❝ let's be alone together. we could stay young forever.❞
Gwendolyn is a shy and cheery girl. She hides her broken heart behind her bright smile and happy attitude. Her family comes from Serpent blood, but she left the Southside at a young age. Now s...
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CHAPTER TWO
✧FIRST DAY AT SOUTHSIDE HELL✧
A fourteen year old Gwendolyn skips into her quaint family home. The sun glows brightly, shining rays into the house from the windows. She walks into the kitchen to get a snack after her long day at school and notices her brother sitting solemnly at the dining table. His head is hung low and his hands grip onto a sheet of paper tightly, so tightly his knuckles are white. This worries the girl immensely. Griffin rarely shows any type of sadness or weakness, especially not after their dad's death. He had decided he wanted to stay strong for his sister after the incident. Right now it seems like something cracked his tough exterior.
"Griff, what's wrong?" the youngest Ackerman questions quietly while cautiously walking to take a peek at the paper, her curiosity getting the best of her. She stands behind the chair her brother occupies and leans over to look at the paper, but before she could read more than the words, "Griffin and Gwendolyn, I'm so disappointed in myself for doing this to you. You deserve a stronger mother, but after your father's demise I couldn't hold myself high like I used to. I love you both." the male pulls out the chair next to him and shifts to look in that direction. Gwen sits down hesitant, unsure what is happening and wrings her hands nervously. His normally bright blue eyes are dark and... almost empty. He can't meet his sister's gaze and instead puts his head in his hands, "Mom left. She said that she's been waiting to leave us once I turned eighteen and got a steady job." He pauses and grits his teeth out of frustration. "She left us. As if she was the only one affected by dad's death! How the hell could she do this? I know she was different after it, but this?"
Gwendolyn's eyes begin to tear up and her lip quivers. She'd lost touch with her mother a while ago-Selena Ackerman had barely been there for the last several months out of three years-and barely relied on her after realizing there was no point to. Her mom would leave for work in the morning and not come back until late in the night, even after her shift was over she stayed out. Neither of her children really knew where she went, but when Griffin once caught her coming home insanely drunk he assumed it was a bar. The two Ackerman kids didn't know their mother like they used to and ended up cutting the bond early. It was clearly hopeless to try to keep it alive, anyway, so they relied on each other for support and became even closer than before. The news their mother just left upsets both of them, but they're more worried about how this will affect each other.
"I should've known this would happen. It's gonna be okay, though. We'll get through this. I'll keep working and I'll go to a lawyer and figure out what I need to do to be your legal guardian. This is fine. Its fine," Griffin gets up and begins pacing since he's worried about how he's now responsible for his sister and has to work to pay for everything himself. He's trying to reassure himself more than anything. An anxious look overtakes his face and this frightens Gwen seeing as she's never saw her older brother this way before- not even after their dad passed. She doesn't know what to do to and she feels helpless. Her brother wouldn't let her do anything anyway, he never lets her help and just does everything on his own. He always holds himself accountable for everything and won't accept an offer of help from anyone, not even his own family.
