❛ GHOSTIN' ❜ - 𝖼𝗆𝖻 ✓

057; people didn't know me

third person.

with mollie and corbyn back in virginia for an unplanned amount of time, mollie saw this as an opportunity to finally try rebuild her bond with her brother.

the pair had agreed on spending the day at their nana's house, emptying it out for it to be placed back on the market and sold to the next generation, something they had put off for a significant amount of time.

and so, with them both sat in her bedroom and looking through the boxes underneath her bed, they found themselves looking through all her old photo albums and sentimental memories, completely distracted from their original plan.

"it's me and astrid as kids," max smiled slightly as he held up the photo, "that's crazy, we were six in that photo."

"you've known astrid since you were six?" she stared at the photo as he nodded.

"she was my elementary school crush," he shrugged, "crazy how well that turned out for me."

"oh," mollie nodded with a small smile, watching him flip the page as his smile dropped and he let out a small sigh.

"this was our first christmas just us two." max said as he placed one of the photos from the pile in front of them both, "i think i was seven in that."

"that's.. our first alone?" mollie frowned, "i was three."

"it was the first christmas without dad," max shrugged, "mom was out somewhere, she forgot to turn up."

"did we not have any presents?"

"you had a gift," max gave her a smile as mollie looked at him confused.

"you didn't?" mollie frowned slightly.

"you were three, you couldn't get me anything." max told her and turned back to the photo album.

"what did you buy me?" mollie asked him.

"a colouring book."

"max," she rolled her eyes and smiled, "with what?"

"money from moms purse," he said through a small laugh as she continued to frown, "you were a kid, you were over the moon about santa coming, i didn't want to ruin that."

"but you were a kid too." mollie argued, "you stole from mom's purse to get me a gift?"

"she had heaps of money, she didn't notice it was gone." he laughed and gave her a smile, "i bought you a gift and a meal for the day, you still had a blast."

"what did we eat? did you buy a big turkey or something like a seven year old would?" she raised her eyebrows as he shook his head.

"nope.. you had some soup with some bread," he replied, flipping the page as mollie's face fell slightly.

"...what did you eat?"

"what you didn't finish," max mumbled, "it was a very common thing."

"her not being there?"

"me finishing your leftovers." max told her.

"what if i finished everything?" mollie asked him as he gave her a small smile and shrugged, "...max."

"it's fine, relax," he laughed.

"did nana and grandpa not buy you-"

"they didn't know i was feeding just you," he interrupted her, "i lied so they weren't worried."

"why didn't you just let them take care of us?" she asked with her eyebrows furrowed, "they could've just taken care of both of us, why didn't you go with that option?"