*Cami*
*December 10th*
I can hear all things that are going on in Mavericks room. I may be younger than him but I know exactly what's going on. Maverick should not be talking to our mother this way but I know where he's coming from. Half of what he's saying isn't even his complaints about her, their mine. I don't mean to constantly go on rants and what not but she just bugs me you know? Besides the point Maverick is fighting for me right now but our mother will never know and so the tension will never be between us but instead just between her and Maverick. I can't thank him enough for doing this for me though I don't think that he intended on letting it all out. I feel like I should go help but I know that if I come in now I would only make things worse. It's going to be quite the night when dad gets home. Especially since this is starting with Judah. I don't understand why our parents are so against him. I've never met Judah but he sounds rather nice. Our mother is convinced he's fake as well as our father and basically the rest of the family to. As for me, I really don't know. I mean for something to be real it doesn't have to have skin right? I'm saying imaginary friends are real but what if Judah is just something else. No one's ever seen big foot but we know he's real. Maybe Judah is something like that. Maverick is no longer yelling. I hear his door slam shut and I hear our Mother sobbing. I peek open the door and watch her pull out her phone. She's probably going to call dad; this won't be good. My door is up the stairs down the hallway the last one on the right. My door has lights around it for the month of December. I have two windows in my light blue room. There are Christmas lights around those as well. My room is next to Austin's but he keeps to himself for the most part. There are not many things within my room being that it is the smallest because I am the youngest. I have my twin bed coming out of the left wall with a small bed side stand next to it. My bed has a purple layover with grey fluffy head resting's. In the far back right corner I have a rug on the ground a tall lamp pushed into the corner with a bookshelf next to the lamp. All of my liked things are in my bookshelf. I don't know why but I figure they're safer there.
In the closest right corner sits a grey dresser and my creamy closet door. I have only two stuffed animals in my room, a dog and a cat. They are both worn from when I used to carry them around. As my mother starts walking down the hallway probably to the kitchen I swiftly close my door. I hold my breath hoping that she doesn't come in here I've been in my room all night not wanting to talk to anyone. I press my ear to the door in hopes to hear some conversation after a few seconds of quite I move to the vent next to my dresser in the close right corner. Placing my ear on the warm metal I can hear the half of the conversation. I know just from the first few words that dad's not coming home tonight. I have heard this half of the conversation all too many times. I don't even bother to listen to the rest until I hear the front door open. Austin must be home from work. From what I can make out Austin is going to retrieve our father. I don't know why he does this. Austin tries harder than all of us to keep the family together. I'm only ten and I already gave up. I don't know how the family hasn't already fallen apart yet. We stopped going to family events not too long ago. Though she will never admit it my mother is slowly shutting out the family as a whole. My father doesn't protest which leads me to believe that it was his idea in the first place. I've stopped listening to everyone because I don't like facing the fact of our family. I know how broken we really are but I couldn't fix it if I tried.
Sitting on my bed I wrap up all the blanket I can around me and begin to cry to myself for this is only going to get worse unless everyone tries, and that just won't happen. I hear the front door close knowing Austin has now left. If you were to take the roof off of our house right now you would see a sad miss understood boy watching his brother leave to get his dad once again, a sad little girl that doesn't know how to make everyone happy and has now given up, and a mother who doesn't exactly know how to respond to the things that are going on, as she never does. All crying to themselves because we are a separated family trapped in the same house that everyone refuses to recognize. I don't want our lives to be a sad story but no one chooses that. It's been about almost half an hour since Austin has left and I've somewhat regained myself so I get out of all of my comfort and go to see Maverick. When I walk in I already knew that he was going to be watching out the window but I didn't know that it had begun to snow. Mavericks lights are off and the glow of the streetlights from his window are the only light in the room. I don't way a word as I enter. I quietly close door behind me and give him a hug from behind. We stay that way for a moment but then he turns around to give me a hug back. We don't have to say any words to each other. I don't know how long we stay in a tight embrace but it's long enough for Maverick to be overwhelmed with thinking and begin sobbing into my shoulder. Just hearing him makes me cry as well. I soak his black t-shirt with my tears.
The rest of the night neither of us say a word not knowing what would trigger the other to start crying once more. I stay in Mavericks room like I used to when I had nightmares when I was little. I never went to mom or dad when I had nightmares I always went to Maverick, no one else would make me feel safe. Maverick never seemed to mind me coming in anyway and if he did he never showed it through anything else than a welcome in. I can't sleep. Once I know that Maverick is out I slip out of the bed and head downstairs to see if I missed Austin come home with our father. I make no noise as I walk quickly through the house when I reach the bottom of the stairs I peek around the corner to make sure my mother isn't awake. I find her passed out on the couch with her cell phone in her hand and the house phone lying next to her. I look out the front window but I don't see the car. I doubt Austin's coming home tonight. Small silent tears trail down my face but I don't know why this time. Maybe just the sheer fact that I thought Austin was going to be back and he's not. I head back upstairs still certain to not make a sound. I'm just about up when I hear mom's phone ring. I race to it before it wakes her up. She's not one of those people that keep their ringer up all the way so it would've taken her a second to wake up from it anyways. I take her phone into the kitchen, it's Austin. I answer, "Hello?"
"Cami? What are you still doing up?" Austin's' voice doesn't come out harsh but still concerned on why I'm up. I didn't even look at the time, but it's 2 am.
I stay quiet hoping to avoid the question, and I do as Austin moves on. "Hey is mom around I need to talk to her."
I shake my head forgetting he can't hear me and then quickly return in an answer. "Oh no, she's asleep on the couch. Just tell me and I'll let her know in the morning."
I hear Austin sigh on the other end obviously not wanting to tell me. Austin shpeals for a while about different things he's wanting to say and I let him say what he likes. After a while he tells me to get some sleep and hangs up. I place the phone back next to my mother as she never woke up. I go back upstairs this time to sounds to interrupt my course of pattern.
I watch the snow fall from Mavericks window as he was when I came in. After tonight I will no longer like the snow. I might not even like the month of December to be honest. The snow and December will be sad.
I know that this was just night one of the fights and arguments. Eventually I'll be pulled into the middle of all of it and be forced to stand with Maverick. I don't like conflict if I can avoid it in any way I can it's definably what I'll do. I look over to Maverick. I've never really taken him in watched what he was. His hair is lighter than mine, a dirty blonde that looks like the sand. He is taller than me being two years older as well. Maverick is very independent if you don't count me. We are stuck together except for when we are apart. He looks like our father in the best of ways. He's stronger than he seems in his mushed fame. My eyes and Mavericks eyes couldn't be more opposite as his are a deep mocha brown and mine are the water to his sandy hair. He reminds me of all things warm. Maverick stands on his own but takes in whomever wants to stand with him. His nose points up ever so slightly at the very end. He has longer eye lashes than any girl on the planet. His teeth are too straight and white for his own good. He has an accidental style that he's not fully aware of but looks nice on him. He enjoys coffee and the bass guitar. Maverick doesn't have many friends because if they won't stand with him he doesn't wasn't his time. He picks his friends they don't pick him, and rarely ever do they pick each other. Mavericks lips fall in a straight line across but he's always making them curl up. Our mother doesn't approve much of what he does as well as me but we don't care what she thinks. Together we stand not caring what the entire world thinks. We'll keep each other sane.
It's the two of us against the world.
