𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠

Chapter 2. Because of You

"I was so young, you should have known better." ~ Kelly Clarkson

June 6th, 2009: Anchorage, Alaska ~ 4 years before K-Day

This week had been insanely crazy. My sister's both came down to visit and I barely had time to go see my friends. Both of my sister's are significantly older than me. My one sister, Caitlyn, is 20 and still lived in San Fransisco with our father. My other sister, Abby, is 22 and lives in Sydney as an engineer on fighter jets for the RAAF. 

Since they both live fairly far away, I only get to see them once a year. Despite the giant age gaps between me and my sisters, we are actually full siblings. Which is probably why it's so painful to see the two of them have a relationship with their father. Because he's also my father, he just wants nothing to do with me.

I was snapped from my thoughts as I approached the door to the Becket's house. I let out a long airy sigh before ringing the doorbell to the house. After a few moments, the door was opened by Dominique, their mother. 

"Hi Mrs Becket!" I said excitedly which in turn caused her to smile. 

"Emilia! We haven't seen you around in a few days." Dominque said as she ruffled my dark hair. I laughed and gave her a big smile as I shrugged. "Yeah, my sister's came down to visit so my mom wanted me to spend as much time with them as I could." I said while trying to fix my hair. 

"Well the boys are around back if you want to go surprise them." Dominique smiled as she motioned with her head to the backyard. 

"Thanks." I smiled in return as I headed for the back gate.

"That's not fair!" I heard a little voice cry out. In response, I heard two sets of laughter in. 

"Yance, give it!" The small voice cried out once more. Suddenly, I saw a purple rubber ball go flying over the gate and land in front of me. I quickly scooped up the ball and held it in front of my stomach. 

"I'll go get it." I heard one of the voices say in annoyance. 

As soon as the gate opened, I was met with the bright blue eye's of none other than Raleigh Becket. "You should be more careful Becket Boy." I teased with a smirk on my face, still holding the ball. Without saying another word, Raleigh ran towards me and scooped me up into a giant hug, causing me to drop the ball.

We stood there embracing for a moment before he finally pulled away. "I missed you, Em." He said as he wrapped his arm around my neck, pulling me towards his chest. Before I could say anything, I noticed two more people walking out of the back gate to see what all the commotion was about. 

"Em!" I heard a tiny voice yell as a little girl ran towards me to give me a hug. The girl quickly wrapped her arms around my torso as I returned the hug by pulling her into my stomach. "How are you doing, Jazz?" I asked her causing her to look up at me with her excited blue eyes. 

Jazmine was Raleigh's and Yancy's little sister and she was absolutely adorable. "I'm good." She said as she backed away so Yancy could get in on the action. 

"Hey, Kiddo." He said as he wrapped me into a giant bear hug. It had only been a week since I'd seen the Becket's, yet I missed them so much.

Once Yancy pulled away, the four of us stood in small a circle facing each other. "How was the sister visit?" Raleigh asked as he scooped up the ball and handed it to his sister who smiled at him in return. 

"Oh, you know. Got into a fight with Abby." I shrugged as I shoved my hands into my pocket. The boys had heard all about how me and my sister would bicker so this was nothing new to them.