Happy Endings

42. tay

"I wanna make it crystal clear that I won't give in to the fear."

☼

Tay Jardine-Quinn believed something was up with her brother. Call it intuition, sister's sixth sense, or whatever, but she knew Kellin was going through a very strange period of his life. That, and... it was blatantly obvious.

All through their lives, she'd been witness to the constant changes in Kellin's demeanor and the rollercoaster of his mental health. One day he could be having the time of his life only for the next to find him curled up in bed drowning in sadness. It didn't make it right, but Tay was used to it. She knew what to expect. But this time it was different.

She'd been watching her brother go back to his old ways for weeks. His depression resurfaced, he avoided everyone, went back to his strict work-home schedule, and barely had time for anything other than taking care of his daughter Penny. And she had no idea why.

She'd been trying to pinpoint the exact moment things started going downhill, but it didn't make sense either. Going back in her memories, she remembered Kellin actually being... good. Great even. He was going out more, he seemed happier and like he was finally getting rid of all the cages in his brain. He even got promoted at his job which was something he'd been working towards for months.

And then... he changed. For some reason. He crawled back into his shell.

She didn't see him for what felt like the longest time until she decided to intervene after his friend Hayley called her to let her know what was happening. Something triggered the grief in his heart and was setting back years of progress, he was going to the cemetery every day after work, he wasn't really talking to anyone either. Tay immediately got worried.

That intervention lunch they had at Tom's wasn't the most pleasant of experiences for the siblings, she didn't like confirming the fact that her brother was back in his mental cave again, but at least she got him to fake feeling good enough to attend their cousin's graduation ceremony.

And that had been a nice day. They got to hang out together and even got to see his other friend Vic briefly. She had no idea Noah and Vic attended the same school, she had no idea why Kellin never mentioned it either, but she didn't bother asking too many questions about that. Kellin was so immersed in himself and whatever was going on with him that it must've slipped his mind.

After that day Tay supposed Kellin was trying to act better around her, but she saw right through him every time. She let him pretend though, because she was a firm fake-it-til-you-make-it believer, and maybe it would work on Kellin somehow. They hung out any chance they got, although she had to admit that sometimes hanging out with her boyfriend Jaime distracted her a little.

But she felt like she should've paid more attention during those days because Kellin shut down completely shortly after. The rollercoaster reached the summit and it all crashed down. Faking it hadn't helped at all. Everything became worse.

He was moody around everyone except Penny, seemingly angry at everything like any little thing could set him off. Everyone started walking on eggshells around him, he was barely verbal... Tay didn't know how else to help, he wouldn't talk about it, and he wouldn't accept any help from her either.

So she decided to give him space. It would be worse if Kellin shut her out completely because she was hovering too much, so she settled for texts and brief calls checking in where she was the one who did most of the talking. That worked for a couple of weeks. He wasn't getting any better though, but then... Something changed.

Again.

Tay hadn't been able to visit him the week Penny went away with her other grandmother. She had work shifts every evening and knew that was mostly Kellin's visit slot. But she did have Friday off, and she took that as her chance to finally see her favorite boys after such a long work week.