The Blue Book

11

September 23, 2023

"Let's go my little minions!" Shay's voice boomed through the house. "Let's go, let's go, let's go! We gotta get ready for church!" He put emphasis on the "ch's."

18 year old Avia trudged into the kitchen, still in sweatpants and a tee shirt, her hair in a messy bun.

"It's too early for this." She moaned.

"Avia it's 2 pm." Colette laughed as she ran a comb through her hair.

"Go get the boys." Shay chuckled as he slapped a piece of turkey on a slice of bread.

Avia trudged her way into 14 year old Brock's room.

"Get ready." She threw a pair of socks at him.

"What the heck, Avia?" He yelled. "I'm trying to do homework!"

"We've got church." Avia yelled from the hall as she made her way into Daxton's bedroom.

"Dax," she peeked her head into his bedroom. "Where are you?"

"Not here!" Daxton called, his voice shaky.

Avia stepped into his bathroom only to find the eleven year old sprawled on the floor, covered in paint.

"What the f-"

"LANGUAGE!" Daxton stopped her. "And... I, my art desk... It was too crowded so I was working on it in here." He had a disappointed look on his face.

"Work on what?"

"Gavin's birthday card." He smiled. "Now that he's in college I have a lot more time to make him a good card without him seeing it before. I thought I'd start it."

Avia couldn't help but smile. "That's sweet, Dax, but you made a huge mess." She stifled her laughter, trying to act responsible as a sister.

"Well... Yeah." Daxton laughed. "Gavin's coming home to visit on Halloween you know?" He changed the subject.

"Nice subject change, bud." Avia chuckled. "Clean this up before we leave for church and I won't tell mom." She winked.

"Deal!" Daxton stuck out his hand. "No take backs!"

"They're getting ready." Avia told Colette once she was back in the kitchen.

"Go see what Emmi's doing, I texted her to come up, but just go make sure she's getting ready."

"I feel like a slave." Avia muttered as she went downstairs to Emmi's room.

"Em- you ready?" She called down the steps.

No answer.

She went towards the bathroom, thinking Emmi was in the shower.

"I swear if she's blaring music in the shower-" Avia's words came to a halt when she opened the door.

She wanted to talk, she wanted to call down her parents for help. But her words disintegrated into her tongue, letting out nothing but one small word in a mere whisper.

"Why..."

After only a few seconds, but what felt like an eternity, Avia managed to bring herself to scream.

"What? What?" Colette came rushing down the stairs. "Avia what is going on?"

Colette stood straight in front of the bathroom.

"Oh my god." She panicked. "Emmi!" She ran to the sixteen year olds side. "Shay!!" She screamed.

Shay came running down, followed by Brock and Daxton.

"Don't let the boys in!" Colette said, her voice a mixture of sobs and screams.

Shay ran into the bathroom, seeing Colette scramble to her phone, all while holding Emmi's hand.

"God, Emmi!" Shay fell to the floor, immediately placing his fingers on her neck, checking for a pulse. "Shit. Shit!" He shouted. "Avia take the boys upstairs, now." He cried.

"What's happening?" Daxton shouted.

"Let's go upstairs." Avia tried to sound as calm as possible, but she couldn't fight back the tears.

Avia sat the boys in the kitchen, all while hearing shouts and sobs from her parents.

"What's going on, Avia?" Brock cried.

"It's ok, it's ok." Avia sobbed, hugging her teenage brother.

Just as Daxton started to cry too, a pair of paramedics rushed inside. Following the sobs, they ran towards the basement, without saying a word to Avia.

Avia covered her mouth, trying to stifle more sobs as she heard her parents cry to the paramedics.

"My... My oldest daughter, found her. She's not breathing, she's, she's..." Colette stopped talking and let out another loud cry. "Please God, please don't take her." She whimpered.

After a long ten minutes, the paramedics emerged upstairs, a limp body sprawled on the stretcher.

A blue blanket covered the face.

Behind the stretcher, Avia watched as her parents fell to their knees. All noise stopped. She saw mouths move, she saw flashing sirens outside, but she heard nothing. She saw tears streaming down her little brothers' faces, but she heard no cried.

Everything was silent, everything seemed to move in slow motion, everything was blurry.

Maybe it was the tears clouding her eyes. Maybe it was the pounding of her head.

Or maybe, it was the sight of her dead sister in the hallway.