𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐁𝐈𝐃𝐃𝐄𝐍 ᯓ outer banks

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍𝐄

BROOKLYN STIRS AWAKE to the feeling of something irritating her skin, something poking her. Her eyes blink against the sunlight coming through the window and she realises that the thing that is irritating her is her brother. She flips him off and turns her head to face the wall, hoping he would get the hint and leave her alone so she can catch another hour of blissful sleep.

"Bee," John B groans, reaching forward and snatching her arm in his hand so he can pull and drag her off her bed and onto the floor. "Get up!"

Asshole, she thinks to herself as she picks her exhausted body off the floor.

When John B leave, she sighs, wishing she could stay in the comfort of her bed. She had nothing to wake up to so why would she bother?

Ever since the sudden disappearance of her father, she always felt unmotivated and tired, always wanting to stay in bed and escape the reality that is real life. Every night she would lay in bed and stare at her ceiling, wondering when her father would unexpectedly show up at their door. She stays awake most nights so if he did come back, she was ready but for the last nine months, she and her brother had been unlucky. She never had a shoulder to cry on at night and she didn't need one. She knew she'd move on eventually, it was just the process of moving on that wasn't easy. She was stubborn, she refused to accept her father could be dead, and until he's found, she won't rest.

She stares in the mirror, noticing her hair isn't clean, her clothes are the same from the night before and her skin is littered with dents and bruises. She lost interest in the way she looked a long time ago, and now she needs to find whatever is thrown amongst the clothes on the floor to wear. She pulls on a pair of shorts and a creased t-shirt she had flung across her room nights before. She runs a brush through her hair, fiddles with pulling rings on her fingers and brushes her teeth. She finds herself walking out the bathroom, rubbing her temple slowly to ease the headache she had woken up with, another common occurrence she didn't like waking up to.

"Did you sleep?" John B asks whilst handing her a beer. He knows his sister stays awake, of course he knows. He can see the bags under her eyes, he can see the way her eyes shut for long periods of time during the day, and he can see the way her attitude changes throughout the day when she hasn't slept. He was very observant when it came to his sister.

"No," she admits, knowing she couldn't get away with lying. "I don't sleep anymore."

She grabs a knife and pops open the cap of the beer bottle. She holds the drink to her lips and takes a couple sips, scrunching her face up at the taste. She knew drinking beer at eight in the morning wasn't exactly a good idea, especially when she hadn't eaten but everything in her house was either mouldy or about to be mouldy.

She finds her shoes by the table and as she begins to slip the bartered Converses onto her feet, she spots JJ who is sound asleep on the couch where he'd usually sleep. He was always at the Château as his deadbeat of a dad was more of an asshole if anything.

"Morning," she mumbles, lifting her hand up and smacking the back of the boy's head lightly.

He groans, pressing his face into the pillow. He brushes his hair away from his face and glances up at the girl next to him. He smiles upon seeing her and mumbles a soft, "Morning, Sunshine. How'd you sleep?"

She can't help herself from blushing at the nickname. Sunshine. "Fantastic," she replies. "You coming outside?" She looks out the window to see her brother looking around the shithole that had been created outside due to the storm last night.