The Smallest Coffins.

2

The smallest coffins are the heaviest, Jaylenn realized this as she watches her father carry her little sister down to the car screaming. She's oddly aware of her surroundings. The cereal bowl on the table in the kitchen that a fly has landed on. The armchair she has lowered her body into vibrating slightly at the commotion going on upstairs. The stomping upstairs as her brothers gather things.

She had never seen her dad, Justin Allan, cry before, and now that she has she hates it. Jaylenn stays still in her seat, she heard the door creak last night. last night, and she didn't do anything about it. This is her fault, according to her own brain. How could she not have done anything?

Now she gets to watch her sister who doesn't even look like herself anymore, her face covered in blood, her lower body completely in the nude, be carried to the truck her father was always so proud of. She watches Justin closely as he lowers Julie

Jaylenn's oldest brother, Jackson, runs over to her. His eyes are full of tears. "Let's go" he says frantically. Jaylenn just shakes her head. He picks her up, the girl doesn't weigh much for being 17 years old. She's almost five foot nine, but she only weighs about 140. Her blue eyes aren't covered with glasses like they usually are, her strawberry blonde hair is knotted on top of her head. Jackson puts the girl in his car and runs back in to get her baby brother, he luckily was unharmed as well as everyone. Besides Juliet. Jaylenn lays her head on the window as Jackson straps the 7 month old in his car seat. Jacob, the middle child, walks out and to the car. Snow kicks up through the air as Jackson runs back to the car.

"He's only 15, he shouldn't be dealing with this." Jaylenn thinks out loud. She looks over to her cooing baby brother. Jacob and Jason will look just alike when they're older. They have the same perfectly crooked nose, same hair, same smile. But one thing that will be different about them is that Jason will never remember this day. Of course he'll know it had happened but being seven months old has it perks.Jacob gets in the back seat and lays his hand on his sister's shoulder. Her whole body feels as though it's swallowed by a black hole. Her brain is just black. As though she's there but not really.
"She's going to be okay," he says to her, but she can hear the doubt in his voice. They all saw her. Her head was completely bashed in. There was no way she was going to be okay. Jackson gets in and locks his door as he talks to the cops on the phone.

"I... I'm not sure. My dad is on his way to the emergency room with her right now. No...Yes.... No?... Yeah.... For sure, well, I'll speak to you later" he says before he hangs up. Jackson drives to the nearest business office, which is a T-Mobile office where his mom works. Jackson gets out and walks in.

Jaylenn watches the tall ginger haired boy she grew up with walk into the office. He has blue eyes, just like the rest of the kids. He, unlike any of the rest of the men in the family, has a scruffy beard in the making. The sun is blinding over the white snow.

Jaylenn stops feeling numb and just starts crying, the kind of cry that breaks your heart. It's the cry that once you hear it you'll never forget it,and once you make you'll never feel the same again. Soon enough the baby, Jason, is screaming. Jacob gets out of the car and picks up the baby. "Hey it's okay," he says, bouncing him. The boy begins singing to him in a raspy voice. There's no song just mumbled words in a singing voice. His blonde hair shines in the sunlight. He looks the most like their dad. They have the same blue eyes and blonde hair, and the same smile. As if Jacob was a perfect clone of Justin.

That's when she sees her mom, Jackson is almost her crutch. Looking at them she thinks of how Jackson is the perfect blend of their mother and father. They both have short spaced eyes, almost too close yet they still look like a god and goddess. The same dark blue eyes that shove into almonds. Both of their jaw lines could cut you so deep you'd need stitches. She's laid on him screaming out sobs. Jaylenn gets out of the front seat and sits in the back without words. Jacob gets back in the car, tears streaming down his face. He lays the youngest into his carseat and straps him before strapping his seat belt. Jackson puts their mom, Julianne, into the front seat.