The Abby Diaries

The Abby Diaries--Entry Nine

May 7 * 2:28PM

Currently Reading: Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

From what I’ve heard (and witnessed upon occasion), siblings fight. Even if they get along most of the time, they still have their moments. Apparently, some even torture each other. I once read a blog by a guy who admitted that when he was younger, he told his little sister that her porcelean dolls came alive at night and were out to get her. The girl was used to him picking on her, so she didn’t believe him at first…until he started sneaking into her room at night and moving them around, so that when she woke up they were all in different places. After a week of this, the girl was so freaked out that she made her mom hide the dolls at the top of a locked closet.

            Pretty messed up, huh?

            Whenever I hear things like this, I’m always surprised because, well, Asher and my relationship just isn’t like that. Sure, we tease each other on occasion, but it’s never more than that. We really do like hanging out and there’s no one that we trust more than each other. He never makes me feel like I’m not cool enough to hang out with him and there’s none of that rivalry stuff that you hear about.

            But if I had to complain about one thing, it would be that Asher can be a tad bit overprotective sometimes. And it’s always been this way. Even though we’re only three years apart, I think he’s always thought of himself as my protector. And although I know I can take care of myself, he sees it as his duty to watch out for me. And for the most part, I’m okay with him playing this role.

            But every once in a while, a situation comes up where I wish he’d realize that I’m almost an adult and can handle these kinds of things. I’m not porcelean…I’m not going to break.

            Like, for instance, right now there’s something going on in our house. I don’t know what it is, but there are some pretty bad vibes weighing the whole place down. I’ve walked in on too many whispered conversations between my parents to ignore it, and they’ve even been fighting lately.

And our parents never fight.

            Our family is like “Leave it to Beaver:” Asher and I listen to our parents, we have family bonding nights and there’s rarely ever any drama. The only difference is that we’re a magical household, but even with that aspect, we’re pretty normal.

            Needless to say, when something’s off in our family dynamic, everyone can feel it. And when I asked Asher about it the other day, I wasn’t surprised that he shared my concerns. What did surprise me, was his unwillingness for me to get involved. In fact, he practically forbade me from doing anything—even basic recon was out.

            And let’s be honest, that’s sort of my thing. If he thinks he can watch people and gather intel better than I can, well, good luck.

            So, obviously this didn’t sit well with me and we argued a bit about whether I had a right to help if our family was in trouble. I reminded him that I had certain special skills that would come in handy when trying to get to the bottom of things. But Asher had his own arguments. Well, actually, just one. And he pulled it out every single time he wanted me to concede to him on something.

            It was hardly fair that he was still using the incident against me after so many years, but it was the only thing that would stop me from doing what I wanted. Because in the end, he was right. There were situations in this world that were beyond my power or control. And when they came up, the only one who’d been there had been him. And how could you argue with the person who’d saved your life?