The Baneflower

Chapter 17

Kody
I saw Giselle walking to school. Her hazel eyes shown only cold. She didn't even look at me. I'm not even sure if she recognized me, she walked past like she never knew me. Or she is pretending I never existed. That little girl was growing up. My little sister Giselle Anna Henderson.
She walked away like I was just another person in the alleyway. Just someone she never knew. I looked away, pissed off and ashamed that I let everyone in my life down.
Then I see Maralynn, out on the backyard. She didn't see me yet. I hid, hoping no one could see me enter the house.
"Kody, what the hell?"
Damn, she found me.
Maralynn looked at me with her piercing green eyes, questioning my every move. I ignored her, looking down at the grass.
"Get out. You don't belong here." Maralynn snapped, shooing me away as if I was an animal, not her own step brother. I was taken aback by her rudeness.
"Your the one that doesn't belong in this house. You weren't born here. You came in the middle of nowhere. No one asked you to join our family." I retort, my thoughts just came right out of my mouth.

Maralynn
"What do you have in your hand."
I stopped at the sight of the familiar weapon he held. Kody looked at it, then started walking away.
"KODY!" I yell at him. He didn't stop walking away. It was a gun. Probably from the basement. I didn't even have to ask where he got it. I didn't want anyone in our family getting arrested at 2am for fighting out there. Or maybe getting killed by all those bastards that wander around looking for things to take. It's not just one criminal record that defines you, it's the years you'll spend in jail or someone else's memory.

Morley
I wake up from the sound of a scene outside of our house. Arguing. Maralynn and this other guy.
I looked outside at the cracked windows of my dark home and I saw Kody. He was back? I highly doubt it. He was probably here to piss us off like always. It was working very well.
I hear Maralynn screaming at him, and Kody just kept on shrugging. I hear the typical words that run around the house every second day.
"What are you doing with your life?"
Or this alternative.
"What are you going to do with your life?"
To be frank, Maralynn wasn't any more good than Kody. She needs to get a real job. The one she has right now, is quite degrading.
I stay in the house, the cold air seeping in from the bullet hole front the back door. He was carrying what Sasha had used that day when I was five and I didn't understand what death was. Or why and how she was lying there and I thought she was sleeping even with red puddles. I try to chase the thought away.

Kody
"I gave y'all money alright? It's good enough. I don't even have to do that."
I tried to reason with her. Out on the streets at the night were the many people that were prepared for the outside world. It was dangerous out there, especially the nights where you are out of luck. Other people want money too. They carry around their weapons just like me, desperate for whatever reason.
"I'm helping you. Money is money. It doesn't matter where it comes from." I muttered, tired of her being ungrateful. Maralynn shook her head. She told me to leave and don't ever come back with the gun.

Maralynn
He looked at me, his grey eyes were as dull as the walls of the street. Except it contained no art of some sort.

Riley
There was a party on Friday. At Diana's house. It was her birthday on Thursday but she insisted that we must celebrate on Friday. It was right after school, and it went on till late at night, god knows when.
"Riley! What happened to you?" She was talking about what Conner did to me and Morley the other day. I changed the subject quickly, asking about more information about the party. Apparently McKenna, Toby, Greyson, and many other people who I had never met were going there. Diana winked and suggested to bring Morley along with me, but I wasn't exactly sure if he was a fan of social situations.
I said yes. I said I had time. I said I would invite him too. She said invite as many as you could.
So I imagined me and my friends on the streets, yelling out into the world how happy we are to have known eachother. The music we would sing to, the guitar Toby would play. I would choose the music. We all liked the same bands. The lyrics we would repeat on and on. The firelight and the dazzling streets and the cool crispy air. The promises and stories we would share. Best of all, the temporary euphoria.
But inside I knew that something would go wrong. Problems were everywhere. I knew I was a huge pessimist.

And I was right about that.