The Panic Room

15- You'll Know I Wasn't Joking

Nalla's brother had been missing since their father died. Her mother had been crushed and he only had come back a couple of times over the years. Nalla adored her brother but the last he visited was when she was 13. She had broken down after he left and wasn't able to get out of bed for weeks because of the fatigue.

There were worse things she supposed but the resentment towards him grew to a breaking point when he started acting like he had been there all along.

"Ah, Nala! My favorite sister!" he said bumping her with his hips. She knew what he was trying to do, he was trying to make it seem like they were actual siblings and not strangers that only really met a couple of hours ago.

"I'm your only sister Dan," she said flatly in a monotone voice. She smiled a bit at him but even to the trips it was obviously fake and forced. He tried to bump her playfully again but this time she stepped away while giving him a venomous look.

"Okay, what's your problem Nal!" he said defensively using my dad's nickname for me to try and make himself seem familiar to me. Before he could realize his mistake I basically had steam coming out of my ears.

"What's my problem! WHAT'S MY PROBLEM!! Here's my problem Daniel, you decide to show up out of nowhere after three years and now you're acting like you've been there for me the entire time! I don't even know you, Dan, you're just a stranger that I used to know! You don't even look the same for the gods' sake! You are a horrible brother and an even worse son!" I roared making him and everyone else flinch. 

He looked hurt by this, but only for a minute. His broken puppy eyes suddenly started to fade and soon his body was replaced with the now familiar shadows of the Panic Room. Shocked I sat on the floor and stared at where the solid hallucination had been just moments ago. Drake came up behind me and rubbed soothing circles on my back and shoulders while I broke down in tears.

A couple of minutes later I got myself together enough to realized that it wasn't real. It was just one of the awful monsters that live in here and I was too clouded by emotions to see what it truly was. Standing up, I let Drake's hands fall from my shoulders and stared at the wall for a couple more moments.

I would have stayed that way longer but Liam, Levi, and Luke pulled me out of my head once more.

"We should probably go..." they muttered in unison. Godsdamn, that's creepy as hell.

"Y'all need to stop doin' that, it's super creepy!" I cried out bouncing back to my optimistic personality. Everyone physically relaxed as that one sentence melted the tension like a hot knife through butter. 

Cira looked over at me and gave me a look. I don't exactly what that look means but I know she'll be wanting to talk when everyone else goes to sleep.