Meeting an Afton

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Christopher was exhausted. All day he had been researching survivors guilt and how to treat it. Sadly, he came up empty. However, Christopher wasn't one to give up that easily. He decided that instead of trying to completely get rid of Elizabeth's survivors guilt, he decided to just ease it. After looking up possible ways to ease it, Christopher decided to call it a day and head to bed. But despite how tired he was, he couldn't fall asleep. Christopher looked at the bunk below him and saw that Alex was out like a light.

"At least someone is able to sleep." Christopher muttered. "Maybe I should check on Elizabeth."

With that, the resident rocker quietly climbed down from his bed and made his way to Elizabeth's room. As he approached the room, he hesitated. Was he really ready for that type of responsibility? Was he ready to be someone's guardian? Christopher immediately shook the doubt away. He had to be ready. Elizabeth needed him and that thought gave him courage to continue with his mission. s he peered into her room, he saw that the only person on there was Coraline, who was fast asleep. Now this concerned the fifteen year old. He knew that she wasn't in the bathroom because the door was open.

"If she's not upstairs, maybe she's downstairs." Christopher said to himself.

Christopher then made his way to the stairs that lead to the living room. As he made his way downstairs, he saw a light coming from the living room. As he continued walking down the steps, he saw that the T.V. was on. At first, he thought that his parents forgot to turn the television off, but as he looked closer, he saw that someone was in the living room. And that person was the exact person he was looking for.

"Elizabeth? Is that you, dude?" Christopher asked. Elizabeth jumped a little when she heard his voice. She relaxed after she saw who it was that was talking.

"Oh, hi, Chris." Elizabeth greeted nervously. "Did I wake you?"

"No, dude. I was already awake." Christopher answered. "But if I may ask, why are you up exactly? You do know that it's almost midnight, right?"

"Yeah, I know." Elizabeth answered quietly. "But I couldn't sleep. Sometimes if I can't sleep, I get up and watch T.V. Your parents said that it was okay."

Christopher could only signature the last part. Despite being here for over a week, Elizabeth still called his parents by their first name.

"You do know that you can call them dad and mom, right?" Christopher reminded her.

"Yeah, but they aren't mine, though." Elizabeth said. "Right? I mean, I'm just some kid that's living with you for a while. I'm not a part of this family. Besides, who would want an orange haired girl as a member of their family anyways?" Elizabeth than looked down at the ground in sadness.

Christopher looked at Elizabeth in shock. He didn't know what to say. But, he than realized that this was his first real test as her guardian. So he knew that he had to tread lightly.

"Elizabeth, look at me." Christopher ordered. Elizabeth looked up. "You are not just some random kid living with us. As long as you are living here, you are a member of this family. Just because you aren't related by blood doesn't mean anything. You are my little sister. I don't care if you have orange hair. I don't care that mom didn't give birth to you. All that matters is that you are surrounded by people that care about you. People who want to help you move on and deal with your past. But,we can't help you if you don't let us."