Saving Emery Clarke

S E T H · 1 4

E D I T E D : J U L Y  3 0 ,  2 0 1 7

•°•°•

"Hey kid. Long time no see."

I freeze in my tracks, looking strait ahead at my older half brother. My mom stands to the side, fiddling with her hands. Emery just looks confused.

"Mom, what the fuck is he doing here?" I hiss, shoving Emery behind me. She makes a noise of disapproval, but I ignore it. I didn't want him messing with her.

"Well, honey, he needed a place to stay so I-"

"You let John's other son come into our house? What the hell?" I ask.

"Honey, John is your father. And your brother is family, and we don't leave family to fend for themselves," Mom says.

"Damon is not my family. John is not my family. You are my family. You didn't abandon me," I say hotly. "Get out of our house, Damon."

Emery shifts on her feet behind me, and I feel her peek out around me. Damon suddenly smirks and shoves me over.

I groan as I hit the coat rack. Mom gasps, but I get back up.

"And who's this pretty little thing?" Damon asks, eyeing Emery. That makes me lose it.

I shove Damon back. "Get out of her fucking face, asshole! Better yet, get out of my god damn house!" I yell.

"What, is this little slut your girlfriend or something?" Damon asks loudly. Emery narrows her eyes. I would've knocked him out right then and there, if it wasn't for Emery's hand on my arm.

"You know, if you go down the street a little ways, you can find another slut that would be very willing to put out for you. Or, you know, what little you do have," Emery says, nodding down at his pants.

I could've kissed her for that, honestly. I mean, I could kiss her for just being her, but still.

"You don't know what your talking about-"

"Damon, get out. I told you you could stay here if you were civil with your brother, but you've crossed that line. Goodbye," Mom says. She opens the door and gestures towards it.

Damon narrows his eyes, then his expression goes blank. "Okay. Sure. I'll go now." With that, he leaves, slamming the door behind him.

And deep down, I he won't be gone for long.

Suddenly, Emery stills. I frown and look at her as she states past me, like she did in the hospital. "What's wrong?" I ask. When she doesn't answer, I shake her shoulder gently. "Emery?"

"He called me a slut," she whispers, almost to herself. "I'm a slut."

"You're not a slut, okay?" I say. I furrow my eyebrows as I look at her. She doesn't look at me or my mom. She just stares into space.

Mom frowns too. "Come on honey, let's go sit down." She guides Emery to the couch, where they take a seat.

I sit next to Emery, but look at mom. "What's going on? What's wrong with her?"

"Seems like a wave of depression or something. Something probably reminded her of something bad that happened to her," Mom informs me. "There's not much we can do right now. She just has to get past it."

•°•°•

"Seth, who exactly was that? Earlier?" Emery asks. It took her almost thirty minutes to get past the depression. Even after she was quiet.