Broken Vessels

| Chapter V- Veronica |

| September 12, 2017 | 

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This chapter is a day late and I apologize xD But hey. I'm posting it today right before I go to school so you're welcome xP Anyway, please enjoy. More of Veronica's home life coming your way. 

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| Chapter V- Veronica |

*Part of grief is the loss of innocence. The loss of the certainty that everything will be as it always has been. -Tanya Lord*

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Pain. It had a different meaning in each aspect. You could be in pain physically by tripping over a tree root for example. You could be in pain mentally where your thoughts drift into dangerous waters. You could be in pain spiritually where your soul cries for help but you know in your heart there is none coming.

Tonight, we all had the pain of the mind. Dinner was quiet tonight. The only sound was the clanking of metal against glass. The slight sound of chewing and gulping. No one said anything. No one offered to start up a conversation.

There was heaviness at the table. A tension so thick I felt like I could suffocate from it. A knife wouldn't have been able to cut through it. We were all lost in our thoughts.

After I went to see my family, I came back up to find the twins waiting for me. Their own tears fell silently down their cheeks while I tried to wipe mine away. I couldn't show weakness in their presence.

But before I could stop, they threw themselves at me and wrapped me up in a tight embrace, clinging onto me as if telling me everything would be okay as long as we were together. Just us three. And from then we all had a silent cry session with a few staggered breaths and whimpers before calming down slightly.

It was time to end this pain. Or at least, silence it once more. "Alright kids. Tell me, who's your favorite teacher so far?" I asked to get their minds off of our broken family.

"Mmm, I'm not sure yet," Cindy replied silently while picking at her food.

"Depends who gives me the least amount of homework," Caleb replied with a small smile and I chucked.

"Of course you'd say that," I breathed out in my chuckling. "You were always the lazy bum," I teased as I cut into the meat on my plate.

"Hey! Not true. Cindy was always the one dirtying our room," he huffed as he stabbed his food and placed it into his mouth.

"False! The only reason why your side was so clean was because you stuffed your mess under the bed and dressers! I kept mine out in the open," Cindy fought back and soon an argument broke out between the two and I smiled. Success.

While they argued about who was the cleaner twin, I cleaned out my plate and began getting up to place them in the sink. Dinner was late tonight but I wasn't upset. We had a reason and I was glad everything happened the way they did. We needed it. I needed it...

"Alright twins. Time to clean up and get ready for bed. Tomorrow's another day. Get dressed in your jammies and brush your teeth," I told them as I faced them and placed my hands on my waist.

They stopped arguing and followed my orders obediently, albeit small shoves and snide comments here and there. They placed their empty plates in the sink and clambered up the stairs and went to their respective rooms, the doors shutting in the process followed by loud "Goodnight Vee".

I smiled softly then sighed and began wiping the table with a wet cloth. Poor souls. My parents should be the one doing this. They should be watching us going up to our rooms. They should be the ones wishing us goodnight and placing kisses on our foreheads and tapping our bums playfully as we climb up the stairs.

But instead, what are they doing? Rotting away in the basement with expensive drugs, using money that can easily be put aside for the twins' education later on. But it's up to me to maintain the money they used to give me as allowance. Luckily for us, I was not a big spender.

I frowned as I paused with my cleanup. How much money did I have left? I pulled out my phone and entered my password for my bank account and sucked in my cheeks. I was running low...

"I need a job," I whispered as tears blurred behind my eyelids. I quickly blinked them away and took a deep breath, logging out of my account before the pain and depression sunk in lower. But it was a little hard too.

The fact that my allowance money was being used to pay the bills of this house, feed and support three people (since the other three prefer satisfying their hunger with illegal substances), and buy the essentials for the home and us was not normal. And it wouldn't last.

I sunk to my knees and pressed my head against the cool ground, taking deep and steady breaths in to prevent myself from panicking. I couldn't show any weakness. If I did, it was game over. I needed to be strong. I needed to be brave. I needed to overcome this.

Finally calm again, I sat up and collected my hair up in a ponytail. I then stood up and began to clean. I had work to do. 

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