Aunt Lynn had taken Layla over to the couch, while she sobbed, trying to control herself. Blaine stood motionless, trying to collect his thoughts. In just under an hour his life had chained drastically. His sister, whom he hadn't seen in over three years was back in his life, sobbing on his couch. He thought back to the last time he saw Layla.
Blaine was only fourteen, he had just started high school at Embers Country Day High School, and the homophobia he faced was torturous but school was the last thing on his mind. He placed the last shirt he had in his bag and zipped it up. Before he knew it he was on the floor kneeling, with his head resting on his bed. Blaine lived the good life, he wanted for nothing and had never heard the word 'No.' Well, until five hours ago.
Blaine looked up. His family was always too busy for church and he was never taught about any type of faith, but he knew he was losing all hope. He looked up,
"God?" He said, "I'm sorry I've never prayed before, and I know I shouldn't be so selfish right now, I know I should be thinking about Cecelia, but maybe you could help me out right now? You see everything that happens? Right? So, you know. Please pray everything will be alright, because, God, I'm scared and I don't know what to do."
A door somewhere suddenly opened and Blaine jumped. No one was supposed to be home. He thought it would be easy to sneak out, thats why he was leaving then. Cautiously, Blaine stepped out of his bedroom and into the hallway. It was long and broad, but only one door was opened. He tiptoed down the hall not making a sound, and peeked into the door. It was only Layla. He was so relieved it wasn't his parents. They must have still been at the hospital, and Layla must have just gotten home from school. It was wrong to leave Layla alone, but the cook was in the kitchen making dinner, so she wasn't all alone.
Blaine quietly went back to his bedroom and got his suitcase. He looked at his room, for which he was nearly certain, the last time. A single tear fell from his eye, but he wiped it away, with anger. This was once the only place he could go to feel normal. He could be alone to write his music and just be himself, with no one there to judge or put him down. He eyed the blue walls one more time, his bed, and his writing desk. He understood what he was giving up. Aunt Lynn's place was small, and not like his spacious room. The last thing he saw of his room were the double doors that opened to his personal balcony, where he contemplated jumping off of so many times that day.
The most complicated thing for Blaine, while sneaking out, was rolling his suitcase quietly. He moved slowly and held it up so that the wheels were just touching the floor. He noticed a sliver of light coming from the cracked open door of Layla and Cecelia's room, which now had basically become only Layla's. Layla was sitting on the floor holding Cecelia's old doll she got when she was six, which was made to look just like her. Layla swiftly turned her head when she thought she heard something in the hall. Blaine had gotten out of her view fast enough, but he stopped to think. How can he leave Layla? She's gonna need someone there for her, and mom and dad were't going to be there, he knew it. Blaine was the only one left, but he just couldn't do it. Layla was always the strongest in their family, he knew she could do it. Blaine whispered "I'm sorry" to Layla's door and left, never to come back.
Blaine snapped out of it. He never let himself think back to that day, but now he did, remembering everything clearly. He wish he could have taken Layla with him, to protect her from everything she had to face after that, and he couldn't forgive himself for it.
"Blaine can you bring me the phone? I'm calling Dalton to tell them you've come down with a Peruvian Bird Flu, from spending so much time at Pav's grave. You're getting a mental health day tomorrow, we all need a mental health year just about now." Aunt Lynn said. She took the phone from him and left the room, explaining exactly how you get Peruvian Bird Flu from a dead bird, like she didn't just make the disease up. Blaine sat on the couch next to Layla and hugged her. She had calmed down by now and stopped crying. She we still damp from the rain and her black sweatshirt was heavy and cold. He got up and took her hand
"Here, come get some dry clothes, you're cold and wet and you smell like salty tears and thunder, if thunder had a smell...." Blaine said, and Layla nodded.
"I'm sorry I only have guy stuff, but pajamas are usually pretty basic, plus they're clean and new and they're lavender silk. My boyfriend got them for me for our 6 month anniversary."
"You have a boyfriend?" Layla asked
"Yeah!" Blaine said, smiling like a child. He was so proud to show off his boyfriend to absolutely everyone. The Warblers like to call him the Whiped-bler. "His name is Kurt, he's amazing he's a Warbler too and..."
"Whats a Warbler?" Layla said, cutting him off.
"Oh, it's the a cappella group in our school, the Dalton Academy Warblers. I'm kinda like the leader of them. Here this is Kurt!" Blaine showed Layla the framed picture strip he had of him and Kurt in a picture booth. The one at the bottom of Blaine biting Kurt's ear was a bit inappropriate, but Layla was almost sixteen, he thought she could take it.
"Wow, he's very...um, poised" Layla said. Kurt had perfect hair and skin and his blazer looked like he had been ironing it all day, there were pretty much no imperfections in sight.
"I know, I'm crazy about him." Blaine said.
"Thats great, I mean really, it is, I'd love to meet him" Layla said.
"Yeah, I'm sure you will be. Anyway, here you go," He said, handing her the pajamas "I hope they're comfy enough, they're real silk I think so they should be. You can also shower if you'd like, it's not really hard to turn on and there's clean towels"
"Okay," Layla said, leaving the room "And Blaine," Blaine turned around, "Thank you so much. I'm really happy that you're my brother."
Blaine started to cry, but now it was tears almost of joy, he could feel all the love for his sister he missed out on the past three years. It was so great to have some sort of a family again.
