Too Keen For Me

Chapter 1: I Wanted To Gag

Hello!!! As I have been stuck in quarantine, I have had more time to write and come up with ideas. I guess COVID19 is good for something. There is the world premier (Just wanted to sound fancy there) for Too Keen For Me.

Also, each chapter I will find a song that I think fits the chapter. (It's kind of my thing, if you have read my other works, you know) Most the time I mark it with a <> for where the song should be played. But today, the song is for the start of the chapter.

Happy reading and stay safe!

Darla H

Breathe.

In and out.

I ran my hands over my messy bun as I tried to pull myself together. It was just one comment that my younger sister, Everly, made. She meant nothing of it, I told myself. But the thing was, I think she did. She was quick to dismiss my feelings.

Tears prickled at my eyes as I tried to fight them back.

I paced the floor of my bedroom.

Breathe.

Come on, Isla, pull yourself together.

Everly didn't understand why I was still upset about our older brother, Tristen, leaving early for college. This was just one breaking point out of the thousands I had this year.

My phone buzzed with a text reminder from my summer job–which I had not yet quit. Tomorrow was the day that I would get the courage to leave. But the thing was, there was always a tomorrow. Especially, when I never had enough guts to actually speak my mind.

"Isla, are you ready?" Everly called out to me from the other side of my bedroom door.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly as I wiped my eyes from any stray tears. "Everly, give me a second!"

I stepped outside and looked at Everly, who stood about shoulder height to me. Her light blue dress made her sapphire eyes stand out against her freckly pale skin.

Suddenly, my eyes fell across the hall at the empty room Tristen used to stay in. It used to be messy and smelly from his lacrosse gear, but now it was neat and smelt like Febreeze and cleaning products. It was as if he hadn't even spent the last 18 years of his life there.

I heard Everly sigh loudly. "Isla, you're acting like Tristen died. He just went to college."

I bit my cheek as I took another deep breath. Once again with the rough comments. Didn't she know I knew that?

I tore my eyes from his empty room to look at Everly.

"It's obvious, Isla. You miss him but you don't need to make such a mopey face every time you pass his room."

Yes, he only went to college, but he was gone, leaving me two weeks early. No one goes early to college. He was my best friend. He watched out for me, and I always had a table to sit at school. He had only been gone for two weeks, but I already felt so alone without him. Especially since school started.

"Ok, Isla, this is why we're going somewhere," Everly said as she pulled on my hand. "You can't mope around like this. Tristen will be back for fall break in like... two months. You'll see him then."

She was right. Unlike Dad, Tristen would be back. Two months, I could handle that.

My eyes caught a family photo with Dad smiling back at me, a reminder of the final days we had with him.

For a moment, I couldn't breathe as I teleported back to a memory of walking into his room with all the hospital equipment after a long day of school.

Before I allowed myself to fall down the rabbit hole of memories, I shook my head to clear it. "Ok, let's go," I said as I snatched the car keys.