Dead

3┊Psychedelia

┆ Kaia ┆

A few more paces, just a few, I told myself. I couldn't help but look around the deserted street and wish for a car to hurtle down the road, yellow headlights shedding light on what my eyes couldn't see ahead. I was on my way home from Matilda's house after spending the evening catching up on tedious reading material for class the next day.  

Now, I was speed walking home at full pace. We lived in a quiet area, lined with houses that each looked identical to the next but were spaced out generously. Tall pines lined the street too, occasionally illuminated where the street lamps soft glow spread out into the tips of the last, dying leaves. 

My mind wavered back to what Mattie had told me at her house. I shivered and shoved my hands deep into my pockets. This was what had occurred:

Mattie: "Hey..." Her voice, soft, "about today..."

I look up, huffing. "I swear, right now, my mind is in Hawthorne mode, not chit chat mode."

She clicked her tongue against her teeth, sighing. "It's about Indigo."

 "What about her?"

"Her brothers," I looked up, my curiosity engaged. "Don't you want to know why Indi was so on edge today? Why there were all the whispers?"

I frowned. I was still a fairly new arrival to the school. Last year, my mother had been offered an extraordinary job opportunity – well, just a position as a nurse in the local hospital, but that was better than her old job – it was a beacon of hope among the otherwise darkened job-hunting world, meaning we packed up our things and moved to this small town in Michigan. "What happened?"

She leaned on her elbows and widening her sea green eyes for effect so that they glimmered a darker emerald in the artificial lighting. She raised her fair eyebrows so high they blended in with her luminous, golden hair at my surprising inquisitiveness. "Indigo has two brothers. Twins, in fact. Last year, they both left school, but for different reasons. One of her brothers – the hot one, might I add – went to California for a transfer year of some sort. The other? He went to the loony bin - apparently."

My jaw slackened and I frowned, heaving myself up so I was facing her directly – I didn't enjoy prying into others business, but this sounded too intriguing to pretend to not want to know about.

Teenage insanity was common, but most of the time, was put down to being depression or insomnia – very rarely did they admit young people into psychiatric hospitals easily. Usually, the parents of the child in question would send them to a high class therapist instead, to reduce the defilement of their reputation.

 "One of her older brothers was admitted to a psychiatric hospital? Why?"

She pondered upon this for a few moments, eyes lingering on the dark window behind me. Her voice dropped to an unnatural whisper, all signs of light-heartedness vanishing. "I don't know. People say different things; some say he talks to the walls, is addicted to drugs, tried to commit suicide, sees things." she muttered, shrugging.

 "Why didn't Indigo ever mention them? I mean, I never knew she had any siblings, let alone twin brothers until today at school."

Her eyes flickered down to the book. "I suppose anyone would be embarrassed or at least, guarded about talking about them. You know, considering their stories and all and the rumours."

 "Have you spoken to her brother before? The one who was supposedly admitted to the psyche ward? I mean, you and Indigo have been best friends' since birth."

She frowned. "I know her family – of course I do. But I never really saw Max around for the past few years, and when I did, he was either all up for chit chat or not. There wasn't an in-between."