6:14:19 → j. hale, a. cullen

07.

6:05:23

Emery sat on the edge of her bed as her frustration grew, fingers trembling as she attempted for what seemed like the millionth time to place her hair into a ponytail.

Hearing an amused laugh, Emery looked up into the mirror placed on top of her desk she was facing, and made eye contact with Bella. Without needing to say anything, the youngest sibling gently sat behind her sister and picked up the elastic Emery flung, beginning to run her hands through her damp hair. "You think you're feeling better to come back?" Bella asked as she spoke up, tiredness in her voice as she blearily blinked her eyes. Emery sighed and nodded, slumping her shoulders and trying to make her body relax.

"I was feeling fine before, dad was just freaking out after he found out." She voiced out in a reply, her tone sounding almost nonchalant if it weren't for the slight tremor that made it's way through.

Hearing a sigh and the feeling of the hand stop detangling her hair, she turned around in confusion and paused as she looked at her sister, who sat behind her with a teary look in her eyes.

"Dad isn't the only one who's freaking out, alright?" Bella said in a quiet tone, her eyebrows furrowing despondently. "Plus, you only really missed two days, not including the weekend. You probably didn't even miss anything important."

Emery opened her mouth to speak, but her sister shook her head and gently placed her hands on her shoulder, turning her towards the mirror she was looking into earlier. Emery watched quietly as Bella delicately tied her hair into a mid rise ponytail, her hands faltering as she noticed the lack of hair in certain areas.

"Em, what is this," Bella began to ask in concern, her voice raising. Worried about the fact that their father was a mere thirty feet away in his own bedroom sleeping, Emery quickly placed a hand on her sister's hand that was holding her ponytail to silence her.

"Side effect of chemotherapy, everything's okay. It's going to grow back." She said with a sharp tone in her voice, causing Bella to sharpen her jaw and stand up from the bed. Seeing this as a sign of her sister getting angry at her, Emery began to stand up but winced at the pain emitting from her lower abdomen. Bella noticed her slight stumble and seemed to jolt as if she were preparing to catch her in case she fell. Emery felt her cheeks begin to redden in embarrassment and she quickly tried to grin to calm down the tension that began to grow in the room.

"Listen, how about we just listen to music? I have my phone charged and we can," Emery started, but quickly cut herself off as she looked up at Bella, who stood tense in the middle of her bedroom with her fists clenched.

"I don't think that's a good idea. Get some rest, it looks like you need it." Bella said in a hard and dismissive tone, although Emery could tell that her sister was holding back tears. Now frowning, Emery fully sat back on her bed and casted her eyes on the wall, feeling as if she were to look at her sister any longer, the guilt would get much worse.

Hearing the rough sigh exhaling from her sister, Emery refused to look over as she knew what was going to happen. Her sister was going to leave.

"I'll see you in the morning." Bella announced as she unclenched her reddening fists and blinked rapidly.

Emery nodded tensely and tried to blink away the burning sensation from behind her eyes as her younger sister left her room as quick as she was once in it, the door closing behind her with finality. The silence that was left was almost overwhelming.

Pursing her lips, Emery took a deep breath and rounded her shoulders, placing a faux grin on her lips as she forced herself to relax. As Emery sat there, she felt the exhaustion weighing on her, but already knew that she would be restless for the rest of the night. She had to find something to do