Loving Jemima

11. Major party foul

Matty

The boys were waiting anxiously for us when we got in, Ed had sent Laura home last night, she had a few days off work and was visiting, he knew if it was bad news that it was best she wasn't here and Jem wouldn't cope with another over night stay if she was already upset. She was still upset about the last one. Laura was no where near being allowed in the inner circle. Max and I joined them in the living room while Jem went straight to the kitchen with her giant bag of meds clutched in her arms, still as silent as she had been since we were sat in that doctors office.

"Well?" Tom asked, all I could muster was a sad shake of the head and his face dropped. We all went to go find her so we could tackle this as a family. Jem was stood at the kitchen counter lining up her bottles of meds counting them.
"Kiddo? What you doing?"
"Organising" she muttered chewing the inside of her mouth. She looked like she had a whole pharmacy in front of her. She picked up one bottle reading it, an angry expression came across her face she opened it and spilled the contents over the table. She lined up the pills in a long line counting under her breath.

"Emmy?"
"Hmmm yes max?"
"What you doing?"
"Counting" she said while she continued, he picked up the empty bottle and his expression also changed, he grabbed her face in his hands harshly
"Don't you fucking dare Jemima!" He said angrily "don't you even fucking think about it, do you hear me Emmy!" He pulled her into him as she cried softly into his chest, he chucked the empty bottle at me and I read the label, sleeping pills with a caution note saying they were extra strong and to only take one, my eyes widened as did the other boys, milo and Ed scooped up the pills putting them back in the bottle quickly and I put the bottle in my pocket, I would find somewhere to hide them later.

"I'm yellow, I don't want to be yellow max" Jem whimpered
"Seriously! After everything he said you're worried about being slightly yellow! You can't even notice it and they said that it would go away."
"Why is she yellow? She's not yellow, is she?" Tom asked, Jem stuck her arm out for the boys to inspect, not moving away from max. "Oh, Yeah now I see it, you can't tell Em, honest." Tom tried to reassure her. She composed herself and sat on Max's lap on a stool. She continued to organise her stash sliding a bottle over to me now and then saying "no" indicating she didn't want to take them or it was one I should hide from her. I explained everything to the boys and then the room went quiet.

"Well I think we can still do this" milo said confidently, I looked at him unsure, all the boys were well aware of how much I was struggling to come to terms with the permanent physical and psychological damage Steve had caused my sister, when she first came back I was so confident I could fix her, I could change her life for the better, leave all the crap behind, now I was faced with the reality that she was always going to be just that little bit broken. It was killing me, when we were in London and the doctor said the words out loud, life long, it hit me like a truck. I'd been avoiding facing it ever since. Jem went out with William and I just broke down into a quivering mess, the boys completely confused because I wouldn't tell them why.

"we've just got to do it haven't we Em, we have to face that this isn't going away so we have to learn how to keep tabs on it, how to manage it. Together." Milo continued, squeezing my shoulder giving me some silent support, Jem nodded at him. The boys all agreed to the family therapy, Jem asked if Sandra could come too and Tom went off to call her.
"Do we count as a family? A real one? Aren't we just...a pretend one?" Jem asked
"Of course we fucking do! you might not be blood related but you're my bloody sister and that dopes my brother! No fuckers going to tell me any different you hear me sis! I don't want to ever hear you say that again Jemima Miller." Ed snapped annoyed pointing at us, he was not one to normally get annoyed, so Jem smiled at him. Maybe the fact that she still had to ask was part of the reason we needed a family therapy session.