ghost // fillie

021

021

~charlie's an angel~

finn and ava watched television in the basement for half an hour after that. ava fell asleep with her body sprawled across the couch and her head on his lap. finn smiled.

millie did that. millie remembered laying on his lap like that. whether they were playing video games or just talking, millie found that most comfortable couch position was having her head on finn's lap.

millie knew finn loved it. he would occasionally let his fingers run through her soft hair or brush her cheek with his fingertips. and she would always end up falling asleep like that. it would always make finn's leg fall asleep.

then finn frowned. staring at the cartoons on the screen, millie saw the feeling of emptiness make itself comfortable in his eyes. he just stared into the screen, without emotion.

suddenly, there was a creak from the stairs. finn turned sharply, afraid, around and saw charlie, millie's brother, walking down the stairs.

"oh. charlie. i thought you went with your parents," finn said. charlie smiled and shook his head, shoving his hands in his pockets, "i don't like to join them on their 'visits'" he said with air quotes.

charlie stood next to the television and leaned against the wall close to it. he stared at the ground.

finn drew his eyebrows together, "where do they go?"

charlie shifted and flicked his eyes up towards finn, "therapy,"

finn nodded and looked towards the ground.

charlie elaborated, "it's been tough without millie. she was just....gone. they couldn't really handle it. it's a good investment, but it's not for me,"

"why not?" finn asked.

"even though it was hard," charlie said, walking towards finn, "i've learned to accept it,"

finn leaned back into the couch, careful not to wake ava, "doesn't it jut kill you though? not knowing who cut those breaks?"

charlie shook his head, "i find it better to just accept things. we can't change anything. that's why i told mom she should stop the investigation. she was ready to sell millie's things to pay him. it's just.....if she did, we've have nothing left of millie. nothing to remind us of....her presence,"

charlie has his eyes focused on a sleeping ava, seeming to be staring into her soul, "we could use the money to send her to college. she's kind of our last hope now. after i ended up a screw-up,"

finn drew his eyebrows together, "dropping out of college doesn't make you a screw-up. you'll find your passion one day,"

charlie chuckled to himself, his eyes glued to the floor as he shook his head, "i am a screw up. i.... i screwed everything up. but i have to accept it,"

finn bit his lip, "im sorry,"

millie watched as the two made conversation, sitting next to finn.

she and charlie were never super close. they had their moments, but they were never tied at the hip.

thinking about it now, millie knew very little about her brother. when she was younger, when he was in high school, his friends would come over and they would get fro-yo. she remembered his car always smelled weird, like burnt plastic or burnt marshmallows. he wasn't very social. he kept to himself.

but now, she was kind of regretting not getting to know him. his isolation and strange way of grieving made millie feel like he cared less for her. she felt like she hadn't done the job of being an annoying, caring younger sister.

finn stared at ava, recalling his words to her, and repeated them to charlie, "what do you remember about her?"

charlie looked up. he smiled at finn, almost chuckling, "you really cared about her, didn't you?"

finn blushd, but nodded lightly.

charlie looked out into space and sighed, "not much. i remember we would get froyo all the time,"

millie frowned. was that all he remembered?

charlie suddenly spoke up again, "and i remember when she was ten, we had this fourth of july party at joe's house. we set off fireworks from his backyard. millie was scared of the fireworks. she was scared that they would explode and hurt her. and i told her that they wouldn't. i told her fireworks were something good. they made you feel alive and wang to embrace life,"

charlie was smiling. finn watched him as he gazed into a memory.

"we set them off and then she smiled. she told me she agreed with what i said. that they made her feel alive. and i told her she'd feel them in her stomach when she met someone who made her feel alive like the fireworks did,"

charlie walked towards finn and sat on the chair beside the sofa, he folded his hands, "when she was fourteen or fifteen she came into my room one day and asked me what do if she felt the fireworks. i told her to not be scared of them because, just like at joe's party, they'd make her feel energized and she wouldn't regret going for what she wanted. a week later she invited you over for dinner,"

millie smiled. she almost forgot.

finn blushed as charlie chuckled, "you were special for her, i guess. i kinda wished i got to know her better. but i was always so busy.... with school and stuff,"

finn nodded.

charlie looked at his watch, then stood up walking towards the stairs, "well, i gotta go. i'm meeting a friend soon,"

at the foot of the stairs, he stopped, "and finn?"

finn turned, "yeah?"

"let's keep in touch,"

finally working on setting this schedule. let me know what you think of the family! i just wanted to show how the family is reacting.

let me know if you liked them!

also, i have a question for y'all. do like the flashbacks/memories? i wanna do more to get a glimpse of the love between millie&finn. but idk.

also more action will be happening in the next chapter.