Sweet Lies | Nathan Young [Misfits]

- 14 -

"Hey."

Jade raised her head from the book she was reading, and her brown eyes met her brother's, which were a perfect copy of her.

"Hey." She said with a small smile, and he closed her bedroom door behind him and she felt the bed sink under his weight as he sat down.

"I saw your concert." He smiled. "You were awesome, as always."

"Thank you." She said with a straight face, and he pursed his lips with sad eyes.

"Mom is home in ten minutes."

She sighed as she closed her book and set it on her nightstand. Connor coming home to congratulate her was not an innocent act, he was here to comfort her since he knew their mother was angry.

No matter the punishment that she was inflicting on Jade, she never smiled during any show or interview like her mother wanted her to. The girl was perfectly obedient, but she seemed completely unable to smile.

That day was no exception, Jade sang with a blank face during the whole concert

Connor frowned as he saw the state her little sister was in. He felt like a coward when he chose to go to university for the sole purpose of fleeing their mother. Now her little sister was alone with their unstable parent.

He suspected that her mother was being physically abusive towards Jade, but he never found any mark or bruise on her little sister's body. Moreover, no matter how much he begged Jade, she never told him what she did to her as a punishment.

"I've got to go." He said, and Jade nodded.

"Goodnight, Con."

"Goodnight, Ali." His lips twitched up in a sad smile as his brown eyes threw her a regretful gaze.

He left the bedroom, and she heard his footsteps as he went downstairs. Then she heard her mother unlock the door, followed by the voice of his brother as he threatened her.

"If I find out you're hurting her..." He growled.

"Go back to your dorm, Connor." She ordered with a cold voice, and Jade could picture the freezing glare she was throwing at him.

Her heels hit the stairs as she climbed them, and Jade's hands balled up in tight fists.

She heard her mother enter the room but she did not even look at her, instead she chose to focus her gaze on her bedsheets.

"Have you eaten what I've prepared for you?"

Jade nodded with a disgruntled look, that quinoa salad tasted like utter garbage, and she was tired of eating bland food and working out every morning at six A.M. just to look pretty and skinny for people she never gave a shit about.

"Good, we don't want you gaining weight, Disney would terminate the contract."

Like she would care.

She nodded. "Of course."

The silence was deafening as she waited for her mother to speak.

"I'm getting tired of you looking like you're going to kill yourself every time you're singing on a damn stage. You look so ungrateful all the time."

Jade remained silent with her eyes downcast in submission.

"If you keep acting like that, your fans are going to get tired of you." She hissed. "You won't have a job anymore. You have talent, don't waste it like your dad did."