A short story by Skylar Mostoller
Seraphina McCallistar sat on her bed, staring out through the window next to it. Her mother was downstairs making dinner and her father was in his office down the hallway. The only person who was available to talk to was her brother, who was sat down beside her, lying his head on her shoulder with his eyes closed.
His sister knew he was still awake, due to the fact that everyone knew about his 'sleeping disorder'. While his face appeared peaceful, she knew that he had the most terrifying thoughts that kept him awake at night.
It was just two weeks ago that he tried to hang himself in their joint bedroom. Luckily, Seraphina was suspended earlier that day so she was able to walk in and stop him. Only she knew that he tried to kill himself. Everyone else thought that the bruise that was still present around his neck was from a fight with a bully.
If it wasn't for his sister, he would be dead, or even worse, got found by his parents before he could even take a step off of the stool.
Just thinking about the incident brought tears to Seraphina's eyes. Just the fact that if she's been even a minutes later, her brother would've been dead, hanging in the bedroom from the ceiling fan.
As if sensing his sister was troubled, the boy raised his head from her shoulder and turned himself so he could turn face to face with his sister.
"What's wrong?" He asked, a frown present on his face.
Wiping the tears from her eyes, she couldn't even reply. She knew that if she opened her mouth, she would start bawling as loud as she could.
Seeing as this might happen, her brother hugged her tight, resting his face in the curve between her neck and her shoulder. Seraphina immediately wrapped her arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder.
Soon, her brother found himself crying as well, holding her tighter as if when he let go, she would be gone forever.
"I'm sorry, Sera. I'm so sorry," He softly muttered into her neck.
"It's okay," She replied. "Just please let us stay like this for a little while."
He was silent for a moment before he sniffed and nodded. Soon enough, both of the siblings had fallen asleep, each held in the tight embrace of the other.
When morning light came in through the windows, Caroline McCallistar was surprised to see that neither of her children had woken her up yet. Rising out of bed, she quickly fixed her nightgown and rushed down the hallway towards her childrens' room, worried that something happened. She knew about her son trying to commit suicide and felt helpless when she realized that she had done nothing to help him.
Although Seraphina had told her mother that he had gotten into a fight, she thought nothing of it until she found a rope tied into a noose at the back of his closet. After finding it, she immediately put two and two together.
Now standing at their bedroom door, she was prepared to open it and see the worse things that came to mind. However, when she opened the door, she sighed in relief when she saw her children asleep in Seraphina's bed.
The curtain was open from stargazing the night before, causing the morning sun to pour onto the sheets. The siblings were lied down, their appendages tangled loosely with one another's. Drool dripped down her son's face as he slept - it appeared nothing had changed throughout the sixteen years he had been alive.
With a small smile, she walked up to the bed and took the blanket crumbled on the end of it and covered the two. She then closed the curtains and walked back over to the two.
Pressing a kiss to their foreheads, she then left, closing the door on her way out. Caroline then made her way back to her own bedroom to wake her husband.
Meanwhile, back with the siblings, Seraphina awoke with a smile on her face. She was facing her brother, who was peacefully sleeping with a line of drool connecting from her mouth to the pillow.
"Ew!" She whispered, her nose crinkling in disgust. "You are so disgusting!"
Sitting up, she stretched upwards before slowly taking the covers off of herself, careful to try and not wake her brother.
As she got out of bed, she heard the sheets rustling from behind her before a weight was placed between her shoulder blades. Turning to look behind her, she saw her brother leaning his head on her back, sleep still evident in her features.
"Sera," The male started. After hearing a hum from his sister, he continued. "You know that I love you and would never try to purposely hurt you, right?"
A sigh was heard before Seraphina turned around so she could look straight into her brother's eyes.
"I know that you would never try to hurt me," She said, a soft smile etched into her features. "I love you too, Seraph."
~
Word Count - 840
