Who was she talking to? He pondered.

He felt his heart stop, he could hear the pain in her voice.

"I want to come home now."

He felt his heart stop, he could hear the pain in her voice.

Suddenly, he started feeling guilty for listening in on her private phone call. Kai quickly left and went to his room.

He tried not to think of it but there was no use, his mind was stuck on her words.

She didn't want to be here?

It was his fault, he knew it.

Kai was ashamed, he told himself that when she came home, he'd treat her like he treated the rest of his siblings.

Which he kind of did, he was still an ass but he was even more of an ass to her.

Sometimes he couldn't help it. For reasons unknown to him, Kai often had anger bubbling under the surface.

He knew it, his family knew it and everyone at school knew it.

Kai was hotheaded, but he was a teenage boy, Cameron was sure he'd grow out of it.

He knew his little sister didn't deserve to be the outlet.

Kai was angry at her for reasons she didn't know or deserve. He was jealous of her, she was the one that their mother chose and he was left behind.

He was angry at their mother, he was upset by her death because he never got to let her know just how her leaving affected him, ruined his childhood. He never got to tell her.

Kai felt like an idiot, he'd been so consumed by his own feelings that he disregarded his sister's.

He couldn't treat her like he treated the others. Josie hadn't grown up with them and that wasn't her fault, she only knew her mother for thirteen years, he was being overfamiliar with her.

Even worse, she was grieving.

He'd overlooked even that, he was selfish.

Kai took another look at her, her eyes were still red and puffy from crying. He felt a pang in his chest.