It's a well-known fact stress hinders sleep.
Or at least, Lizzy thought. It was some message pounded into her head by 7th grade health class, or a beauty magazine, or maybe just common knowledge.
What she did know was that she was fucking tired.
Her head buzzed, mind blank as she swallowed the two powdery white sleeping pills in a last-ditch effort to fall asleep. Tendrils of sky blue sprang in front of her eyes, messy from the incessant tossing and turning resulted from the young woman's attempt to sleep.
Her eyes were drawn towards the two suitcases lying at the doorway. One was hers, a heaving mass of fabric and plastic she'd have to drag around the airport. A small, pastel pink suitcase leaned on it, a familiar teddy bear thrown on top, guarding the bag. Katie's.
Lizzy brought her thumb and index finger to her aching temples hesitantly, closing her eyes in utter frustration. Mari hadn't packed her suitcase.
Lizzy had, of course, expected the process of getting Mari ready to move tedious, but not even Lizzy could comprehend how difficult it was. And now, here she was, 7 hours before their plane to Hawaii and Mari hadn't packed.
She better pack now.
Shoulders tense, the blue haired girl made her way to the stairs and ascended to the second floor, tiredly pulling herself up each step using the banister. She met face to face with Mari's door.
Underneath the cracks of the door filtered a blue light, soft but unmistakeable. Mari was awake.
"Mari!" Lizzy croaked, throat dry despite drinking the water she used to swallow her pills, "get your ass off your phone and pack your shit!"
A beat passes before she got a hesitant response.
"Go away!" yelled the voice on the other side of the door, high and shrill and exactly like Mari.
"Oh my god, Mari. Why do you have to be such a pain in the ass?"
Silence.
Then a sniffle.
Lizzy slowly walked towards the door, pressing her ear against the rough texture of wood damaged from years of use. Yep. Mari was definitely crying.
Goddammit. Lizzy grabbed the hand of the door and roughly jerked it open, stepping into the fluorescent light. Mari was curled up in a sweaty looking blanket burrito, headphones in and phone, full brightness, facing the ceiling.
"Talk to me, Mari."
"It's my fault."
Lizzy continued absently staring through Mari's window, sitting down on her chair. "Care to explain further?"
"What do you want me to say?"
Lizzy picked at her nails. "Why is it your fault?"
Mari gulped, burrowing deeper into the cocoon of warmth she had wrapped herself in.
"I don't- I don't know! It's just, it's just..." Mari yelled into her blankets, "if I had listened to you, then, then I... it wouldn't of happened! Everything would be fine! But now I'm losing my friends and my school and my Levi!"
Lizzy's mouth went dry at the mention of Levi, and the room basked in an uncomfortable silence for a moment before Lizzy broke it.
"Mari, that is the dumbest thing you've ever said."
"What??" Mari jumped, offended expression showing through the tears.
"It's true," Lizzy continues, still not looking at Mari, "it's super dumb. Mari. Yeah, you should've listened to me. That's definite. But do you know what? What happened happened. And it's done and over now. We just need to move on and try something new, somewhere new." Her voice trembled a little at then end, her voice dry and scratchy.
Mari paused for a minute, before burying her face in the soft texture of her duvet.
"See? You're going to miss your friends, and your school." Lizzy lectured on, skipping the part about Levi, "but think of the people you'll meet in your new school. You can redefine yourself, reinvent yourself. You can let go of what people thought of you before."
"You're right"
Huh?
Mari admitting Lizzy was right wasn't a common thing. And now, Lizzy was looking straight at her little sister as she laughed and looked up.
"Yeah. You're right." She sat up and looked around her room, arms raised above her head in a cat-like stretch. "What to pack?"
Lizzy looked at the picture of their parents that sat on Mari's messy desk.
"I know what comes first."
———————-
Hey Lizzy?
Thanks for talking to me. I still feel like hot garbage, and I'll probably be crying tomorrow, but you made me feel a little bit better, and that's enough.
———————-
Lizzy smiles warmly at the sticky note left on her door the next day. Sighing, she looked at the hazy morning sky through the window and uttered a "good grief, Mom and Dad. You really gave me one hell of a sister."
