CHAPTER 2: Part One
Seth stirred awake. Harry gently let her down.
"You okay, love?" Liam asked walking over.
She nodded looking at me. She looked around confused at first, but when she remembered the events of the day, her heart dropped. Parent-less and moved to England with her new brother. All in one day. And of course it had to be her birthday. That was just her luck.
She stared up at her older sister and brother and the other teenage boys.
"We're at Harry, and his friend's apartment." Ella said gently putting a hand on her shoulder. "We're going to stay here."
Seth swallowed. "Okay."
After Ella and Seth had showered they started to get ready for bed. The boy's had lent them some clothes for the night and in the morning they would get new ones to replace what had burned in the fire.
They stood in the bathroom together silently.
"Ella," Seth said as her older sister brushed out her hair. "This doesn't feel right."
Ella put down the brush. "Everything takes time. It'll feel like home soon."
Seth shook her head. "I don't think so."
Ella put her hands on Seth's shoulders. "Seth, it's gonna be okay. I can promise that much. We'll get through this. It doesn’t matter where we are as long as we’re together."
Seth knew that Ella was as heartbroken about the accident as she was, but she also knew that Ella had to be the optimist. Ella was afraid that Seth would try to block everyone out if she wasn't.
"We're even going shopping tomorrow." Ella continued. "Things are already becoming better for us. We're really lucky that those boys claimed us."
Seth nodded and stopped asking questions.
Ella looked at her and Seth's reflections in the mirror. What had changed? Ella had started to get bags under her eyes from not sleeping for nearly two days. Even though it had only been a little while, she felt so much older. She felt like she had had a bunch of more responsibilities dropped on her shoulders. Ella looked down at Seth's reflection. She was wearing one of Harry's old shirts as a pajama t-shirt. It was huge on her. The bright glint in Seth's eyes was no longer there, but instead replaced with something else. Agony? That might've been the right word. Her eyes used to sparkle with hope and happiness all the time, but now they just looked dull, lifeless even.
Ella thought about Seth’s fear of the dark. She knew that Seth was always terrified. And she knew that Seth wouldn’t want anyone to ever find out. It had all been a part of her bad ass rebel kind of personality.
"Don't worry." Ella whispered into Seth's ear. "You'll be okay."
Just then somebody knocked on the door.
"Come in," Ella said.
"Hi, guys." Harry opened the door. "I wanted to let you know that you could sleep in my bed tonight since we don't have anywhere else at the moment."
"That's really nice of you, but where will you go?" Ella asked.
"Zayn's room." he answered.
"Harry," Ella stepped forward and surprised him with a hug. "Thank you so much for going through all that trouble to claim us when they called you. We're so grateful."
All of Ella’s negative thoughts about the boys had been replaced with positive ones. After tonight, she knew that they genuinely cared about her and Seth.
"Like I said before, that's just what family does."
Harry looked down at Seth who looked away. He bent down to her height. "If you ever need anything, and I mean anything at all, you can come to me, okay?"
Seth nodded. "Thank you...For everything."
Later that night Seth woke with a start and a cold sweat. She was breathing hard. She'd been having nightmares. Maybe it was the different bed, the house, maybe it just didn't feel right. Seth got up from the large bed. Ella was lightly snoring next to her. Seth felt bad that Ella hadn't gotten sleep lately because of her. Tears leaked out of her eyes as she thought about her parents. Seth had said goodbye to them that morning thinking that she would meet them with another hello after school. Now she just wished that she could go back to that moment and hug them. She thought about all the things she could've done to be a better daughter. She could've listened more, she could've gotten better grades. Seth remembered one time a couple years ago, her Dad had been trying to tell her something important. She got frustrated and threw it in his face. But now they were gone. And she regretted every little thing she ever did to hurt them. More tears leaked out of Seth's eyes. She gulped not wanting to wake Ella up.
She opened the door to Harry's room and walked into the hallway. She could hear the boys laughing loudly and talking downstairs. She leaned against the wall and slid down it burying her head in her knees and wrapping her arms around. This was the first time that she'd actually really faced the fact that her parents were gone. She sniffled quietly hoping that none of the boys would hear her.
"Seth?" Harry appeared in the hallway out of nowhere.
He had a towel draped around his neck and his curly hair was damp. He must've just gotten out of the shower.
"Harry," Seth said standing up and roughly wiping tears out of her eyes. "I didn't see you there."
He walked over to her. "What's wrong? Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." She answered as she wiped the tears that kept falling.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked more gently. He moved closer to her and wiped a tear off her face.
"Nothing..." she answered quietly then quickly shook her head. “Everything."
"Hey, it's gonna be alright." he assured. "Trust me."
"You sound just like Ella." Seth sniffled.
"Well then I guess we both have the same idea about how to make you feel better.”
"I just can’t believe they’re really gone.” Seth cried.
"I know it hurts, but it'll get better." Harry said giving her a hug.
Seth nodded holding back a river of tears.
"So why are you still up?" Harry asked.
Seth swallowed. "Bad dreams. Nightmares."
Harry opened the door to his room and led Seth in. He opened up the blankets on his bed and motioned for Seth to climb in. She did.
"Try to sleep okay? You can always go to Zayn's room if you need me." Harry said. "You can go to any one of the guys too, okay? We're a family now."
Seth nodded and Harry pulled the blankets up. "Try not to think about it too much, alright love?"
"Alright." Seth answered.
"Goodnight."
Seth hesitated. "Goodnight." She was still upset.
"And remember, I'm right down the hall."
