Elysian House: A Light In The Dark [Sequel]

Chapter 1

"Alyssa!"

With a clear jolt, I snapped out of my daydream and turned toward my fathers voice coming from the doorway of my shared bedroom and cleared the frog from my throat.

His eyebrows were raised in concern and he leaned his hand into the door frame. "You okay, Butterfly?"

I felt a smile at the endearing nickname and nodded my head. "Sorry, Dad. Just lost in thought."

He didn't look so convinced but then he remembered something more important. "You're not still feeling ill, are ya?"

The truth was, yes I did. The aching in my body and the throbbing in my eyes indicated a flu was coming my way soon. I had no idea how since flu season was well over by now, but somehow my luck had gotten just that rotten.

But the worry on his face and the memory of Cynthia's excitement about our planned vacation quickly made my decision for me to lie about it.

"I'm fine, no worries."

Relief invaded my father's features and his shoulders relaxed. He motioned to the empty suitcase laying open on the bed of my side of the room with a smirk. "Best get around before your Mom finds out you have been slacking off the whole time."

The wrath of my mother was enough for me to get my ass in gear.

In the middle of folding up a pair of jeans, Cynthia came barreling into the room. Her wild brunette hair that looked so much like mine, but hers was wind swept and her cheeks were rosey red as she gasped for breath, like she had just finished a marathon.

She was grinning from ear to ear, and I immediately felt apprehensive. I knew that look.

"What's with that look?" I asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

Cynthia just smirked at me and moves to her side of the room. "Nothing you gotta worry about, little sis."

That did it for me. I felt my shoulders bunch up and I spun around, eyes wide. My jaw clenches tight.

"You were with Jake, weren't you?"

Nothing was said from Cynthia as she simply hummed and clicked away noisily on her phone.

Annoyance filled me and without much of a thought, I reached out and ripped the phone from my older sisters hands and glared at her.

"You were. Cyn, what were you thinking? What happened to never talking to him again?"

"Um, last I checked, you're not my mother," Cynthia rolled her eyes as she pulled her phone back into my grip and fell back on her pillow with a huff. "Besides, he said that he was just drunk when he had sex with Claire."

Right, I thought. Drunk from one beer and just happened to stumble into a bedroom with Claire Harris.

The silence and the glare didn't stop Cynthia from droning on about Jake and how dreamy he was.

Jake was such an ass. I couldn't stand the guy, even before he became my sister's lousy boyfriend. He was infamous for being a shit bag. Treating all his girlfriends like garbage, stabbing his friends in the back, drinking and driving. Basically, there was nothing good about Jake.

Halfway through Cynthia's explanation of Jake's impressive physique, I had moved back to my side of the room, all the while biting down on my tongue to keep from reminding her of his cheating and the fact that I had been there when Jake had been "so drunk" that night, Cynthia seemed to notice the slight shaking of my head and snapped.

"So what, you're gay now and I can't talk about my boyfriend a bit without you getting all bitchy?"

Panic surged me and my eyes flew to the open bedroom door. My parents were right next door. I rushed over to the door and shut it as softly as possible before clicking the lock and turning to my smug sister sitting on the bed.