All Our Yesterdays

Part 2

The screeching sound pulls me from my nap. The noise is anything but settling as I hug my pillow closer, begging for a few more minutes.

I know I should probably get up, hell, I should be out the door in 5 minutes. Yet nothing is motivating me to move.

The coffee I started after my shower still sits in the pot; cooling with every second it remains untouched.

Running this morning was suppose to clear my mind and prepare me for the day. The day that marks the tenth year where everything in my life changed, the day that I've been dreading for weeks now. I want to forget the moment I lost everything and became responsible. It was years ago but it still managed to hurt like it all happened yesterday. The newspaper report of the missing plane is still hanging on the fridge where it fades to yellow. No one bringing up the courage to take it down.

Eventually I moved on with my life, got a home, a car, a job and other things that were accessible.

My job isn't what I expected the day I got accepted into a university, but then again, nothing in my life is what I expected.

I wanted to be a firefighter, like every little boys dream. I imagined having a single room apartment that was perfect for me, but occasionally the drain would get clogged and so I'd have to fix that with just a pair of pliers and a dirty dishrag. I'd have a Lab named Harley, who would bark at every chick I managed to grab. Except this one. The one that was made for me and only me. Although I wouldn't know it at first, we were just really good friends.

I would fight fires at 2:30 in the morning and stay up well past 6 before I reached home. I would call my grandma once a week and tell her how well I was doing. Then of course I'd ring my old pop and make sure he was managing just fine with my little sis around.

But none of that went as planned. Instead, I took the opening for Manager at The Warehouse down the street Monday through Friday's. Carter was the one that told me to go for it. With her talking up rainbows and butterflies about my killer grilled cheese, it wasn't long before they offered me the job. Although, I'm pretty sure they just enjoyed the company Carter provided during their slow hours. Occasionally I would come in on the weekends to see how things were holding up without me there, but I try to spend that time with my girl.

The Warehouse is a barbecue joint that gets surprisingly great business for being new and out of the blue. I would say the success was the man on grill, but I don't want to take the credit for something I barely attempted.

"Chandler." I hear my door crack open and a teenage girl walk through "Chandler, I missed the bus." I shouldn't say teenager, she's hardly 12, but has the knowledge of a 16 year old. She's smart for her age. We both grew up before we were ready and I can slowly start seeing myself in her eyes. I guess that's part of the responsibility when losing any relatives keeping the family history alive.

It's just us now, we have no one else.

"Carter, you miss the bus every Monday." I mumble, trying to rewind back to last night.

"Chandler..." She whines, extending the 'r' until it reaches annoying.

Pulling the blankets back from my body, I swing my legs over the side as I finally reach to turn off my alarm. "What's your excuse this time?"

"It's my alarm. The batteries are going dead." She defends

It's weird...I didn't think her alarm had batteries.

I look up from sitting on the side of my mattress to find my little sister standing there wearing her uniform. Her shirt is not tucked in and her ankle socks are barely showing (she got in trouble last time she wore those socks). Her long brunette hair is pulled back into a loose ponytail as her hazel eyes hide behind a pair of black eyeglasses.