Six brothers

Chapter 2

The further inside the house, we got the louder everything was. I wanted to cover my ears and block out all the noise. I slowed down, walking to hopefully delay the inevitable, but william put his hand on my shoulder and moved me along. He turned me down another hall and into an open doorway where 4 boys were all sitting on the floor playing a video game on the tv with music blasting and the tv on full blast.
William stepped in and fliped the power button on the power strip. Suddenly, the room was filled with yelling, and all four boys were standing and angry looking. I took a step back. The yelling and the atmosphere in the room had darkened quickly, and 2 of the 4 boys stalked scarily towards william. I wrapped my hands around my middle. This is not how I envisioned this going.
"Will you best have a good explanation as to why you just did that." William held his hands up and walked over to me. He stepped right behind me and put both hands on my shoulders. I'm sure he could feel me shaking. I was terrified. I kept my eyes firmly on the floor and wrapped my arms a little tighter around my middle.
"I do. And she's right here. Our baby sister is finally back." You could hear the smile in William's voice. At that, both boys stopped moving, and another one took a few steps forward till he was right in front of me. I tried to take a step back, but william held me still.
"Hey, maci. How's it going?" He leaned down to get on my level. I felt like there was no place to go, and I flinched back. I felt myself breathing faster as I saw a hand come near my face. I jerked back so fast I bumped into William stomach and almost fell before he grabbed me under my arms and set me on my feet.
"Hey, hey, chill out. No one here is gonna hurt you. William, what's going on? Why is she freaking out? Hey Maci. Macilynn calmed down." I was shaking my head no and trying to move away from them, but my brain was so panicked, and the air in my lungs was burning again, causing me to cough, which only freaked me out more Both my fists were clutching my chest as if that would help. I wanted so badly to scream to do something that would help that would make the pain go away. I fell to the floor as my legs lost all strength to hold me up, and the little bit of pain from my butt helped clear my mind enough to remember my inhaler. I started patting my pockets, and till I found it. I pulled it out but couldn't hold on to it. It immediately rolled across the floor and to one of the other boys' feet.
He immediately picked it up and kneeled next to me and put a hand on my chin to look up at him. "Here, let me help." He put the inhaler at my lips. "On 3" I looked up at his eyes and shook my head yes. "ok. Good. Ready. 1..2..3." I breathed in when he pushed the button.
I could already feel the medicine reaching my lungs and was able to suck in a little more air than I was getting. I closed my eyes when I heard the boy again. "One more time hun. Ready?" I shook my head while keeping my eyes closed."Good. 1..2..3." One more breath in, and it helped significantly this time. I rested against the hand on my back and just focused on my breathing while the boys started talking.
Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Repeat.
"See, I told you she should never have come here. All she is gonna do is cause trouble."
"Elijah! What the hell is wrong with you? She's our baby sister." That was william.
"There is nothing wrong with me. Mason should have left her where she was. It would have been better for everyone if he had. Now we have to deal with her stupid bullshit."
"Language! Maci is here, and you know Mase said to watch it."
"See, that's more of the crap I was talking about. All these changes for some girl. How do we even know if it's her. Huh. I'm telling y'all she's gonna be nothing but a waste of time." I opened my eyes to watch Elijah as he was talking. I must have stiffened or shifted because suddenly William was looking right at me.
"Hey hun. Come on, let's get you somewhere comfy." He helped me stand up, then put a hand in the middle of my back to
Help keep me steady and start walking down another hallway. We walked slowly and passed a huge staircase. I almost managed the whole way, but right before the door, my legs just couldn't hold out, and I started to fall. I closed my eyes and waited for me to meet the floor again, but I was braced against something hard and then lifted into the air. My eyes flew open, and I saw William looking at my face with a lite smirk on it, then full-blown laugh as he headed into the kitchen. He set me in a chair at a big table and walked to the fridge.
"Let get you something to eat, huh?" Two of the 4 boys walked in. Thankfully, neither one was Elijah. "Seth, Dylan, sit down. I'm gonna make some dinner. Maci? What would you like to eat?" I looked up at William then the other two. Was he joking? Mom and Walter never let me eat at the table. Is this some kind of joke? Crap! what am I supposed to do? I looked back down at my lap and just shrugged my shoulders. Maybe I won't get in trouble. Just like always, just be quiet, and it will be easier. They dont want to hear me talk no way.
"Maci?" One of the other boys spoke. I looked up at him. He green eyes looked right at me. Now that I think about it, we all have the same dark green eyes. We must have gotten it from our father.
The door to the kitchen then slammed open as Elijah walked in. As soon as Dylan saw me flinch, his eyes darkened considerably.
"You know Elijah, you would think causing one panic attack today would be enough for you. Why are you making things so difficult?" Dylan said with his voice almost yelling by the end of his speech.
"I'm not the one having problems, so quite frankly, I dont give a shit Dylan. Go bother someone who cares." Elijah yelled right back. I covered my ears with my hands and closed my eyes, trying to block everything out. It was just too much. I needed to go. All I was doing was causing problems. I felt the tears rolling down my face as I thought that. William and Dylan were so nice. They felt like brothers, but I dont want to destroy their family. They had no room for me to mess everything up just like mom. I ruined her whole life.
"Shit, Maci. Calm down. Please calm down. I'm sorry." Dylan crouched down next to my chair and put his hands on my shoulders. "It's ok. No one is upset with you. Everything is ok." The kitchen door slammed again as Elijah left, and the room was quiet again.
"Hey, maci. Come on, why dont we go find some peace and quiet. I'll take you up to your room. Seth, will you make a few sandwiches and milk and bring it up to her room?" I dont know what Seth replied but William put his arm around my shoulders and one arm under my leg and lifted me so I was cradled in his arms and he went out of the kitchen and up the stairs.
The very last door on the left is where we ended up, and William stopped and looked down at me. "Do you think you can stand a few minutes?" I shook my head yes, and he set me on my feet. "Go ahead and open your door. This was your room when you were little. Mase helped set it up then. We really didn't change much but I'm sure you'll still like it. Come on." He smiled the amazing light up a room smile, and I couldn't help but smile a little. I grabbed the door knob with my left hand as my right one was still a little red.
The door slid open without sounds and opened to a beautiful peach colored room with blush red accents and decorated so it looked like a sunset in my room. Wow, my amazing room with a huge bed piled high with nice soft blankets. I stepped past the bed and looked at the huge window with a nook built in so you could see the sky and all around with big fluffy cousins and a book shelf underneath filled with books of all shapes and colors. I knew I would be spending lots and lots of time there. On the other were two big doors that led out to a balcony.
I stepped over to them and opened them, and stepped out. It was barely sprinkling, but it wasn't soked yet. I took a few more steps out and saw some nice chairs and a table I walked over to the railing and it looked like we were on the 3rd floor way high up and could see all the beautiful trees out back and there was a pool a little ways off and what looked like a huge garden with flowers of every color and high hedges. It looked like the perfect place to get lost for an afternoon.
Suddenly, a loud boom, and I felt myself be dragged back inside the doors firmly shut behind me. I was shaking like a leaf partially from the cold and wet and partly because of the thunder. Another light flashed, and it seemed like the storm had started full blast, and the rain was pounding against the windows now. I looked up at william, who had his hands on my shoulders still and was leading me to another door.
"Why dont you go in and get dried off and change into some comfy pjs, and I'm sure by the time you come back out, seth will be here with some food. The closet should have everything you need to get changed." There's that smile again. "Dont forget to dry off your hair." Then he opened the door and pushed me in and shut the door.
After I found the towels , I dried off and found an amazingly soft nightgown with long sleeves. It covered all my bruises, and the only thing visible was my hand, which I burned during the fire. I couldn't let them know about anything else. Or as Elijah called it my stupid bullshit. They wouldn't want to know anyway. I'm probably just a burden, and their only being nice because they have to. I let out a deep sigh and then went back to the main part of the room.
"William was sitting on one of the couches and there was curtains drawn over the big window and the blinds on the inside of the double doors were closed so if you didn't know any better then you would never know it was storming out. I walked over to the edge of the bed and faced the couch.
"Maci, this is your room. You should never feel uncomfortable or ask permission to sit or relax in your room. It is your safe space, and we will always respect that. All of us. Even Elijah. You can have any of us leave when you want. Ok?" I nodded my head yes and sat on the edge of the bed facing William. The serious look he had on his face was gone now as he watched me sink in the mattress. It was so soft.
I completely forgot that william was watching me as I climbed further back and sat in the middle of the bed. I laid back and let myself just sink in. I let our sigh of relief and closed my eyes.
Several minutes passed, and William never spoke. Just let me enjoy my new room. Then there was a soft knock ok the door and william said, "Come in." I barely managed to open my tired eyes. Another minute or so, and I would have been asleep.
I tried to close my eyes again till Seth sat at the edge of the bed with a sandwich and milk holding them out to me.
William was spreading, eating his just watching us from the couch. He smiled that smile of his, and seth had a similar one on his face. I sat up slowly and grabbed the sandwich and milk.
I chewed slowly and enjoyed the taste of something so delicious. I hadn't eaten much with mom, and nothing that tasted this good. I smiled and closed my eyes again. I was so tired. I suddenly felt a hand around mine that had the glass of milk it it.
"Easy there, maci. Come on, let's get you into bed before we end up with milk everywhere." Seth laughed out. He handed my milk over to william, not even noticing that I had already eaten my whole sandwich. Seth picked me up off the bed before I could do anything else and, in one smooth motion, had pulled the blankets down and laid me down before he tucked me back under the covers and kissed my forehead.
There was something so familiar about this feeling. The smell of the room. The way it looked. My face felt wet. When I reached my hand up, I realized I was crying. Why, tho? My heart felt so different. Like nothing in the world could get to me here. Like, like I was so beyond safe and no one would ever hurt me again. I felt someone sit next to me on the bed.
"Oh, little one. Dont cry. It's ok. Come on now." William reached over and wiped my tears and put his forehead against mine.
Soon, I was sound asleep.