Here with me

Her dark brown curls looked as if they were intricately placed hair-by-hair onto her head. Her smile could lift the spirits of the entire room. Her eyes were the perfect shade of blue that seemingly never dulled. But her laugh, oh her sweet, sweet laugh could have guys on their knees in mere seconds. Scarlett Myers was undoubtedly hand-crafted by God himself.

“Are you ever going to man up and speak to her?” a dull voice asked beside him, “Or are you going to keep staring at her like a creep?”

He looked down at his twin sister, Macy, while he pondered his options. He was going to talk to her, he was going to talk to Scarlett. With only a handful of months left of his senior year, Miles knew this was his last chance to finally ask her out. So, he stood from his chair and did precisely that.

************************************************

As their date grew to an end, Miles couldn’t help but notice Scarletts' sheer beauty. The freckles that danced across her skin, the way her eyes sparkled under lights, and the muddled bags that were under her eyes.

The bags under her eyes were hardly noticeable when people were always so distracted by her smile. While he would never bring it up to her, he still noted the observation in the back of his mind.

As he walked her to her door, he discerned the quiet of her house. Her house held no signs of life. But asking her about it would make him a hypocrite, for he himself could never share the details of his own home life.

After she closed the door to her home, he left for his own home.

While her home was quiet and dark, his was the complete opposite. As he pulled his car into the driveway and opened the door, the yelling emerged.

He opened the door to the house and found his mother and his sister face-to-face in the living room. His mother, red in the face, was on one of her rampages and overcome with rage. Macy, on the receiving end of their mother's daily temper tantrum, displayed a sheet of numbness as if she was unbothered by the spectacle her mother was putting on. As he walked farther into the room, his mother turned to look at him and her face transformed into one of arrant fury.

“What were you out doing this late?”

“I was with a friend.” He could never tell her about his Scarlett.

In an instant, she struck him across the face. He knew he could fight back; he knew that if he tried, he could stop her from harming him, but he wouldn’t. He knew restraining his mother would only lead her to torment his sister. So, he took it, just like he always did, and his sister just watched, just as she always did.

************************************************

As frustrated as he was with his sister for never doing anything, he would never blame her. Could never blame her. She was still his sister. He would take the brunt of whatever his mother dished out, so long as his sister was out of harm's way. 

But by no means does he rush home the first chance he gets.

His mother had a boyfriend at the house, which meant more trouble than it was worth, so he opted to stay at his girlfriend’s house.

Though it didn’t take much convincing to leave behind his home life. Her house was almost always empty considering both of her parents traveled for work. In the few months he’d been dating her, he’d seen her life flourish.

In the beginning, he was always worried about the bags under her eyes, but they seemed to fade into a trivial memory. Her smile reached higher on her face and her laugh became a daily occurrence that was readily available at any given moment.

After a short period of time, it became apparent that her quiet, empty house, the place she only saw as a place to sleep, had been reconstructed into a home.

A happy loud home.

They didn’t know when he started falling asleep there. They didn’t know when his clothes found their home in her dresser. He didn’t know when his toothbrush appeared on her bathroom counter but in a short time, it did.

Slowly her house became their home.

He might just be ok with that.

************************************************

“Well, you seem happy.” A voice said from the seat beside him.

He looked over to see a smiling Macy and he couldn’t help but smile back.

“I really think I am.” He couldn’t help looking over at Scarlett who was laughing, head thrown back, with her friend. As if she could feel his eyes on her she looked over her shoulder and she smiled even brighter. He glanced back over to his sister, “I talked to Scarlett you know? About you moving in?”

“Moving in?” her brows furrowed as she stared up at him.

“Well, you know, Scarlett doesn’t live with her parents. Since I haven’t been with you around the old house in weeks now, I asked her if she would be ok with you moving in too.” He looked at her with optimistic eyes, praying she would finally accept his help.

“No, I couldn’t. I wouldn’t want to—”

“We both want you to. You need to get out of that house.”

“Miles really I don’t—”

“Macy, we both know that living there will get you nowhere and we want to—”

“Miles stop!” Her voice was loud as she yelled it. After a couple of curious glances and she lowered her voice, “Miles, I’m fine, I promise, we graduate soon. I’ll be out of that house before you know it. There’s no point for me to move now.” She did her best to reassure him with one of her rare smiles. She needed him to believe she was truthfully fine.

Because she was.

She had to be fine because he was finally happy. He was happy with the life he was creating for himself with the girl he’d been ogling for the past 3 years. One that he undoubtfully loved.

She could survive in that house for a little longer because he deserved to live. He deserved to live his life free of all the stress she caused him throughout the past 18 years of his life.

He deserves to forget about their mother beating him while she stood to the side.

He deserves to forget being forced between our “mother” and her boyfriends.

He deserves to never know what's been happening under his nose this entire time.

He needs to forget about them. Forget about her.

************************************************

“Miles!” He was awoken by the voice of his girlfriend.

He blinked his eyes to see her hovering over him. Jumping up instantly he says, “Are you ok? Is something wrong?”

Her eyes soften as she looks up at him, “Yes, everything is fine. I didn’t mean to scare you, but my parents are here.” Her smile was bright as she gazed at him.

His face instantly dropped. He had never had to meet anyone's parents before, let alone the parents of the girl he loved. They knew he was living in their house but that didn’t mean they would openly accept him as their daughter's boyfriend.

“You’ll be fine I promise. They may travel a lot for work but when they are home, they are super chill.”

Though her little speech did little to ease his anxiousness, he knew there was only one way to find out.

************************************************

“Ma is making dinner tonight and said you were invited to come if you wanted to.”

“Ma?” His sister furrowed her eyebrows at the name.

“Oh, don’t get me started,” he looked down at Macy in fake exasperation, “Scarlett’s mom insists I call her Ma and will swat at me if I forget.”

“She hits you?”

His eyes widen, “No, not like that I promise. She is the sweetest person I’ve ever met. You’ll love her, I promise. Just come over for a bit tonight.”

“No, I couldn’t—”

“Macy, I’m not letting you get out of this. It’s just dinner, you only have to be there for two hours tops.”

She realized he wasn’t letting her get out of this, so she nodded her head in reluctant agreement.

************************************************

“Are you sure you don’t want anymore, Macy?” Scarlet’s mother asked.

“No, truly this was enough, thank you though.” She gave the woman a tight-lipped smile.

“I will gladly take another plate.” She watched as Miles filled his plate with another serving.

Shortly after, she excused herself from the table so they wouldn’t notice her eyes filling with tears. This woman had to be the nicest person she had ever met. This was the kind of family that he deserved to be raised in. This was how all children deserved to be raised.

With endless food, love, and most of all parents who cared.

She looked up at the mirror seeing her puffy red face. She didn't deserve the life she was given. She might not have had a say when she was younger, but she sure does now.

She no longer deserved to be forced daily to fight for peace in life.

Not when her peace was a matter of life and death. 

She never wished for much. All she ever wanted was for her brother to be happy. After all that he sacrificed for her, he deserved it more than she ever would. She was at peace with that.

He may be sad, but he had people to help him put all the broken pieces back together. He had people to help him grieve, and that’s all she could ask for in these times of struggle.

************************************************

“Are you going to the dance?”

“I didn’t plan on it.” Was Macy’s short response.

“C’mon, please It’ll be way more fun if you do,” Miles begged her with puppy-dog eyes in a pitiful attempt to get her to say yes.

“I’ll think about it.” She smiled back at him. Before he could react, she pulled him into a tight hug.

“What’s this about?”

“Happiness.”

“Well, you know I’ll never turn down one of your hugs.”

She pulled back and smiled again and he smiled right back at her.

She hoped the memory would be strong enough to make him smile when he thought of her.

************************************************

“Where do you think she is?” He paced by the entrance to the dance, “She said she was coming.”

“Maybe she changed her mind?” Scarlett said.

“I’m going to call her one more time and then we’ll go in.” he nodded to himself.

************************************************

Tears.

She didn’t know why she was crying. This was what she wanted, right?

So why was she still crying? She didn’t have regrets, even as it was already done. There was no turning back now. She was ok with that, but the tears wouldn’t stop pouring from her bloodshot eyes.

Her phone started ringing but she immediately silenced it. It was her brother, she knew it.

But he couldn’t find out. Not yet.

She’d been thinking for hours about what her final message would be to him. After long paragraphs, short paragraphs, and a couple of jokes she finally settled. She sent it to him. He would be confused for a time. She hoped once he found out he would understand why this was her only option. 

************************************************

Confusion weighed on him as he looked down at the text.

“I love you.”

Accompanying his confusion was fear.

Fear for the mistake she was making.

He started running. No, not running. 

Sprinting.

Sprinting with everything physically possible. He could hear his girlfriend calling after him but that didn’t matter to him. As soon as he got to his car, he was already gone again, racing through the streets back to his own personal hell. 

Thoughts haunted with the possibility of what was waiting for him.

***************************************************

When he pulled up to the house the first thing, he saw were the lights.

Red. Blue. Red. Blue. Red. Blue. 

Nothing.

There was no thinking involved as he raced towards the house.

Yellow caution tape was tied off surrounding the frontmost portion of the place he previously called his home.

Someone already found her. It’s too late. She’s gone. 

Tears flooded his eyes, falling one after another relentlessly.

“Son, do you know who lives here?” The cops’ words wash over him like a bucket of ice water.

“My sister.” He tries to catch his breath but fails as he sees the EMTs escort a stretcher draped with a white sheet out of the house

Red hair splays out from beneath the sheet. 

“Please,” he whispers to himself as he looks around and sees exactly who he’s looking for.

His sister.

His sister with her messy black hair. Getting loaded into the back of a cop car, within the confines of handcuffs.