Perfect Eve

45

I woke up to see Zack, sleeping peacefully on the other side of my bed. A small smile made its way onto my face but it disappeared soon as I saw the time.

Oh, right. My phone isn't here, nor is the alarm set in it. Why didn't I think of that?

I rushed to take a shower but used way more time than I needed since my thoughts drifted to what my mom did yesterday. The whole time in the shower, I was only thinking about ways to meet her.

Water is calm. It's a wonder how it can make you feel relaxed, even it's only for a moment.

I went down to make breakfast and in a few minutes, Sasha joined me.

"Hey," she gave me a hug. "I assume what happened yesterday was something that shouldn't have. Theo had something like a nightmare yesterday, he screamed not to hit him."

The moment those words left her mouth, all the emotions came back running to me.

"But it's okay, alright? I just hugged him closer and said we're with him. And the next moment, he was asleep. According to me, there's nothing that a hug can't cure." She smiled, helping me in breakfast.

True, that is. Almost.

"Thank you, Sasha."

"No sorry, no thank you." She said at the same time Noel came.

The smile he gave me, was a bright one, like nothing happened yesterday.

But I was unsure. What if he had my talent of hiding everything behind a pleasant smile? What if he was still crying inside, but smiling just to make me relax.

"Let them ditch school," Sasha said, bringing me out of my thoughts and I frowned at her. "Trust me, it'd be better."

She said it'd be great if they could spend a day out and enjoy, to forget it, forget that their mother tried to hit them.

"Zack will take them. You and me, will go to college and stuff our head into the world of science." She smiled. "Speaking of, why the hell is my brother still sleeping?"

"He's playing with Theo." Noel replied, grabbing the remote.

"Oh, eskimo kisses?" She asked and I chuckled.

It's great that despite being sad, you get to laugh and be happy when surrounded by some awesome people.

"No," Noel laughed and turned to watch TV, "Video game."

"Ha, great. I'm gonna go annoy them and then go home, be ready for today's amazing class." She cheered, sarcasm dripping in those last words.

As said, Zack stood back to take them out. Any reason to ditch the school. Sasha drove us to college and when I was on my way to class, I heard Cassy calling me.

"Your phone." She handed me the thing I wished I had yesterday, the thing which would have helped my little brothers from getting hurt.

"Where did you get that from?" I frowned, taking it in my hands.

"Oh, we were at the office in the morning and Will tried to call you. This one was on their shelf." She said.

Oh, he left it at the office? How kind of him!

The first notification that caught my eye was a voicemail from Maria.

'Evelyn, dear. I'm so sorry, I can't come today. Something really important came up and I thought I'll inform you before it's time. Maybe you can call Sasha or Zack?'

I closed my eyes. A single call that I missed and it's them, who had to suffer.

If I had listened to it, if I had asked Sasha to be with them, nothing would have happened. They wouldn't have to witness a drug addict's fury.