break me

c h a p t e r f o u r

Aria

It was the day my brother was leaving.

I had to take the bus home from school because Damien was getting some last-minute things done. When I got home I found him at the dining table organising some papers and also dressed in a suit. He rarely ever wore suits. I think the last time I saw him in something so smart was a good few years ago.

"You look handsome." I chuckled as I dropped my bag on a chair and approached him. He looked over his shoulder at me and smiled before a laugh left his lips.

"I look good in anything." He said cockily. I rolled my eyes at him and shook my head, leaning over to glance at the papers in his hands but he immediately shoved them in a brown leather bag. I raised my brows in suspicion . Why did it feel like he tried to hide that from me? I shook away those thoughts, thinking I was being ridiculous. He was clearly just in a rush.

After silently watching him getting everything ready over the next few minutes, we walked towards the door together. He placed the brown leather bag on his suitcase and then turned to me. I walked into his arms and hugged him tight, closing my eyes as silent tears slid down my cheeks.

"I'm going to miss you." I mumbled as he stroked my hair and sighed softly.

"I'll miss you too, but I'll be back before you know it, okay?" He pulled away, his hands on my shoulders before bending down to my height and looked into my eyes. "You're a beautiful, brave and strong girl. You'll be absolutely fine." He gave me a reassuring smile, but I could tell it was slightly faltering.

"What about you? You'll be okay, right?" Damien hesitated a little before chuckling. He nodded and stood up straight, ruffling my hair before turning to grab the handle of the suitcase.

"Of course, I will." He opened the door and stepped outside, turning to me one more time. "I love you."

"Love you too." I whispered. Smiling, he walked down our driveway and loaded his things into the boot of the car. He looked at me one last time before slipping into the driver's seat and driving off.

I watched his car disappear down the road and once again, the water works started. I felt extremely unsafe whenever we were apart. Even during school, I would feel uneasy but now I literally would not see him for a week. I hated being alone. I hated it so much but clearly, this business thing he had going on was really important.

He told me he ran a garage and I've visited him there a few times but whenever I asked where he was exactly going or what he was going to be doing on this trip, he would avoid answering the question or change the subject. Wasn't that kind of strange or maybe I'm just overthinking it? God, I don't know.

I closed the door behind me and slumped against it. The house felt so empty and it was so quiet. I walked into the kitchen and decided to make some dinner early. As I opened the fridge I found some leftover pasta from yesterday and pulled it out.

Removing the plastic wrap that covered the bowl, I placed the bowl in the microwave and heated it up. My thoughts were still lingering on the fact that I couldn't help but think that Damien's behaviour was ever so slightly suspicious and thus nagging feeling in the back of my head told me it had something to do with our parents.

The microwave beeped, and I jumped slightly when it did. Pulling it out, I grabbed a fork and headed upstairs to my bedroom. Grabbing my iPad, I sat on the bed and tried to FaceTime Maisey. She didn't pick up. I groaned and opened YouTube and started watching random videos in the recommend. It gladly distracted me a little and I felt a lot more relaxed.

After finishing dinner, I headed downstairs washed up the dishes. I went straight to my room after that and started getting some homework finished off. The room was getting kind of warm, so I headed over to the window tom open it and let some cold air in.