The Peterson's

Chapter 2

"Titanic?" I stare at the blinding tv screen while Dylan goes through movies we can watch and Jordan is on his phone.

"Um I might actually go to bed, it's getting late" I fake yawn and stretch. I'm not really tired at all but I can't be bothered watching another movie.
"It's not that late. Come on Zo, we haven't watched The Titanic in ages and I know you love it. Pleeeeeaaassse stay up" Dylan whines like a baby.

"Sorry Dylan, we've watched like 5 movies tonight. Isn't that enough? We have school tomorrow and I'm so tired" He sighs as I walk over to him.

"Fine. Go to bed, but you don't even look tired" He laughs as I give him a hug.

"You know she's not actually going to sleep, right Dylan? She just wants to hide away from Dad and Liam when they come home. She knows what they're like and she knows that she'll be the target. You are a complete wimp Zoey" I hear from behind me.

I told you Jordan was a dick, and now you know I wasn't joking.

"Shut up Jordan" I mutter, turning around. He's smirking at me with his signature smirk.

"You know that one of them are going to do it again, don't you?" He laughs, showing off his glowing teeth.

"Why are you even bringing this up?" I hear Dylan say from behind me. He sounds annoyed.

"Because everyone in this family has done something bad except this little girl in front of us. She's too good and I just want to see her go bad. I want to make you angry, that's all" he continues to stare at me and I just smile.

"Nice try Jordan, but if you want to see me explode, you are going to have to try a lot harder than bringing something up that only happened once"

I laugh and he goes back to normal.

Jordan and I are like frenemies, we love each other so much but we always fight. He may be a dick but he's still my brother. He opens his arms and I run into them, hugging him tightly.

"Wow, you guys make up too quickly" I hear my other brother say behind us. I let go of the hug and Jordan roughly messes my hair up.
"JORDAN" I punch him in the arm and I hear Dylan laugh.
"And now you're back to normal" He continues.

"Goodnight guys" I run up the stairs and in to my new bedroom before they can respond.

• • •

Sleepless.
It's 1am, and I can't sleep.

I don't know whether it's the fact that I'm lying in a new rock hard bed or that I'm nervous for school tomorrow.

Nothing is working. I've tried thinking of mom (which usually works) but I still can't sleep.
I guess I am nervous for school though. Even though I've been to loads of schools, it's still nerve racking.

I usually never make any friends because I don't have time to. I haven't had a "BFF" since my mom died two years ago.

I still remember that day.
The day my mother was murdered. I was 14, Dylan was 15, Jordan was 16 and Liam was 18. It was a Monday afternoon and my brothers and I just came back from school. Dad was still at work but we knew Mom would be home since she didn't have a job.

When we walked in the house, my brothers ran upstairs leaving me. I was hungry so I walked towards the kitchen.
That's when I heard it. Gun shots. I ran around the corner and see my mum dead, drenched in blood, three bullets in her chest and the gun was gone. My brothers slowly followed in after me and looked at down at her in horror.

I was latched on to her when Liam was calling 911, Dylan was shouting and Jordan was throwing every piece of furniture around the room.
When the police arrived, Liam had to physically pry me off my mom and carry me away. That was the last time I saw her.

For awhile after my mother's death, the police believed I killed her, which obviously meant my whole town knew.

My whole school was scared of me. I lost all my friends and I was bullied on a daily basis. My brothers were the only ones that seemed to love me since Dad wouldn't even look at me after she died. In fact, he still doesn't look at me.
Since they never found the gun and didn't find any evidence, they closed the case and gave us money as an apology.

It was A LOT of money and Dad decided that we should move. After we moved, that's when things changed.
Dad used the rest of the money on drugs, influencing my brothers to change too, making them the way they are now.
I sometimes feel like I'm the only normal one.

Thinking about mom suddenly makes me tired. Really tired.
I slowly close my eyes, letting a single tear fall down my cheek and then I'm asleep.