“I thought you loved me!”

“I did, I always did! Did you not see that? Was everything I did for you not enough?”

“No! It wasn’t!”

“What more could I have done?”

“You could have decided not to leave me! You could have stayed. Instead of running away from our parents, forgetting that you had a sister who was still stuck. And you stayed away. You didn’t come back for holidays and you didn’t write me letters. You made me feel like I was a part of the corrupted family you wanted to leave behind. And you left! What you did was not love.”

“I’m sorry.”

“So be sorry. But you are not my brother. Because a brother wouldn’t leave their sister alone for years. Knowing it would be hard. Knowing that she had no one. You are not my brother.”

“But you will always have been my sister.”

I told the star a story One made from ink and time A story that I told him A story I couldn’t rhyme A girl once loved a man A man once took this girl Thought to make her his wife But killed before he could try The star then blinked out Of the cold night sky It’s light dimmed As it began to cry I told the star a story Of love that was gone It went all wrong And the star wept All through the night Until it could no longer cry And I stayed by its side But they were not as sad As you might expect Because they loved each other A tale as old as time

“Why do you always have to ruin my day? Can’t you leave me in peace?”

“I’m ruining your day? Oh please!”

“I said nothing, so beat it!”

“You didn’t have have to say anything, your face says it all! Look at this beautiful sunshine! You’re ruining it with your grimacing look!”

“Well I’m so sorry that I’m not in a good mood right now! We can’t all have good days everyday, Chelsea!”

“That’s the thing, Will! You’re never in a good mood! If you were in a bad mood today but the next day you were a happy-go-lucky guy, then I wouldn’t mind and would want to see what was bothering you!”

“Oh, so you think that since I always have bad days, that I don’t deserve to get asked that question?”

“No, I’m just telling the truth on how I feel about you! You’re not the only one who has bad days!”

“Bad days? Bad days?!”

“Will you please stop spitting in my face?”

“Do you get people walking up to you and telling you they’re sorry of what happened to your deceased parents? Do you get people asking you what happened to your face? No. You don’t.”

“Will, I—“

“You know what I hate most from this whole disaster…? It’s that my own best friend never even bothered showing up to the funerals. The worst part was that you expected me to go back to my normal life and accept it…the worst part was that you were there for everyone else but me and do you know why…?”

“Will, please, we just need to—“

“It’s because everyone else who was going through something awesome, you were there. When someone had a bad day, you cheered them up and that was the end of it…but for me…. For me, when you saw that I was still mourning the losses, you still lashed out at me for not being happy.”

“Everyone else shows their emotions! Their true emotions while you’re only wanting attention and—“

“I have emotions too!”

“I never said that….”

“Whatever….”

“Will! Don’t go!”

“Chelsea…you didn’t have to say anything…your face said it all.”

“Maya, please, don’t do this. Put down the knife. Please”

Should I listen to him? Does he really care?

“Don’t pretend to care. You did this with Catalina too. Don’t pretend like you care about what happens to me.”

“Put. Down. The. Knife.”

“Why? Tell me why. Why should I stay in this cruel world where i have no one? Why should i stay in a world of pain and sorrow when I could go home?”

“Because you have m-“

“I don’t have you Chris, I never had you. Don’t lie.”

Anger flared in my heart as I pressed the blade closer to my neck, drawing blood. A stinging sensation rippled along the edge of the blade.

“You didn’t deny it, Chris, now let me go!”

I pushed slightly harder against my neck. I could feel the warmth and stickiness of the blood as it moved down my body.

Chris jumped at me and I dropped the knife in surprise. He was holding me now. My head to his chest. And my stupid, stupid heart tripped a few beats with him so close.

“I’m so hopeless, Chris. I can’t do this anymore.”

“Maya, please don’t cry. I’m going to get you help. Therapy, antidepressants maybe, anything to get you better. And then we can start over. And for the record, I am yours and always have been.”

I stayed quiet as a tesr rolled down my cheek. Maybe everything wouldn’t be as bad as I thought it would.

Our eyes did the talking.

I’m sorry for tormenting you on this trip. I thought you were the bad guy, but it was me.

It’s okay. I haven’t been a good sister. I know you’ve needed me, and I’ve been hiding.

I did need you! I still need you! I want to show you all the fantastic stuff that Dad has shown me… even though I know he didn’t really place all the birds out here for me to find.

I’ll try to be open to it, but it’s really difficult for me to hear about anything to do with Dad. I’m not ready.

I understand. It can wait.

Guy bustled into the kitchen and abruptly stopped, the swinging door smacking him in the back. The pile of plates clattered as he did everything to keep from spilling them from his hands. Angel was kneeling on the floor and startled as he entered. Amelia’s body sprawled out awkwardly, her face showing a wide-eyed grimace.

“Guy, this is not what you think.”

“You keep saying that. What happened? Did you kill her?”

“Guy...”

“You killed her. You killed the love of my life!”

“I didn’t kill her.”

“You keep saying that. But here she is. Is she dead?”

“Guy, keep your voice down. You’ll alarm everybody.” Guy hurriedly set the stack of plates next to the sink. Outside the kitchen, loud voices struggled to talk over the bass thump of music.

“Alarm everyone? This is already pretty alarming. Is she dead?”

“Yes.”

“I can’t believe you killed her.”

“I didn’t kill her.”

“No? Maybe you didn’t ‘kill her,’ but you killed her all the same.”

“You know that’s not what I do.”

“Isn’t it? She’s still dead!”

“She had an aneurysm. That’s what killed her.”

“An ‘aneurysm’?” Guy made air quotes. “Another one? How convenient. She was alive. You enter the picture.” Guy motioned to the body on the floor. “Now she’s dead.”

Angel stepped toward Guy and glared at him. She suddenly hauled off and smacked him across the face.

“Ow, you hit me.” A shocked Guy rubbed his reddening cheek.

“Of course I hit you. You’re being rude.”

“Are you going to kill me next?”

“No.” Angel looked down at the body.

“Are you sure? You just hit me. Maybe I’m next, and you’ll drop me next to the love of my life?”

“Guy, she was not the love of your life.”

“Really? How would you know?”

“I’m your love now. I might not be the love of your life, but I’m your love now.”

Guy stared at Angel. His mouth opened. His mouth closed. His mouth opened again. His mouth closed again. He looked down at Amelia's body. He slowly kneeled next to her, gently closed her eyes, and brushed the hair out of her face. He poked and prodded as he tried to make the grimace a little more peaceful. Amelia’s face was contrary to his wishes as in life, and couldn’t quite get with the program.

“Guy, she used you. She never cared that you cared for her. She only loved that you loved her.”

Guy nodded silently, tears streamed down his red cheeks. He continued to straighten up the body.

“You shouldn’t speak wrong of the dead.”

“Oh baby, I speak wrong of the dead all the time. It comes with the business.”

“Leave!”

A manila evelope was open, pictures spews from the opening.

“Quinn, its not what you think!”

“I don’t….care,” the room was ice cold, a counter seperating us. “It’s clear, here, IN THESE PHOTOS OF YOU AND MY BROTHER!”

I flung the pictures at her, making her flinch. I wanted to see the hurt, the regret in her eyes, but the only thing she showed me was relief. I knew something was going on, just not to this extent.

“I’m sorry”

“You’re? Sorry?” I couldn’t stand to look at her. “I don’t understond why you would do this.”

Silence.

“How long?”

“Quinn—“

“HOW LONG!” Tears threatened at the lid of my eyes, “Afton…how long have you two been involved?”

She didn’t even flinch, the room echoed our misaligned heartbeats. It felt like the world was about to fall out beneath us.

“two…”

“What!?”

“TWO YEARS! Ok?” She dragged her hands through her hair, “I’ve been seeing Orion for two years.”

“I just- I don’t understand what’s going on with you recently it’s like I don’t even know who you are anymore…you’ve changed.”

There was a pause.

“Well so have you, Stace”

She turned away from him, feeling her cheeks getting hot with anger-but more so hurt.

“I can see it in your eyes Steve, you don’t look at me the same as you used to, you’re barely ever home and when you are, you’re still somewhere else.”

His eyes fell to the floor too ashamed to meet hers

“Steve…do you even love me still?

There was a heavy silence, both of them new the answer, even though a word never left his lips.

You loved me for who I was when we met, but now you want me to stop doing what I love. I know I did, it’s just the way you played that guitar on stage that really attracted me, but now I hardly see you anymore If I stop playing to please you and not doing what I love, I won’t be happy and have much love in my heart to give Don’t stop playing, I need to accept that it’s part of you and love you regardless.

The sky was only cool colors and the clouds were timid. There was a lack of liveliness in the room and the insignificance of the event was clearer than the tears streaming down the young boy’s face.

“Pony, I…”

“It’s my birthday.”

“Yes, I know, I know.. it’s just…”

“It’s my birthday.”

“Yes, it is.”

“And you forgot?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Are you sorry?”

“I am.”

“Say it then.”

“Say what?”

“That you’re sorry.”

There was a great silence.