'Dysfunctional: not operating normally or properly'
That was one way to describe Clara Campbells family. Dysfunctional; not operating properly. That was just what happened when your older siblings leave you.
Or that's what Clara had always believed...
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| Auston Campbell |
After the mess that I had left at work this morning to go and pick Clara up, I was really not in the mood for anymore interrogation by Olivia. I just couldn't do it anymore. I had enough as it was on my plate, and with her doing whatever she does during the day, not earning money nor doing anything for me around the house, I had really grown to understand what everything had meant to her.
Growing up, everyone knew that the Hartley sister's never had to move a finger to do anything, and Olivia had made that blatantly obvious to me ever since I had arrived back with my sister. Liv used to cook every Sunday, always making sure that there would be leftovers for me to take to work, but that has quickly fallen down the drain recently.
As has everything else. I have watched thousands of dollars vanish in the past two months, due to Olivia apparently needing a whole new wardrobe. The clothes that she wears now, were the clothes I believed that she would never buy, or even considering to buy.
Nowadays, she's always telling me that she is going out to lunch with friends, but I never know who. She used to tell me all the drama and everything about who she was hanging with, but now, it feels like she is withdrawing from everything.
"Auston!" a voice called from the front door, as I swung my bags over my shoulders, before shutting the back of my car. I looked up, seeing Olivia standing at the front door, hands on her hips. She did not look happy one bit, just adding to everything else on my shoulders. I sighed, as I walked closer to her.
"Why is your sister home so early? I was not done cleaning the house" the way she pouted her lips almost made me want to gag. The person she was turning into was not the person that I had fallen in love with; that had distracted me from the life I had once lived so that she could support me with the life I aspired to have one day, with her still by my side.
"Shit at school happened" I responded, gently pushing past her, but she had to make it a big deal. She always had to make everything a big deal. "Auston!" she placed a hand to her heart as she continued the dramatic game that I just did not have the energy for.
I had work to finish, before I would be talking to Clara about what happened. She needed to cool down before I approached her, or else I would not be getting through to her at all. "Talk to me Auston. You never talk to me anymore" I just shrugged the hand that was holding onto my shoulder, off, as I walked away. I walked away to go send the email I knew I had been waiting to send now, for months.
---
On the other side of the door, I could only hear silence, as the light was turned off. I knocked lightly, pressing my head to the door in hopes that I would be able to gather an understanding of what was going on behind the door.
I heard nothing, making me knock a little harder, but still quietly, as if she was asleep, I did not want to disturb her. When I still got no response, I pushed on the door, feeling no budge on the door. I shook the handle a little, hearing it move, but not open. It was locked.
