Project L-137

Chapter 7

I reached the door about to head outside when Lydia spoke, having her back towards me.

"It's a touchy subject with him, we had one incident with our dad and then our sister just made more problems a few years ago. He doesn't like to talk about it," she said. I turned around to face her back and walked over to her bed. I laid down next to her and she turned over to lay down on her back instead of her side.

"What happened?" I asked with a hint of curiosity that I was trying to hide.

She gave a sigh before saying anything. She turned her head to look at me and I did the same. She turned her head back to look at the creme ceiling while I still kept my eyes locked on her.

"Trevor was 8 and I was 6. I was supposed to start kindergarten and Trevor was supposed to start second grade. Our older sister is only 2 years older than Trevor so she was supposed to be in fourth grade but she was way more advanced than kids in our school. She managed to skip 2 grades and was already at a 6th-grade level. Since schools closed to stop the spread of diseases, our mom tried to teach us all that she could," she paused. She closed her eyes and her face tensed at the memory that was playing in her head.

"Our Dad had a really bad temper and I wasn't doing the best and one day my dad was drunk. Completely wasted, to the point that he came in stumbling in the living room when we were in a session. I was learning about multiplication and second graders aren't the best learners," She laughed.

"I started to cry because I was so frustrated. I didn't understand what I was learning and my dad was so annoyed with my crying that he started yelling 'Shut up you stupid kid' while he threw his beer bottle over my head. After that, I started to cry louder and my mom was about to take me to my room but that's when I felt the sting on my cheek. Our dad slapped me so I would shut up and it worked. But Trevor and our sister watched it all. The bottle, the slap, the yelling at me. Our sister did nothing, she just brushed it off but Trevor has always been protective of me. So he took me to my room and stayed with me until I calmed down," she said. Her face relaxed after she told her story.

"So that's why he hates your dad but what about your sister? He talks about her like she was a terrible person. He doesn't even say her name," I said, giving her a confused look.

Before she could tell me about her, Trevor walked into the room. We both looked at him with the same question in our eyes.

"I'm sorry, Lydia," he said, looking at her. She stood up from the bed and walked over to Trevor and gave him a hug. I could feel the faint smile creeping up on my face.

I tried to sit up on the bed, but I forgot that my stomach was bruised. I let out a small noise of pain that only Trevor heard because as soon as he did, he looked at me. He whispered something to Lydia and they both let go of each other at the same time. She left the room and I saw her walk past us through the window.

"You ok?" he asked, walking over to me. He sat on the edge of the bed and I scooted over to sit next to him.

"Yeah. Just hurts to sit up," I said looking down at my hands resting in my lap. I could feel his eyes looking at me. I didn't meet his eyes until I took a breath and started to speak.

"I didn't know about Lydia and your dad. But I just have one question about your sister," I said. He didn't seem angry, he seemed a little hurt. Like he knew what I was going to ask.

"Ok. Go ahead," He said.

I searched his eyes for the pain I was expecting but I couldn't figure what he actually felt.

"Is she dead?" I asked. I was scared when I actually asked the question. I expected him to shut me out when I asked the question but his face went soft. He looked away from me for a second and then looked at my hands in my lap, that were fiddling with my fingers. His brows drew together and then he looked at me. He took a deep breath before actually answering my question.