Pastel|mgc|

Two

Got a hole in my soul, growing deeper and deeper.

T W O

i remember a time when i used to laugh and smile and be the irresponsible teenager i should've been. now adays that girl is a distant memory. with mom gone and dad hardly here, and two kids not even old enough to pick out their own clothes, someone had to be the parent. i guess that someone was me.

i made sure my brother and sister got keep their childhoods while i lost mine. i was setting playdates during the school days for paige, so someone responsible could watch her when my aunt couldn't, and sleep overs for james and his friends while i lost my own friends.

while my friends were joining the cheer team or going to the mall, i was worrying over how to make something other than frozen pizza's for dinner. while everyone around me were doing the teenager things, i was doing the grown up things.

learned fast how to change a diaper, because boy do those things stink up a house. and i started marking james and piage's heights on the door frame in the kitchen like mom and dad had done for me. and i put a five dollar bill i stole from my dads wallet under james's pillow the night he lost his first tooth. i remember him waking me up at one in the morning, shoving the bill in my face, literally.

now, here i am shoving a twenty under his nose as i try to drag him out of bed. "james if i give you another twenty with you get out of bed?" he shrugs his shoulders and i am sorely tempted told his face down into the pillow. it was the first day of school and he was fighting it. I groan and curse under my breath, pulling another twenty out of my back pocket. i throw it onto the pillow right next to his head , he lifts his head up just enough to look at the bill before laying it back down again. " james alexander david humphries if you do not get your ass out of that bed in the next ten seconds i'm throwing the xbox one out the window." i slowly count to ten in my head, and when he still doesn't move, i head for his beloved gaming system. you asked for it. reaching around his tv i unplug all the cords and lift the console up, heading for the open window. "oh damn." it's heavier than i thought it would be. "say good bye james." i'm holding it half out the window, he turns slowly to look, to make sure i'm not bluffing before jumping up and screaming .

"no take the 360! don't hurt the one, don't hurt it , i'm, sorry , looking i'm getting dressed!" he pulls on a random pair of most likely dirty jeans from his floor and throws on some random black t-shirt. i heave the console back in from the window and he grabs it from me, cradling it.

"this why you have zero friends you dork." i say, throwing a pair of vans at him as i walk out of the room. "time for paige." i say, cracking my neck before pushing open her door. i resist the urge to puke at the sight of her bumblegum pink walls as i walk over to her bed. the blankets are in a heap and the pillows all over the place, paige is nowhere to be seen. "paige?! paige where are you?!" i hear a clatter and a muffled 'ow' come from her closet and i run over to it, pulling the closed door open. paige is sitting on the floor, with the light on, trying on different shoes. "really paige?" I should've known, today would be her first day of kindergarten, of course she'd want to look her best. she stands up, having pulled on a pair of brown boots . i had to admit, the kid had style. she had managed to pick out a white skirt, black leggings and a frozen t-shirt with a jean jacket over top. "don't you think it's a little hot for jackets?"

"nope, gotta dress to impress." i laugh at the saying and how she pronounces impress 'impwess' . "who taught you that?"

"taylor." of course taylor would teach her something like this. taylor simmons is the only friend in the world that i have, and she often babysat paige and james for me over the summer while i took night classes at the local community college. "do i look okay? can we show taylor? please?" i couldn't argue with the puppy eyes she was throwing me and snapped a quick pic on my phone before texting it to taylor.