Above

1

Estelle
"I swear to God, Estelle, if you are still in bed, I will never forgive you!" The voice of Annaliesee runs through my house.
I push myself up, looking at the door.
She slams my door open. "And you are."
"I'm sorry." I say softly.
"It's been a month." She says softly. "We need you back."
I sigh. "I don't feel needed."
"The only reason you don't feel needed is because you're trapped in a pit of self hatred." Annaliesee says, throwing open the curtains.
I cover my eyes. "Too bright."
"I don't care, we have plumbing now, Leeciy and Luca's mom hooked up our plumbing pipe to the river up south no one was using." She explains. "So shower."
"I don't have any soap, conditioner, or shampoo, so I can't." I say.
She sighs. "You probably didn't notice, they did, September brought your's home."
"September's over it?" I ask.
Annaliesee nods. "He's adjusting to life without him, like you should."
I just glare.
"Now shower and get dressed before I make you!" She says, rummaging through my closet, and grabbing an outfit.
A cropped white sweatshirt and a pair of high waisted blue skinny jeans.
"Go!"
***
I walk out of my house, looking around. There was a stack of burnt boards where Yeeva's house used to be, and no Gabrie in sight.
Logan, the first to walk up to me, just held me tight, before giving me a comforting look before walking away.
"You look miserable." Leeciy says. When I was grieving, everyone visited me, except him. Whenever I asked why, they said it was because my earthquake, it scared him.
"Long time, no see." I say, starting to walk along the sidewalk.
Leeciy gives me a closed mouth smile, walking with me. "Yeah, sorry about that, Cirus got a fever then I had to do that whole plumbing thing with Fran. Sorry I didn't visit you."
"Is Cirus better?" I ask.
He nods. "Way better, she even has a friend now." He points over at September and Cirus playing.
"Remember when she bit him?" I ask.
Leeciy's eyes widen. "That feels like forever ago!"
"Well, look at them now." I say.
September was swinging Cirus around by her hands.
"I love that kid." Leeciy says. "She's such a sweetheart."
"She really is. I'm happy for you." I say.
He gives me a tight smile, stops walking, and pulls me in for a hug. "I'm sorry about August."
"It's okay, I'm supposed to be getting over it." I say.
"Nigel said that he was the only thing you'd ever known." He says softly. "I can't imagine losing that."
"Well, he's kinda right." I say.
He pulls away from the hug.
"What's on the agenda for today?" I ask.
"We're actually burning the bodies today." He answers. "We all voted and wanted to wait until everyone was feeling better."
I look up at him. "We have a democracy?"
"Kinda." He says. "We vote on things like this, but major things, not so much."
"Oh." I say. "Can we go see Aug--"
"Logan says if I take you near him she'll gut me like a fish, so no." He answers. "I'm kinda attached to my liver so."
"Do we even have livers?" I ask.
He shrugs. "I'm guessing."
"So you don't know Pangaean anatomy?"
He shakes his head.
"I thought you know everything?" I say, in an asking tone.
"Nope. I've got limits." He nods.
I widen my eyes and my jaw drops slightly.
"Everyone's brain is wired differently, just because I learn quickly doesn't mean I can't learn things. I excell in left-brained stuff, creative things, fighting, stuff like that. I absolutely suck at right-brained stuff, science and math." He explains, rambling slightly.
"Well, what are you good at?" I ask.
"I'm good at drawing, fighting, shooting, throwing, both knives and axes, English, I play both the guitar and ukulele pretty well. I sing, but only when Cirus makes me. I do a lot of stuff." He pauses. "Oh, and I'm a hell of a dancer."
"Really? I've never been any good." I say, pouting slightly.
He tilts his head. "You look like you'd be able to hit a Retiré Devant pretty well."
"A what now?" I ask.
Leeciy laughs. "It's a ballet move."
I fake smile, looking down at the pavement. "That explains it."
***
The bodies were set on the remains of Yeeva's house.
Kind of ironic, lay August on the house of who killed him.
September stands to my right, trying to act like it's normal to see your brother's body.
I have the same tactic, stone-face until I'm alone.
Luca was to my right, wanting to be emotional support. When I was locking myself in my house, we would sit in silence and he would draw animals on my arm. They looked like what Cirus would draw, but it helped.
Leeciy was the one lighting the fire, pouring gas on the bodies before lighting a match.
It immediately smelt like burnt hair and flesh.
September coughs, burying his nose in his elbow.
I felt like choking and coughing, but I couldn't.
All I could focus on was August's shoes.
They were his favorite pair of Converse, black with white soles and toes.
"Promise me you won't waste a second of your life hung up on me." Rings through my head.
A sole tear runs down my cheek, which I wipe away hastily.
I broke a promise. It's been a month and that's like a bajillion seconds.
Leeciy walks in our direction, I thought he was just going to stand behind me, watching, waiting for me to crack.
Instead, he pulls me into the tightest hug I've ever been in. "It's okay to cry."
I shake my head. "I have to be strong."
He lets me go, walking around Luca to stand behind me.
"What's going on tomorrow?" I ask.
He lays a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Nothing tomorrow, but next week, we're back to South-side.