A Sleeping Insomniac

A Sleeping Insomniac: Chapter One

I watched in anticipation as my sister drew in a huge breath and blew out the seven pink candles placed evenly on top of the cleanly iced cake, with 'Maddie' written on top, that she had chosen for her birthday celebrations. Her face screwed up tightly as she made a wish and then straightened out again as she looked into the sky, staring intently with her dark eyes, and watched it fly away. She innocently begged for a slice, using the squeaky, high pitched voice that she saved, only for when she desperately wanted something, and had taken her serving before anymore had been cut. She had a very driven personality, and had done since she was a toddler: no older than two, as well as enough energy to last her a lifetime, which allowed her to excel at her favourite hobby: gymnastics. She already competed on a national level and had a talent for trick performance, that couldn't be matched by any other girl her age.

I was six when she was born, and, like any big sister, couldn't wait to meet her and make her mine. I had already planned out what we were going to do for the next three years, but was much disappointed when all she did for a year was cry and sleep. Overtime, we grew incredibly close, and I couldn't believe it had been seven years to the day since she appeared. Her party decorations told all the guests that her favourite colour was pink, as everything, right down to the plastic cups, were a light rose colour, and corresponded with her pink dress and bow in her hair.

Our parents were scientists and earned a lot of money which paid for the party and many treats, but never told us what they did, and hardly ever stayed at home for more than three days at a time. Instead our Grandmother, the only Grandparent we had met and knew, looked after us. She was like a second mother and loved us as though we were her own children. Neither of us cared that our parents went away a lot for life had never been better. We had a huge house in the Snowdonia countryside, looking directly out to sea, as well as enough technology and toys to last us a lifetime. We were a happy family and to put it simply, life was perfect.

But a lot had happened in ten years.

When I was fourteen, my Grandmother died suddenly. It was the first real loss I and my sister had experienced, and it left a great hole in my heart. I remember standing over the grave, dressed all in black, seeing her coffin disappear beneath a layer of dirt and soil, and realising that death was a very real part of life; an unavoidable end that would eventually come to every one of us. I cried, more than I ever had, that day.

From then, my parents were at work, more than they were ever at home, and me and Maddie learnt to entertain ourselves and care for each other. At age eight, Madelyn had practically lost her parents, and the next closest thing.

In the months leading up to my sixteenth birthday, it became apparent that our parents had discovered something remarkable: they appeared on news programmes and didn't come home for three weeks after telling us that they had created some 'magic medicine'. It was sad that they told us like that, for it proved they didn't really realise that we were no longer their little girls that enjoyed the idea of patronising play talk.

At eleven, Maddie started to compete at worldwide tournaments so she was away from home a lot, leaving me alone, with Tyrone the dog as my only company. Though he was nearing twenty four, he was almost as spritely as a puppy, and definitely not your average hound. It was as if he was growing young, instead of growing old, though, as strange as it was, my parents seemed not to notice. I worked out that it must have been whatever was in his food, though Father said it was arthritis tablets and nothing more. They sure gave him a spring in his step! That year, our parents' 'magic medicine' began to be given out to members of the public. I soon learnt it was called TbT, and that it was a big hit in Britain and spreading in popularity fast. Our parents never told us what it actually did, and whenever I tried to search it up on the internet, all the pages would come up as blocked or non-existent, which I thought was odd.

After my eighteenth birthday, my parents moved to America, to promote their scientific breakthrough, due to its success in Europe, leaving me and Madelyn alone to live, by ourselves. I was left in charge, though I had little experience in running a house whilst going to college and earning enough to buy food for the week, though we always got by. They always sent enough money to pay the bills, but that was it. In a way, our parents left us to fend for ourselves, in important years when we both needed them the most; and now, neither of us had seen them in five years.

At age thirteen, to my horror, Madelyn lost her virginity to a boy six years her age, though she never had planned it that way. He had been a boy I'd loved; I dreamed of growing old with him, though his temper was something hidden behind his personality that I thought I could control. Just two months older than me, I thought I'd found a husband for life, though I was twenty, and still lived like a teen. Little did I know, he liked my developing sister, as much as I liked him, and I was blind to the signs because I was too madly in love to notice that anything was happening. Days before my twenty first birthday, he walked out and never returned, and it was only after I found my sister, hiding in her room, tears staining her cheeks, that I realised what had happened. Nine months later, Madelyn gave birth to her daughter, my niece, aged fourteen. My sister, the gymnast, lost her spring, her body and her youth, all in one night, and I can never forgive myself for ignoring the signs and letting it happen.

The next year was hard. The hardest we had ever faced. Madelyn was taunted by her peers and frowned upon by her elders, though they didn't know the full story, and were quick to judge her, for an unintended pregnancy that she never could have planned to have. At five days old, we christened her daughter Sophie Marie Gallagher, and took her home two days later. Due to her age, Madelyn had to stay in the hospital for a week after Sophie's birth, and I had to leave her there, alone. It was a scary and lonely time for both of us. She went back to gymnastics, three months later, but couldn't bring herself to go back to school, so instead, got a home tutor, and studied in the house. Without me, she rarely left the house, and never took her daughter with her, for fear of the inevitable judgement she would get; for everyone judged. We never told our parents what happened, and they must never have found out, because our income never increased, so our budget tightened.

As another year passed, our lives got easier. People stopped staring and talking, and Maddie was able to go back to school to finish the last two years, though she never really fit back in as she had before. I got a job where I could work at home, so was able to look after Sophie without having to pay for nursery. She was two and growing fast. Her hair was the same shade of brown as her 'fathers' but her face resembled Madelyns so much, that it was easy to forget that there was a part of someone else in her; and it helped me forget the way in which she had been conceived. She already had a driven personality, like her mothers, but was beyond sweet and cared for everything and everyone she knew. I would take her to the gym, to pick up Maddie after her practise, as Sophie loved nothing better than to watch her mum fly around and become a graceful bird that could bend in unimaginable ways. She would giggle and cheer whilst I would watch in awe, and the parents and coaches cooed over her small curls and smile. Once the shock that a fourteen year old, with so much potential and ambition, had become pregnant out of the blue, had passed, people began to accept that it had happened, and they couldn't do anything about it, and so began to accept Sophie as just another person.

Another year passed, and Maddie entered her final year of school, defying her teachers, and passing with straight A's. I continued to work from home, and me and Sophie grew a typical Auntie-Niece relationship. I was earning enough money to care for all of us, with spares left at the end of the month. To put it simply, life seemed easy again, well easier...