Major and Minor | MV 2

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

       Two weeks passed and for some reason, I still wasn't in the greatest mind space right now. I still couldn't concentrate on my music and every time I tried playing the guitar, even when I wasn't recording in the studio, it just didn't sound right.

       And I had no idea why I was feeling this way.

       I woke up to the sound of my bedroom door creaking open. I wanted to pretend I was still asleep but I didn't since I heard the door close then someone walking over to my bed and sitting down on it.

       I turned around to see Aviva, giving me a concerned look. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

       "Fine," I said. "Why do you ask?"

       "Because it's two in the afternoon," Aviva said. "You've never slept in this late before. The latest you'll ever wake up is nine. You refuse to go so long without eating."

       "Yeah, but I'm not hungry right now," I said.

       Aviva frowned. "Malachi, seriously, are you sure you're okay? Because that's a sentence I never thought I'd hear from you."

       I didn't reply as I turned away from her. "I'm just going to go back to sleep."

       "You've been sleeping all day," Aviva said.

       "And I'm going to sleep some more."

       Aviva stayed sitting on the bed for a few moments longer before getting up and leaving my bedroom, carefully closing the door behind her. I really wished I knew what was up. I felt bad leaving Aviva in the dark like that but in a way, I was being left in the dark too.

       I was going to go back to sleep but my bedroom door opened again and this time, whoever it was decided to turn on the lights before going to the window and opening the curtain and blinds.

       I huffed in frustration and sat up, looking over to see Alistair standing by the window. "What are you doing?" I asked.

       "Waking you up and getting you out of bed," Alistair said, walking over and trying to tug off the blankets but I kept a firm grip on them.

       "Let me sleep in peace," I said. "And it's cold in here. I'll freeze to death if you take the blankets off of me."

       "You'll freeze to death if you stay in bed because I will get some ice cold water and dump it on you," Alistair said. "You can't just lie in bed all day. That's all you have been doing the past couple days."

       "It's no big deal," I said.

       "It is a big deal," Alistair said. "You're not acting like yourself. You never sleep in this late. You never stay in bed all day. You never go this long without eating. Why aren't you telling anyone what's happening?"

       "Because I don't know what's happening," I said. "I don't know why I feel this way. I'm probably just all burned out. I had been so stressed recently with how fast everything was moving. Major Vocal getting back together, Agatha being our manager again, working on our new album."

       "Malachi, I know you," Alistair said. "This isn't just some burn out you're going through."

       "If you know me so well and if this isn't a burn out, then what is it?" I asked. Alistair didn't answer. "Exactly."

       "Look, you're clearly keeping something bottled inside of you," Alistair said. "If you want to get through this, then you have to tell someone, anyone, exactly what is going through my mind."

       "You want to know what's going through my mind?" I asked. "That you're annoying me. But fine. I will talk to someone. Duke!" 

       Moments after I called for Duke, the dog trotted into my bedroom and jumped up on the bed, curling onto my lap.

       "I meant a human, not your dog," Alistair said.

       I ignored Alistair as I started scratching behind Duke's ear. "So, Duke, my annoying brother thinks I should talk about these so-called feelings I have even though I don't know what I'm feeling. The only thing I know for sure is that I'm annoyed by Alistair right now and wishes for him to get out of my room." 

       Alistair sighed. "I'm just trying to help you right now. Am I not allowed to care for you anymore?"

       "No, you're allowed to," I said. "But I'd rather you care about me quietly and leave me alone to sleep."

       "You're not going back to sleep," Alistair said. "If you do, I really will pour ice cold water on you."

       "Do it," I said. "I won't care."

       "And I'll get Ricky to play the drums as loud as he could."

       "Tell him he's free to do that all he wants. We've been getting noise complaints with the drums so we try keeping it to a minimum. It's why we've been trying to find a house to live in so we don't have to be in this penthouse anymore."

       "I'll tell Duke he's not allowed in your room."

       I didn't have to reply to Alistair for this one. Duke did that for me, immediately growling at Alistair.

       "Geez, how does he understand that?" Alistair asked.

       "It doesn't take much for him to understand when someone is being a complete numpty," I said. "He had a lot of practice with Agatha being our manager."

       "I don't know what else to do with you," Alistair said.

       "Well, considering you're not my dad, you don't have to do anything," I said. "Except leave my room."

       "I just want to help you out before things get worse," Alistair said. "If you don't want to do anything today, that's fine. But can you at least get out of bed and get something to eat so you actually get some food in you?"

       "Fine," I said, gently moving Duke out of the way. I got off of my bed and walked over to my mini-fridge, grabbing a pudding cup out of it. I grabbed a plastic spoon from the box that was sitting on top of the fridge and walked back to my bed. "Happy?"

       "Of course you have food in here," Alistair said. "I give up. I officially give up."

       "Good," I said. "Now get out of my room."

       Alistair did exactly that, slamming the door shut behind him. I placed the pudding cup and the plastic spoon on my nightstand and laid back down on the bed, not in the mood to eat. Which definitely said something because I was always in the mood to eat.

       What was wrong with me?

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one chapter left oof

that i will write right now so i can (hopefully) get the third book of the series up as well before i go to bed.

let's just hope my internet doesn't screw me over like it always does every time i choose to spam update. seriously, there hasn't been a single time where the internet was perfectly fine while i was spam updating.