Atelophobia (Kellic)

7

I had to kick Justin out about half an hour later, which took a lot of effort. His stubbornness was one of a kind and only able to conquer with a lot of skill and practice. But no matter how much I hated that day, I had to go to work. And to be completely honest, I was grateful for the distraction. Justin did his best to help me but to get out of the house was probably even better. It would help me to calm down a little bit, to be busy with something else than my own thoughts.

Justin disagreed. He didn't want me to stress myself out even more, because, and I quote "You never know when to stop". As he realized that he was not getting anywhere with that he insisted that I should at least let him come with me. And again, I declined and finally got him to go home. He left unwillingly, reminding me that as soon as I called him, he would be on his way. However, I wasn't planning on acting on his offer, he had done more than enough for me already.

Right as I was about to walk out of the door, Kaily came in, grinning at me as I calmed down from the startle she had given me.

"You okay there, sis?", she asked, the amusement evident on her face. She took off her jacket and shoes, giving me a side glance. Her grin faded and got replaced by a frown.

"Honestly, are you okay? You seem pretty tense today." I smiled at her and gave her a kiss at the top of the head. "Don't worry about me, I'm fine. Just a rough day. How was detention?"

She rolled her eyes at me and started walking into the living room where she started to unpack, while I still stood in the entrance. "Nothing special. You should get going."

I raised my eyebrows in curiosity. "Someone's eager to get me out of the house."

"Someone's eager to do their homework in peace."

I shook my head in disbelievement at her but couldn't help the smile that appeared on my face. "Okay, nerd, I get going then. Don't forget to pick up your brother from his friend in about an hour."

"Will do."

I left the house with the thought of undone homework in the back of my head.

Work was what I had expected. I didn't have all too much time to think about anything that was currently going on, instead my brain switched to autopilot in order to get the work done. And surprisingly enough, time passes way faster if you are busy doing something productive instead of wallowing in self-pity. Nonetheless I was grateful as my shift ended. On my way home I was doing a mental check-list of what to do once I arrived. I had to cook, bring Nick to bed, talk to Kaily a little more and do my homework. The list was longer than I anticipated but if I finished all of it I would finally be able to drift off into sleep and leave this day behind for another year. But things just don't seem to work out the way I want them to.

The second I set foot inside I saw something flying towards me, missing me by just a few inches. It crashed onto the door next to my head with a shattering sound, causing glass shards to fly around be before they landed on the floor and the intense smell of liquor filled my nostrils. My heart started beating again after a couple missed beats, twice as fast as it normally should and I looked in horror at my mom who had her eyes fixed on me.

"Get out!" she screamed pointing at the door where I just got in.

I looked at her with wide eyes, frozen in place, not comprehending what was going on.

"I said get out!", she screamed again, this time taking a pillow from the couch to throw at me. I was able to catch it, which got me out of my paralyzed state.

"Mom, what are you talking about?" I let the pillow fall to the ground again and furrowed my eyebrows at her. For how long has she been home? Did she do something to Nick and Kaily?