Memory || noen eubanks// ON HOLD

O N E

Five months later, everyone around me still treats me like I'm made of glass. My dad and brother walk on eggshells whenever they talk to me, like I might snap at the mere mention of my mother. She died on March 12 during my sophomore year. We were in the car together on the way to buy me a grand piano for my birthday when we got into a head on collision. She died on impact, but I survived. Barely. I sustained three broken ribs and shattered my left hand. I haven't played the piano since. I celebrated my birthday that year wondering whether or not I killed my mother. Syd was there for me the whole time. He kept my mind off of things, and helped me move forward. Had it not been for him, I don't know if I would still be here today.

"Livia!" I heard my name being called as I descended down the escalator. I looked in the direction where it was coming from, and saw my dad, brother, and Syd all standing together. Syd was holding a sign that read "WELCOME BACK FROM JUVIE LIVIA KINGSTON! GLAD THEY DROPPED THE MURDER CHARGES!" I laughed to myself as I got off the escalator and walked towards them. I got plenty of strange looks as I embraced them, mostly because Syd was pointing at the sign and then me, letting everyone know I was Livia.

Obviously I didn't go to juvie, nor did I murder anyone. I had just spent three months in London, visiting my mom's family.

"How was London?" My brother Emmett asked as we pulled away from the hug. We're twins, but Emmett is at least 4 inches taller than me. He was pushing 5'10, and I was 5'6 on a good day. However, we did share many of the same traits. We both had brown curly hair, toffee colored skin, and my mother's green eyes. Well, I had one of them. I had one green eye, and one blue eye due to my heterochromia. Other than that and our height difference, we looked the same. Almost an even mix of our parents.

"It was great, lots of sight seeing. It was great spending time with mom's parents, it was like she was still there. I wish you could've came with me," I told him. He couldn't come because he had spent his summer doing soccer camps at colleges that were interested in recruiting him. He was bit of soccer star, and once colleges found out he was a rising junior they were all fighting to get to him.

Sports were never really my thing. I played volleyball, but I wasn't great at it. It was always music. At least, it used to be.

"Well, you didn't miss much here in Massachusetts," Syd said stepping in to hug me. I hugged my dad next, who gave me a tight squeeze.

"You sure you're okay, Livvy?" I nodded against his shoulder and pulled away. We headed back to our house, where we ordered a pizza and watched movies all day. Syd caught me up on any important things I might have missed while I was gone.

Eventually, we had to call it a night. I came in the day before school started, and my dad expected me to go. Before heading into my room, Emmett stopped me.

"Livia?" he said from down the hall. I turned towards him. I had just brushed my teeth and taken out my contacts. He looked like a fuzzy blob to me since I wasn't wearing my glasses.

"Yeah?"

"I'm really proud of you, you know that, right?"
I gave him a small smile and nodded my head. I got my things ready for the first day tomorrow, and went to bed.
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I woke up the next morning to the smell of my dad cooking breakfast. I had missed the smell of chocolate chip pancakes waking me up. Back in London, only thing that woke up was an annoying alarm clock that wouldn't stop until it rang for thirty minutes. Then I'd walk to the café around the corner of my grandparents house for breakfast since my grandparents slept in 'til 11 am. It was nice though, everyone there had known me as Rebekah's daughter. Even though she was gone, it was like I could still feel her presence all around me, like a warm hug.