'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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| Clara Campbell |
Sitting in bed, a moving playing on the TV, and half the bed being occupied by the dogs, I felt comfort, all while I was finally being left alone. I had constantly had someone in the room for the past week, that now, it felt good to be alone.
Ever since I had told Auston what had happened to me, all while he looked at me like he had experienced what I had, I knew he had spoken to our other brothers about it. Knowing that he was one of the ones that had been hurt by our mother, hurt me more than anything. It hurt, knowing that he had gone through what I had, and I wished I could have helped him more, even though he was more than 10 years older than me.
He needed more help than he would ever ask for. He liked helping other people, and never asked for it, and I wanted to be the one that helped him, so that he wasn't going through it all on his own, like I had for the past 13 years, on the rare occasion that Caleb was dragged in with me.
The only person that I hadn't heard from or known if he knew was Greyson. He knew I had anxiety, but I don't think he knew it was from our mother. Mackenzie would not have cared, even though she showed care towards me when we had gone out for dinner, I still wasn't sure about her, after everything between mother and her.
A knock on the door resounded through the room, causing me to groan and roll over towards the dogs, before burying my head in the sheets. I wasn't in the mood for getting out of bed, and usually one of my brothers would come up at this time, to get me out of my room and down to the dining room.
The house had been mainly quiet; quieter than what I had grown accustomed to know. Not many conversations were happening between one another, especially between my brothers with one another. I felt like I was the one at fault for that, and I had no idea how to fix it. I knew that I had to be the one that fixed it, so that they all could stop looking at me like I was a broken piece of ice that was ready to break even further.
Been there done that all before.
I heard the door open, forcing me to push my face further into the comforter, breathing in that scent that my brothers had been leaving behind, as I had woken to some of them in my room. Auston or Cameron were always in here every night, it just depended on who had stayed the night. None of them knew that I knew, as I would wake in the night, but never wake them.
They needed the sleep and it was obvious.
"Clara" I immediately knew it to be Caleb as he had respected my wishes of calling me Clara, but right now, I wanted him to call me C, like he used to. I was his little C while he was my big C. "Yeah C" it slipped through my lips before I had a chance to stop it. I really hoped that it wouldn't change what was going on between the two of us, as I had started to enjoy it all.
But that was what usually happened. I got too comfortable and then all of a sudden, I was the one that was on the outer, searching to get back into the group, but I was always too small. "Hey C" he murmured, as he walked into my bedroom, opening and closing the door for himself. My heart warmed that he had used the same nickname back, feeling like I was getting somewhere with one of my brothers that wasn't Auston.
