Insanity

14

5:40 pm

"Is Mama going to be okay Addy?" Kai asks, his head on her lap and legs sprawled on the sofa in front of the bed their mother was on.

He looked up at her with very innocent eyes, and such an innocent question.

Was she going to be okay?

She didn't know. She didn't know many things, but Kai looked up to her a lot, they didn't have a brother and their dad was usually out of the house most of the time, so Kai looked up to her.

He thought she was the bravest person alive, he thought she was so cool, he thought that she was never scared and for him, she was his hero.

He didn't know that Adelyn was a coward, he didn't know that she was lonely and he didn't know that she was scared and terrified. So she let him believe whatever made up persona he had of her to keep being that one person for him.

"Of course," she smiles softly at him, "she's just having nap time right now."

"When I'm at school, I have nap time at 1 minutes." He says, getting up from his position and cuddling closer to her.

Deciding to entertain him, and get his mind off of everything, she continues to conversation with him till his head falls on her lap again and he's in an uncomfortable position.

Seconds, minutes, she assumes that maybe even an hour passes by and she's half asleep when the door creaks open and her fight or flight mode is activated.

She startles up from the sofa and looks at the door to see who it is, wondering that what if that man from this morning came back to get her.

It was Noah.

He looked around for a second and his eyes fell on Kai, asleep on the couch and then on his sister. Adelyn.

He had never thought that he'd see her again. Ok, maybe he was guilty of catching glimpses of her throughout the year after they parted, he seemed to pass the place where she worked a lot somehow.

Maybe he passed by her house a few times while picking Mason back up from the bar and he saw her standing out on her yard, bidding her father goodbye, or taking the trash out.

Maybe sometimes he'd seen her at the park, walking aimlessly with a few of her classmates during her breaks.

She was his guilty pleasure, but that's all she could be. A guilty pleasure, because he knew the moment he saw her, everything would get too complicated and she had her priorities straight, she would never pick him over her family, for her, her brother and parents always came first, whether she was in trouble or not, it would always be them.

That stupid girl would never save herself, she'd walk into danger willingly if it meant keeping them safe and happy. Just like this morning.

He looks at her, and he wonders if she knows how much his heart flips and clenches whenever she's there with him, or did he ruin that?

She rubs her sweaty palms on her pajamas and exhales irritably, "Wh-what're you doing here?" She stands up straight and points her nose up arrogantly, pretending to be something Kai thinks she is. Brave.

Clicking his tongue, "I think we need to talk."

Adelyn didn't want to talk, to him especially. Blythe could've been here but Noah was there instead.

"Also, I think you might need this." He sticks his hands into his pocket and takes out a bottle that she was very familiar with, and he steps forward to give it to her but she instantly moves back, alarmed.