The Unknown Family

Pain

When noon arrived I came downstairs, dressed in the same clothes except this time with a white denim jacket and a pair of red adidas trainers. When I got there, I came face to face with not only a pleased Rina and Andrea, but also an excited Leo and pissed off Luca.

"Are you coming too?" I asked as I watched them from the bottom of the stairs.

"Not by choice." Luca muttered loud enough for us all to hear, only to have his twin elbow his side.

"Don't complain to me, I didn't invite you." I respond as I walked passed them and out the front door. And I hate to admit it, but getting into the car took quite a bit of courage for me.

By the time we made it to the mall, Luca was back to glaring at me, Leo and Andrea were being ordered around by Rina, and Rina had already measured me...which I think we all found uncomfortable.

Once inside the malls, Rina dragged us to every shop. And I mean everyshop. But I just spent most my time in sports direct. I love their shoes. By three o'clock, we had cleared the mall, mainly because all shopworkers dropped whatever they were doing to either; ogle at my brothers, or they knew Rina and knew what to look for. When we were leaving, all three of my brothers were all carrying plenty of bags each, all of them complaining.

"Rina! This shit is heavy!" Andrea whined as he trudged towards the black, tinted windowed car.

"It's a good job we're here then isn't it" Rina replied as she opened the boot for the boys to dump all the bags in.

They all opened the car doors and piled in, except Leo, who was waiting for me to sit in the middle as I was the smallest. Shakily, I reached forward and pulled myself inside, strapping down the seatbelt as fast as I could, and holding on for dear life.

Andrea started the car, as he was driving, and took off barrelling down the road. My hand began to quiver against the handstitched leather, and the seatbelt started digging into my palm from the force I was holding onto it. As we turned a corner at high speed, I let out a little squeak and snapped my eyes shut, but Rina must of heard me from the front.

"Andy, slow down will you." She said as she gave me a nervous glance in the mirror. He did as he was asked and drove back at a slower speed, but I never let go of that seatbelt.

We got home not long after, and some guards came out to the car and took my bags out of the boot. Ignoring the questioning look Rina gave me, I went through the house and took a seat in the back garden by the pool.

When you feel that pain. The suffering of loss and grief, the emptiness. Your mind begins to play tricks on you. The games of 'was it your fault' or 'you deserve this' and even 'it should have been you'. But this girl had only one response to those hateful words.

Fuck off.

That's the only way you can push through the danger of being trapped in your own mind. It's the only way to push through anything negative really. Tell them, or it, or whatever it is, to Fuck off. Because then, it's not like you didn't try. And trying was all this girl wanted to do. Try and rebuild her life. Try and be happier. Try and be the person she always aspired to be.

"Liv?" Turning around, I saw a smiling Leo and a glaring Luca stood in the doorway.

"Yeah?" I responded.

"The others have gone out, we're having some friends over to practice." Leo replied as he and Luca came closer.

"Okay." I say, waiting for the awkwardness (Leo and Luca) to leave.

"Well... come and get us if you need anything." Leo said as he and Luca shared a look before walking back inside.

I stayed outside a while longer, sitting with my legs crossed on the sunbed. I spent my time reading a book I bought last week, Private Peaceful. Not long after, a group of boys came through the house with my brothers. One had dark skin and black hair, with blue, almost silver eyes, a few small tattoos gracing his muscled arms. Another had pale skin, ginger hair and forest green eyes, freckles scattered over his nose, this one had a small tattoo on his wrist, but that was all I could see and a muscular frame. The final one, brown haired and brown eyed, eyes so dark they could have been mistaken for black, tattoos littered all across his upper half, and some freckles littered under the eyes of his tanned skin. They all stood at around 6ft, all wearing basketball shorts and tank tops as well. I guess the twins play basketball...

After reading another chapter of my book, a got a shooting pain in my knee. The same one I always got. Knowing there is only one way to stop it, painkillers, I started my way inside the house. That was until I realised, I have no idea where they actually are. Sighing, I made my way down the cobblestone path my brothers and their friends did earlier. After a couple of painful staircases, I came in sight of the basket ball court, where they were all playing a game, all except Luca and the dark browned eyed guy. The gate of the court squeaked as I opened its green fence, making all the attention fall on me.

"Liv, you okay?" Luca asked, in a surprisingly concerned tone, as he saw me trying not to put too much weight on my leg.

"I was just wondering if we had any painkillers?" I asked.

"Yeah kid, I got so-" One of the friends stood next to Leo said, only to be stopped midway by the hard glare the twins sent him.

"Yeah, we have some. Luca go and show her while I kick Miles' ass" Leo said as he snatched the ball from his friend who he glared at, and stared to dribble towards the opposite net.

Grumbling under his breath, Luca made his way back up to the house, with me trailing after him, not noticing the person watching me from the court. Once back at the house, Luca took me to the kitchen, and by now, the pain in my leg had morphed into a burning sensation.

"Here." he said as he held out the bottle of painkillers for me. As I went to take it from his hand, he snatched it back the last minute and gave me those sceptical eyes. "Why do you need painkillers?" He said as he eyed my leg which I wasn't using, instead leaning against the counter top. 

"Well they ease pain for a starters." I respond with a deadpanned look. He slowly reached out for me to take them, only to pull them back last minute. He did this again and again smirking as he did so,  till I accidently stepped forward, putting all the weight on my right leg. I let out a scream of pain as my leg gave out from underneath me and I began crashing to the floor.

But before I landed, I was caught by a pair of strong muscular arms. Looking up, I see the dark brown eyed friend holding me, the other two stood in the doorway, and Leo yelling at a shocked Luca.

"For fuck sake Luca give her the fucking pills!" Their ginger friend from the doorway yelled as he came over and supported my right leg. With the bottle shaking in his hands, Luca handed me the pills and stood shocked as I swallowed them dry.

"Come here." Leo said as he took me from the hold of his two friends. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he carried me up and out of the kitchen. "Why is your leg hurting?" He asked as he took me up the stairs.

"Old injury left it messed up." I respond as I fight back the urge to yell in agony.

"Okay then, stay in bed for the rest of the day, I'll come and get you when dinner is ready or if you need anything." He said as he laid me down in my cosy bed a tucked me in.

As he went to leave the room, I had to make one thing clear. "Leo."

Turning around he offered me a small smile. "Yeah Liv?"

"You need to work on your shooting." I said with a cheeky grin.

"Fuck off shorty." He responded with a playful glare.