family matters || [kiah]

[ミSailor彡]

THIS IS THE HOUSE THAT DOUBT BUILT.

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A V E R I E  S A G E
DISTRICT4 | SEVENTEEN | FEMALE

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I'm running. The places on my face where I took the blow are pulsating. I can feel my lip and eye starting to swell. I feel something seep out of the corner of my mouth, blood no doubt. My vision starts to blur which makes it difficult trekking through the night. How did things lead up to this? I can hardly remember the chain of events that led up to a busted lip and a black eye. I just remember the anger. I remember not being able to bare sitting back and doing nothing anymore. As my sight starts to come in and out of focus, surely from the pain and the running and hyperventilating, I come crashing to the ground. It's so dark and quiet and all I can hear is the ocean. How did we get here?

    Before all this, we were all at home. We had just got done eating our evenly divided portions of bread and boiled fish. Dad was already in a bad mood, red with anger. I'd glance over every so often and see him staring at mom with a grimace and she'd just avoid making eye contact. Looks like tonight is going to be another long sleepless night. A night filled with yelling and screaming and things being thrown. As soon as I see my sister has finished eating, I go ahead and excuse ourselves from the table. We hardly even made it out of the room before we heard dad jump up from the table and smack mom across the face. He starts yelling something about dishes and floors and clothes and other things I don't really understand. My sister, Teegan is already crying. She always does whenever they fight. When the fights get really bad, I take her to the broom closet to hide and we usually fall asleep cuddled up in there. I hear dad start yelling something about me and Teegan and I hear something smash against the wall. Are they arguing about us? What did we do? I go ahead and have Teegan get in the broom closet and start heading back towards the kitchen. She grabs my sleeve and pleads for me not leave but I just wanted to hear exactly what they were arguing about. 

    I discreetly poke my head out from behind a corner and see my parents come into my view. Dads yelling something about "the girls" and "not much food" and "rationing" and only part of me understands. And for the first time, I see my mom stand up to my dad. They argue for a good minute and I see my dad raising his hand up to strike her again. It goes in slow motion as I take in the situation. I'm so tired of this. Mom doesn't deserve this. And there's no one here to protect her. I should protect her. After all, she's protected me my whole life. In the heat of the moment, I decide to go for it. I run out from behind the corner and in front of my mom and shout at dad to stop. He see's me and doesn't hesitate. I take the blow meant for my mom and it throws me across the room. I'm immediately dizzy. He must have gotten part of my ear as well because I hear ringing. I can't hear much but I see mom sobbing and yelling at dad and dad is just standing there speechless. Anger no longer in his eyes, no, I just see sadness. He takes an apologetic step towards me but I'm not going to have it. I'm not as forgiving as mom. So I pick myself up and run out of the house. Not looking back. I know I'll go back eventually. But for right now, I'm just not going to deal with it. Guilt washes over me realizing I left Teegan by herself in that broom closet. Having to get herself to sleep alone, cold and scared. But I did what I had to. 

    I'm laying on the cold ground. I'm not sure exactly where in the district I am due to the dark of the night and how dizzy I was when I aimlessly ran through the thick air. My eyes are heavy and I'm trying to figure out if my dad delivered a deadly blow or if my body was just giving up out of exhaustion. I'm too sleepy to care and just shut my eyes. It doesn't matter anymore. 

    My eye's open and it's morning. About 10, judging by the sun. No one is around. No one came looking for me? I feel ashamed. I was always taught to not go against my parents but what else was I to do? My face is still throbbing all over. I don't mind just laying here. Where else am I to go anyway?

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template by chelsey

[k!ah]

Magnus Costello

The pencil in my hand is nothing but an extension of my fingers. I watch as lines, some thick, some thin, are created before me creating an image on the paper that was to tell stories about me, about how I am feeling, about what is going on in this head of mine. I pull away from the paper, my eyes studying the half drawn picture I couldn't quite tell what it was, I didn't need to know, not yet, it would all piece together in the end, it always did. I smile to myself before placing the pencil back onto the paper, almost instantly my fingers begin to work again, weaving lines across the sheet, back and forth and back again. I shade in some places too, my hand working quickly, so fast.

For years I have drawn, drawn endlessly. Where people put words I put an image. I didn't need words, words were complicated, where as an image was straight forward and beautiful. Well images were straight forward to people who could read them. If you couldn't read them I would say learn to because there was so much that one image could tell you, there was so much just laying around on the streets that you could frame with your fingers than read, telling you about the wold in which we live in. The only things people had to do was look, look and read and love.

People often tell me that my eagerness for the things around me is too extreme, but they are wrong, I am not too extreme, I need to be more intense. I want people to understand, to see the world I see, the beautify it holds, that it hides from people and their arrogance. Maybe I should tone it down, after all if people weren’t looking, then did they really deserve to see the world I see? To see the world in which they live in?

Once again I pull away from the paper, but this time it is because I was finished. I look down at the lead markings and smile. The image wasn't perfect, there were errors all over it but those errors are what made it special, war made it perfect. A smile paints itself onto my lips and I climb from my chair, my legs carrying me over to my wall where I pin the picture. I stand back. My whole wall was like a collage of my inner thoughts, Pictures ranging from black and white to the colours of the sunrise plastered over the paint. People walk into my room and they feel like they have walked into an art gallery, not realising that these images reflective something much deeper than just why they look like on the surface. Look deeper I would tell them but a look of utter confusion would slip onto their dumbfounded faces and I would give up.

Slipping my pencil into my pocket I slip out of my room, my door closing soft behind me. My house was rather empty, my brother, Stallion, doing what ever the hell it is that he does. It was his turn to be running our small store our parents had let behind but I doubt he was doing that, I don't think he felt like he had time to waste on sun a small business. He didn't understand, he didn't understand that it was all we had left of our parents. I understood, and usually I would escape down there now and run the place, but I had had enough, I didn't want to be locked away in a rather empty store for the day. It will stayed closed today, not a soul will even notice, no one but me.

In moments I am out of my house and waling down the cement path which was cracked in places. Was it because of the suns heat? Or erosion from the salty air? I wasn't quite sure but as I walked along I begun to wander just how old this walkways was. How many times had I walked down it? How many other people had walked down this exact same path thinking the exact same thing? I didn't know, there was just to many possibilities- suddenly I come across a rather odd scene.

In front of my lay a girl. She just lay there, just off to the side of the cement path, her head using is edge a s a pillow. A frown slips onto my forehead. What was this girl doing? I walk up to her only to see that the left side of her face was painted in colours that did not belong. Purples as dark as the morning sky, and yellows that look old flowered her cheek ringing her eye. My mouth drops open slightly and I crouch down next to the girl, one of my pale hands reaching out to touch the damaged flesh. Did it hurt? My cold fingers touch her skin, they are soft and delicate. “Are you ok?” The question falls from my lips without much thought, but the emotion bend it is obvious. It hurt to see this girls face marked with the mark of pain. “Does it hurt?”

[ミSailor彡]

THIS IS THE HOUSE THAT DOUBT BUILT.

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A V E R I E  S A G E
DISTRICT4| SEVENTEEN| FEMALE

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    As I lay there, I feel less and less guilty about the events from the night before. What happened was monumental. It could very well serve as the beginning of the end of the reign my father held over my mother. Maybe this was the straw that broke the camels back. Maybe this could be the thing that opens my fathers eyes, see how many people he hurts with his blinding rage, not just physically but emotionally. It's a lot to hope for but maybe when I come back home, life will rewind back to the days where our family was perfect. Where the only things we ever had to worry about was what crazy stunt my sister was going to pull next to capture all of our attention. Maybe when I come back, mom and dad will be sitting on the love seat, dads arm draped around moms shoulders. Mom tilting her head and smiling into dad's soul with such love that as a child, I thought could never be broken. Dad gently pushes her hair behind her ear and kisses her on the forehead. It was such a beautiful thing. The sight of true love. This scenario used to be an everyday thing a few years ago. Where did things go wrong? I've tried to talk to mother about it before but she just stares off and claims I'm too young to understand. To adults, my generation will always be too young to understand. I'll be eighteen in less then a year, will I be old enough then? I'll never catch up, we age at the same rate. So when will I be old enough for her to open up to me? I'm assuming I'll never know and just carry the question with me to her funeral. 
    As these thoughts or perhaps just the throbbing bruises pulsate through my mind, I hear quiet footsteps approaching. Teegan? My mother? Father? It's about time someone has come looking for me! Whoever it was, I hear them crouch down next to me. I keep my eyes closed, I haven't tried to open them again since the first time I opened them and the suns bright glare promptly shut them again for me. I feel soft, warm fingers graze my cheek. The comfort makes me exhale a sigh of relief that finally, someone has come to scoop me up from this pitiful hole I've thrown myself in. 

    "Are you okay?"

    Not Teegan. Not my mother. Not my father. A voice I don't recognize. Yes, I'm disappointed that a complete stranger has come to my rescue as opposed to my own family but I'm not angry because the voice is soothing. I hear it clearly through the ringing that still lingers in my left ear. I struggled to open my eyes, but when I do I see him standing over me. Worry and hurt seem to drown his emotions. I feel my eyes run from one side of his face to another, trying to trace his face back to something familiar. It wouldn't have been an uncommon thing if I'd seen him before, but something about his face struck a memory. That memory is hidden somewhere in my mind and I desperately try to search for it. Should I know his name? Have we met? His dark hair falls slightly over his eyes and I hear him speak again,

"Does it hurt?"

I want to lie and say it doesn't. This, as far as I know, complete stranger wants to know if I'm okay. My first instinct is to say no, thanks for asking, brush myself off and run home. But that's the farthest thing from the truth in every way. I'm very hurt and it's not just my blackened eye or my swollen lip, surely covered in dry blood. My chest has felt empty since last night, and that pain feels the worse. I can't deny it, no matter how embarrassed I am. So I slowly nod and  attempt to clear my throat.

    "I'm not okay. It really hurts."  

    I feel a tear escape from the eye thats not swollen to the size of a golfball. My face heats up from embarrassment. I'm showing so much weakness to this guy with just a few words and we don't even know each others name. My family has yet to do anything to help, so I all I can do is hope that this boy can. 

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template by chelsey

[k!ah]

Magnus Costello

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My fingers linger on the girls face for a moment longer, tracing the darker lines that trailed from the corner of her eye to the edge of her chin. It looked painful, the swelling around the eye making it almost impossible or it to open. A frown slips onto my forehead and I pull my hand away from her face and rest it on my knees, my eyes studying her other eyes which slowly began to open to reveal a sea green gem. Tears begin to form in the sea of green salty drops of liquid leaking from the corner. My heart begins to ache for the girl as I could tell she was fighting back the tears, no one deserved to feel like this. I swallow hard and plaster a small reassuring smile onto my lips.   "I'm not okay. It really hurts."  

Her words are laced with pain, with tears and embarrassment. Embarrassment? what was she to be embarrassed about? I tilt my head to the side slightly my eyes studying hers which were studying my face. I wondered what she was thinking. Was she annoyed by the way I had touched her face, trailing my fingers over her bruised skin? Had I over stepped a line? I have never really been one to think about things like that, I have always just gone through without much thought. My ma once told me that that was going to get me into big trouble, into trouble that she wouldn't be able to help weasel me out of. Not that she was here to help me out in the first place. She was gone, left without a word, not to me, not to anyone.

Disappeared with the breeze one morning, taking my father with her.

“Its going to be okay, I’ll get ya some ice to numb the pain,” I place a hand on the urls shoulder to let her know that I will come back for her in a moment. Climbing to my feet but stop after a moment. Had this girl been out here all night? Had she slept out here on this dirty floor surrounded by small bits of rubbish and piles of sand. “Hey do you want to come? I have some frozen pea’s back at my place, and I know they work to perfection when it comes to pain.” And that I did know was absolutely accurate. I am not always the most graceful person, usually in the morning I can be quite the derp. I run into walls all the time stubbing my toes, I have broken them a couple times and each time I have used peas to ease the pain. “You don't have to, I mean I know you don't know me and coming to my place would seem daunting and what not, I could always bring the ice here, but if your hungry I could also make you something to eat.”

I didn't know if I was crossing a line or something, and I didn't want to be intruding but I wanted to help, have always been that way, especially since my parents disappearance. I have always been the one to want to help, always been the one who would look out for the others. No one else wanted to run the shop, but I knew that that was what our parents had loved, it was a large sum of the family income so I did it. I ran the shop, I decorated it and made it a place where people felt welcomed. The rest of my family just stood back, occasionally taking it upon themselves to have a lonely shift in the small shack by the harbour. I would not watch this girl in pain, I would do something about it, I would help her. It was obvious that someone had attacked her. But who? I didn't know and there was no way I was about to interrogate her. If she wanted to talk, she would talk. Right now, though, it just looked like she needed someone. Someone to care about her, to make a fuss about her. I could be that person.

I smile at the girl once more, crouching down to her level. “My brothers tell me that I can make one mean omelette.” A grin hooks up the corners of my lips my eyes dancing.

[ミSailor彡]

THIS IS THE HOUSE THAT DOUBT BUILT.

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A V E R I E S A G E
DISTRICT4| SEVENTEEN| FEMALE

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    I am a very proud person. I normally have a very hard time accepting help. I regrettably inherited that trait from my father. I look back up at the boy next to me and can see in his eyes how eager he is to help. I suppose I can't blame him seeing as I looked like I might have been mauled by a bear. He offers me ice and I know I need it, my face hasn't stopped throbbing since last nigh and I know that can't be a very good thing. I feel his hand find it's way to my shoulder as he starts to stand up. I don't want him to go though. As much as I initially wanted one of my family members to find me, I'm not sure if that's what I want anymore. I prefer this boy much more at this point. The care in his eyes, the worry that marks his face is more than my family has ever offered me. I'm afraid he'll leave and my father will come and bring me back to that hell of a home and I'll never see this boy again. When he gets up, I don't stop him. I know if I do, I'll turn beet red. Instead, he turns back towards me.

    Hey do you want to come? I have some frozen pea’s back at my place, and I know they work to perfection when it comes to pain.

    Did I accidentally say out loud that I didn't want him to go? To leave me here alone? Or did he read my mind? I feel my face heat up and I'm fighting with all my mental strength to not turn red. I've never been to anyone else's home before, other than one or two girlfriends from school. I recall the day my parents told me to never leave with or talk to strangers but I think I'm going to do it anyway. Not just to spite them but because I want to. Because I'd rather be there than here on the ground. I'd rather be there than home. I know this boy will take care of me, I'm almost ashamed that my family hasn't come to try to do the same. This whole situation makes me never want to go back. The only reason I would is to fetch Teegan to bring with me. I'm terrified for her at this point, wondering how she's doing. But I have to look out for myself at this point.
    
    “You don't have to, I mean I know you don't know me and coming to my place would seem daunting and what not, I could always bring the ice here, but if your hungry I could also make you something to eat.”

    At this point, I had already made up my mind that I was going to go with him. But if I was unsure, the mention of food would have sealed the deal anyway. I feel my stomach ache and growl just at the mention of food. That and the feelings of dehydration were creeping up on me. What would I have done if this guy didn't happen to stumble upon me. I was already in the making of digging myself into a hole of depression before he walked up and I wouldn't have doubted if I just let myself here in this spot forever. 

    “My brothers tell me that I can make one mean omelette.”

     He has a peculiar smile. It's comforting and warm. I feel my dry skin crack as I try to bring myself to smiling as well, which then leads into my wincing from moving my face at all and disturbing my bruises. I keep smiling through that pain though, and it feels genuine. I even manage to let out a small laugh.

    "Yes, I'd love to go. Thank you."

    I attempt to start to sit up but feel all the blood rushing through my head and start to get dizzy. It only takes a moment to get my bearings and steady myself as I start to pick myself up. I'm covered in sand and dirt and start trying to brush it off. I realize how sore my limbs are, no doubt from all the running last night mixed with sleeping on the ground. I must look like a horrid mess. My hair is everywhere, my clothes are dirty, half my face is swollen. What a great first impression I've managed to make so far. My left leg especially is pulsing with pain every time I put weight on it. I try to give the boy a reassuring look to confirm that I'm find and have a slight limp as I follow him to a new unknown. 

    "I'm Averie. Thank you for this, by the way. I probably would have stayed in that spot forever if you didn't come along."

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"usually in the morning I can be quite the derp."
byahahaha i love it <3

[k!ah]

Magnus Costello

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My brothers often told me that I smiled to easily that I trusted to easily, and that one day that was going to get me hurt. And I guess they were right because t had already hurt me. When our parents left it had causes my heart to ache in ways I hadn't even imagined possible. I remember how hard it had been to breathe when I first realised that they weren't coming back home, when I first realised that they were gone, leaving me and my brothers to face the world alone. To be honest I hand't seen it coming, and maybe I should have because  was an artist after all an artists were meant to be able to read deeper int people, into anything... but... but I hadn't because I trusted, because I loved, because I cared.  But despite it all I still trusted people because if I couldn't trust anyone what was the point in life? Life was made to live to trust to hurt and to love and that was exactly how I was going to live my own life. 

So when the small laugh escapes the girls lips I smile because I am proud that I had managed to make this girl laugh even though she was hurting. One person did not live their life only for themselves, but they lived it for others too and I guess that was where my parents had gone wrong. They hadn't thought of their kids when they left, even if they left because they were forced too, or if it as their own choice, they should have thought about the people who were replying on them, they should have lived for more people than just themselves. 

I knew that I would. I already was. I took on he responsibility of the shop that my parents left behind. I did it for my family because I knew just how much each and everyone of them hated the place, prefering to allow their minds wander in the ways that they desire. Alec, for example, in his endless stories, Stallion on the waves of the ocean. I lived my life for them, sometimes more than I did for even myself. 

The girl smiles as words of thanks and acceptance to my earlier proposal escape her lips. It was a nice smile, one that I would have loved to draw on a piece of paper and fill it with colours which were bright and welcoming, but I couldn't, I wouldn't, not with the purples and yellows and greens and blues which were flowering on her cheeks as that was not the image I pictured, thus that would not be the image which would be sketched into the world. It would not be filled with bright colours, but dark ones because how would I even allow myself to be able to had colours of happiness when it was clear that pain was written al over her features, over powering the momentary happiness. 

The girl wobbles slightly as she moves into a sitting position and instantly I am on my knees beside he, my hand a gentle guide as she climbs to her feet unsteadily. I am about to ask her if she is kay when she gives me a look, almost as if she is reading my mind. Her look clearly is trying to state that she is okay and that I shouldn't worry which only slightly soothes the concern which swims around in the depths of my gaze.  Thats when I take off slowly, my eyes constantly darting bak to the girl who limped as she tried to keep up with me and out short journey to my home. 

"I'm Averie. Thank you for this, by the way. I probably would have stayed in that spot forever if you didn't come along."

At her words I give her a warm smile, "no problem," I almost sing as I turn to face her, my body moving backwards so that I could look her in the eye as we spoke. "I am glad that you are okay, nothing too serious to worry about.Oh, and I am Magnus Costelllo," I tuck my hands behind the back of my head as I walk, my feet not needing my eyes to see the path as I had walked it many times before. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened?"

[ミSailor彡]

THIS IS THE HOUSE THAT DOUBT BUILT.

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A V E R I E S A G E
DISTRICT4| SEVENTEEN| FEMALE

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    As I pitifully limp after him, he turns to look at me while still keeping a steady pace, effortlessly walking backwards. His smile takes me mind off the pain in my leg, if only for a moment. Magnus Costello. The name runs through my head a couple times as my brain tucks it in somewhere with the other good memories. That part of my brain seems pretty barren, but meeting Magnus has brightened the place up a bit. I whisper the name to myself as I stare down towards my feet and attempt to conceal a smile. He tucks his hands behind his head casually before asking me,

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened?"

    The smile I wore slowly subsided as, with just that one question, memories of last night come flooding back. All the feelings come rushing back to me so overwhelmingly that I have to stop walking and catch my breath. I shake my head, attempting to throw the image of my fathers face, right before his fist met my jaw, out of my mind. But all that follows is the memory of my horrified mother as she tried to stop me before I ran off. I don't think I could ever forget the look on her face, every detail down to her wrinkled forehead and her cheeks painted with tears.

    In a matter of seconds, I feel my eyes welling up with warm tears and find myself mortified as I remember where I am. For a moment there, I had to convince myself that I wasn't still at home. The memories played so vividly in my mind that it overtook my vision. I'm not at home. I'm not there anymore. I'm here. With Magnus. I'm okay. He can't hurt me here. And with that, the tears disappear before they leave me eyes and I look back up at Magnus, using every ounce of energy I have left to seem cheerful. I want to tell him to keep smiling for me. That seems to be the only thing keeping my mind away from the terrorizing memories of yesterday. It's a contagious smile, a warming smile, an "everything is okay" smile. I want to tell him what happened but I just don't think I can right now. If I do, I'm afraid I'll break down and become even more of a mess. I want to get to know him first, show him that there's more to me than looking like a pathetic punching bag. I'll tell him eventually, but for now I just want to enjoy his smile. And I'm afraid my recollections of last night will take that smile away.


    "I'd rather talk about it later, if you don't mind."


    I sound like a dummy. I really want to ask him more about who he is, what kind of family he has, how he ended up being so kind, what he was doing out here before he found me, why he wants to help me. But I don't want to sound so eager and I know if I ask him a million questions, it might put him off. I can't scare away the only person who's offered to help me. But what I really want to ask is if he can save me. From this hell, from this fear, from all this shit. But I think that question would scare him the most. So instead, I settle for,


    "So, who are you, Magnus? What should I know about you?"

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