Happiness is Fake

Chapter One

I wake to a soft knocking on my door. My face was pressed to the pillow, so it made my voice sound muffled as I said,

"What."

"Hi Hopie! We are downstairs, can you come down and say hi to Poppo?" My grandma's voice surprised me. Mommo, is what we call our grandma, turned and struggled down the stairs. Poppo was my grandpa, who had a bad heart condition. I had forgotten my grandparents were coming to stay at the house for a month, because Poppo was getting a heart pump at Ohio State University Medical Center. They call me Hopie because my name is Hope, and its fun to say.

I push my face off my pillow, and grab the bars of my bunk bed to steady myself while I sit up in bed. I crawl over to the latter, and I climb down. I walk forward clumsily, and stub my toe on something I couldn't distinguish from all the junk on my floor. I hope none of the adults have to stay in my room! I walk forward again, more carefully, and make it to the door. But as I was reaching for my knob, the door suddenly sprung open, and the bottom on the door slammed into my toe that I had just stubbed. I let out a wail of pain, and there stood my 24 year old sister, Morgan, with her 6 month old baby in her arms. His name is Mason.

"Sorry Hope, you took so long though." I looked up at my sister's pretty face, but I noticed something was missing.

"Where are your eyebrows?" I asked curiously.
Mason cooed and poked Morgan in the cheek.

"I always have to draw them in because they are blond! You didn't know that?"

"Nope." I looked at her nose ring, and how it sparkled, then the one over her right eye. I was also fascinated by all her tattoos. She have a musical spiral on her right leg, a Italian flag that red Bella on her collarbone, her right shoulder was her father's side of her family. Her left shoulder, I still didn't know what it was, she also had a spider web on her belly, a skull on the back of her neck, leaves on her right forearm, a mermaid on her left calf, and her birthday star constellation on her foot. I remember when I was little, Morgan would always say the scull on the back of her neck was watching me to make sure I wouldn't do anything bad, and if I did, it would eat me. I never tried to find out. The tattoo creeps me out, along with everyone that has seen it.

"Well come down soon." She turned and walked away, with Mason cooing in her arms. He was feeling his one brown curl on the top of his head, which made me feel so much love for him as he did cute things. I'm glad I'm his aunt! Hes so funny and cute. Morgan's long brown hair slung back and forth at her back as she walked down the stairs, and around the corner.

I turn back and hobbled to my mirror on my third dresser, and looked at myself. I looked like Morgan but when she was 11 too. I pushed my long blonde hair over my left shoulder, so it hung on my back. I moved closer to the mirror, and stared into my bright green eyes. I felt lost in the moment as I remembed to go downstairs.

I hurtled items to get to my door, then walked out in the hallway. The floorboards creaked as I walked downstairs. the cold tile floor made me shiver, and then I looked up.

Adam, my 13 year old brother, was standing a few feet away from me. He flipped his glossy brown hair, then I looked at my mom and dad, then my gaze rested on Poppo. He was sitting in a chair at the table.

"Hi Poppo." I said, looking at him. He turned, and sypathy flooded through me as I saw how tired he looked. His grey eyebrows curled into a expretion that you would do if you were in pain.

He simply raised a hand lightly, but it looked like it took alot of effort to. I bit my lip and thought about how he will feel so much better after he is fixed. How all of his pain would go away, and he would have a lot longer to live than he would if he didn't get the hear pump.