Heart-Shattered

Heart-Shattered: Number One

Prologue:

I'm friends with the monster that's under my bed.

Get along with the voices inside of my head.

You're trying to save me, stop holding your breath.

You think I'm crazy, yeah you think I'm crazy...

-The Monster, Eminem.

Number One

I thought my life was absolutely perfect before everything came crashing in.

I was happy for the first time in a very long time. Nothing seemed to bother me much anymore. I was drawing closer to my friends and I was advancing in my academic life. I finally had a plan for my future! I was on my way to a career in visual arts! All I had to do was make it through senior year.

Everything was going as planned.

Until the train wreck.

My brother was getting a divorce. His wife cheated on him only five months into their marriage and left him with nobody.

He was only 21.

Hold on, before you tell me I'm being dramatic, let me explain.

My sister-in-law wasn't just some girl he met and introduced to all of us, and soon after married. No, she was grafted into our family, forcefully, manipulatively.

Still don't understand?

That's okay. I don't really understand it either.

Let me clear it up for you.

She came from a terrible family background.

Abusive father, divorced parents, poverty, family disputes, a mother who stole money from her own children, the whole package. So when she met my brother and his (not to brag) wonderful family, she saw an out to the mess she came from.

When my brother went off to college his freshman year, his girlfriend moved in with my family, bringing all of her baggage (literal and metaphorical) into our home.

Where did she end up staying in our relatively small house?

...my room. Great.

From the beginning, I knew this girl was a mess. She was anorexic, emotionally disturbed, lazy, and angry at everyone. She would yell at my sister and I just for being in our own bedroom. She would sleep in until noon on weekdays. She made life difficult from the moment she stepped her foot in the door.

And now here I'm sitting, heartbroken.

No, correction. Heart-shattered. If something is broken, you can usually fix it. But if something is shattered, there isn't much hope.

That's how I feel. Hopeless.

Numb.

But in extreme pain at the same time.

The past five years of my life have finally blown up. I guess I knew it was coming some time, but I didn't expect it so soon.