A Sky Without Stars

Part 9-April

Things were changing between Castor and I; everyone could see that. But nothing could have ever prepared me for the change I was seeing in my sister, Bailey.

Sure, things had started going badly with Bailey ever since my grandpa died in November. She cried more than she used to, but not an extraordinary amount. Because of her crying, of course, I had been banished to the basement on weekends to talk to her; however, I'd grown accustomed to it over the past few months. Naturally, one of Bailey's new favorite pastimes was insulting me with various names and rude comments...but I figured it was all just our sisterly relationship. All siblings fight, so this was completely normal, right?

At least I thought so, until she began the negative comments towards herself.

With each passing day, I began to see her entire morale shift. A once-happy teenager was transitioning into a hollow shell of her former self. Yet nothing really fully registered me, as my mother constantly told me it was "just hormones". The tearful nights still became more and more frequent, and the bitterness increased rapidly.

One Friday after school, I was sitting in the basement, doing homework, when I noticed that Bailey was no longer in the room with me. My mom and dad were out running errands, which left me to do whatever I pleased. I spent my time watching YouTube videos for hours on end...which wasn't the most productive activity in the world, but I had no one telling me otherwise. The only issue with being home alone was that Bailey tended to invade my space, as she was a girl who did not enjoy alone. This irritated me, because I did like time to myself, but I suppose it's a personal preference.

Either way, I was concerned to see the absence of my younger sister, simply because she was usually so intent on chatting for hours on end. With a sparked curiosity, I tiptoed upstairs and peeked into her bedroom. No sight of her. I checked inside the kitchen, and still couldn't find her.

"Bailey?" I called out. No answer. I briskly walked around the main floor of my house, looking around in all the rooms. I paused a moment in front of the closed bathroom door, then knocked timidly. When I still got no response, I decided to simply open up the door myself.

Inside, I found Bailey staring at a mirror, completely ignoring me. It was almost as if she was hypnotized by her own reflection.

"Bailey," I said, and she jumped. At once, she turned to me, and I could see hatred in her eyes. "Is anything wrong? I've been trying to talk to you for twenty minutes. Why wouldn't you answer me?"

Her eyes burned right into my soul. "Get out of the bathroom now."

I smirked. "Uh, no, not until you tell me what you were doing."

Bailey faced towards the mirror again, and frowned. "Do you see this, Pearl? Do you see me?"

I paused, startled by her sudden mood shift. I wasn't sure what she was trying to get at, so I simply nodded.

A shadow crossed her face, and she said, "Look closely, Pearl. You will see a girl with no friends. A girl with nothing but baby fat and an ugly face. Nobody likes me, and nobody ever will, truly. All the friends I have now hate me."

"What?" I cried. "Bailey, you have lots of friends! If they didn't like you, they wouldn't hang out with you! And you guys talk and hang out all the time. And psh, you're not ugly or fat. We all love you. You should know that!"

She really should know all those things, because I have to reassure her of these facts every five seconds, I thought to myself. It was mean of me, I know, but it was true. Often times, I did find myself acting as a counselor of sorts to her. It wasn't too bad; I just had to constantly remind her how much we all loved her, and that her friends did not hate her. For some reason, she'd gotten into her head that the people never liked her, which probably wasn't the healthiest thing, but I always managed to convince her she was incorrect.