Humorously Balanced

Chapter 4 {Part 1}: Brianna

I wake to the sounds of clashing pans and a screech from the other room. Brianna's up.

"I'm ok!" She squeals from the other room.

Thank the gods she isn't down all the time like Phoebe. Her optimistic overly-happy attitude is what keeps us together on really hard days.

I groan and roll over. The alarm clock next to my hammock read 4:30.

Great. I can't fall back asleep. It's 4:30 am, Brianna is making a mess and I'm exhausted.

I huff out a sigh of pure irritation and get out of bed. The floor is cold.

Don't lose control. Don't lose control. Don't lose control.

I repeat the little mantra in my head as I slip on some socks and creep upstairs, making sure not to wake the others. Especially Phoebe.

I may carry the temperaments of irritation, jealousy, and anger but I'm also ambitious, courageous, and passionate. I may lose my temper from time to time but I quickly recover knowing that I love what I do despite all the hard work. I'm ambitious. I will do whatever it takes to do my job right, even if that means suffocating myself with a pillow to keep from exploding. I'm also the one who is always sent outside the cluster of trees we call our neighborhood to go on little quests. The others are a bit scared of mingling with humans because something might happen to unbalance the system.

Phoebe on the other hand. Her sensitivity and lethargy are the main reason for our little problem. She's sensitive, so every little joke and whatnot makes her upset. She's lazy, so when the computers get a glitch and have to reboot she's the first to complain. So when Bailey laughed at Phoebe's laziness... Well... Bam! Chaos.

When I get to the top of the stairs I see fried eggs all over the place with burnt toast on the counter. The toaster itself fell onto the floor where Brianna was sitting, rubbing her hand.

"You okay Bri?" I ask.

"Yeah, just a little burn that's all..."

I walk over to where she's sitting and take her hurt hand into mine. "Just a little burnt?! Bri! What did you do?! Shove your hand in the toaster?"

A sly smile creeps across her face. "Maybe?" She whispers.

"Brianna! How many times now?!" I half yell half whisper.

"I'm sorry?" She offers.

I just shake my head and pick the toaster off the floor. I have no idea how she constantly does these stupid things to hurt herself but as long as I'm not getting hurt, I don't care. She's always very accepting of her clumsiness anyway.