One
She is beautiful. Huge sparkling grey eyes crinkling at the corners as she beams up at me, her bubbly laughter filling my ears with its melodic music. She has her father's eyes. The eyes that do not need the aid of the lips to smile at me, spreading contagious joy. The eyes that are always filled with the blissfully ignorant joy I see in him. Wherever he is, I will always love him. Just as I will love this baby, who still smiles at me giggling blissfully in my trembling arms. Even if I am not with her to show that love. I place her gently into the little cradle that seems to have been made just for her, ignoring the struggled attempts at grabbing me, holding onto me so I will not let go. But despite everything, I let her go. I will love her always, but she will not even know my name.
Quinley
Giving up with life for the last time in history, a mighty groan escaped from my mouth as I collapsed back onto the bed, kicking with annoyance at the empty air. If anyone came looking for me, I was dead. But no one would come looking for me. Story of my life. I lay back and stared at the ceiling, as if waiting for a sign from God to motivate me, but the blank white plaster glared back at me motionless, and I abandoned hope, my eyes fluttering back to the mirror. Stupid mirror. Stupid reflection. Stupid everything in fact. Why was life so complicated? From the way my life always seemed to fall into another set of complex problems to the way my hairbrush seemed to always find a way to entangle itself into my thick disobedient brown hair- not once had the wind been blowing in my direction. I grabbed the end of the hairbrush and tugged, moaning in frustration as the brush refused to move an inch, choosing instead to pull at my roots menacingly, as if finally exacting revenge for throwing it all those people who had dared disturb my sleep in the past.
"I'm sorry..." I moaned. Great, now I was talking to my hairbrush. "Fine." I sat up abruptly, glancing at the pair of scissors glinting in my bedroom light. Maybe... No. It may be highly untamed and a pain in the rear end, but I was definitely not going to chop off such a large amount of my hair and live to tell the tale. Especially when you lived in a household with two other pains in the ass. The doorbell suddenly sent a distinct ring throughout the apartment. Speak of the devil, there was one of those pains now.
I slid down the banister, never getting tired of that old habit and hopped to the front door, bracing myself for the laughter. Reluctantly, I pulled down the handle and the door swung open.
"Don't say a word, just get it out and no, we're not using scissors and if you dare laugh, I'll be the one cutting off your hair," I mumbled quickly in one breath, glare fixed on my face. From the way he bit his lip and the sparkle in his eyes, I could tell he was barely just containing the laughter.
"Again? Seriously?" Axel asked, his voice shaking as he trudged past me, heaving three brimming grocery bags. He shoved one into my hands and walked down the hallway into the kitchen at the end. Rolling my eyes, I followed him.
"You try grooming this thick hair," I muttered, setting the bag next to the other two on the table. Axel looked at me, biting his lip as if trying to contain decades of laughter trapped in his chest.
"Don't you dare," I warned, glaring at him. Of course I should know- I'd been living with these two idiots for as long as I could remember.
"Aw come on- you look ridiculous," he said grinning like this was the most amusing thing he'd seen all day.
"Wow thank you so much," I mumbled sarcastically. "Fine, knock yourself out." Axel, at my words, burst into laughter as I folded my arms and fixed him with my stoniest glare. And boy, had I mastered the art of stony glares. Even the shrill ring of the doorbell failed to cease his laughter.
"Ah, and there's another member to join this oh, so encouraging audience. You can go get it," I said, perching onto a stool as I grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl. Axel disappeared down the hallway, still chuckling to himself like a madman. As I bit into the fruit, I tried one last time, attempting to unravel the strands of hair from the hairbrush, however after the failed struggles, I gave hope again, letting it hang there like some sort of failed hair accessory.
"And Quinley Hale does it again!" I groaned at the voice and turned around on the stool just as Rafe walked into the kitchen, grinning from ear to ear.
"You're late. Axel's already laughed at me. But I'll tell you what you can do- get this damn thing out of my hair!" Rafe held his hands up in surrender as he stepped forward to pretend to examine my hair.
"Hmmm... curious, very curious..."
"The only thing that's curious is how you're head's still attached to your neck. So are you going to help or not?" Rafe rolled his eyes.
"And I'm guessing scissors are forbidden..."
"As long as I live," I said, biting into the banana. The last thing I wanted was to look like a complete moron- even though I felt like one. "Come on Raphael, we all have faith. You can do it."
"So what will I get out of this exactly?" I rolled my eyes. Should've seen that one coming.
"The rest of this banana?" I proposed, holding up the end of the banana in my hand, most of it stuffed in my mouth already.
"I'll pass thanks. Maybe I'll do this one for free," he said, staring intensely at the hairbrush still firmly seated in my bird's nest of hair. I felt the strands move gently, a cool force sliding over my scalp as the grip on the hairbrush gently untightened until it finally clattered to the floor. I sighed, eyeing the clumps of hair still caught on it as I picked it up off the floor.
"I still don't understand how you're not bald after all that hair you shed every day," Rafe remarked, eyeing the hairbrush.
"I should know, I use the bathroom after you every morning," Axel added. I rolled my eyes, untangling strands with my fingers for safety precautions.
"Boys, boys. You know, two in three males experience some kind of baldness before the age of fifty," I said casually, popping the rest of the fruit into my mouth.
"Well lucky we're not fifty then," Axel said, telepathically plucking the banana peel from my hands and hurling it into the bin.
"But not really that long to go now," I teased, patting them on the shoulders. "If I were you, I'd protect that luxury on your scalp while it lasts, darlings." I ruffled their hair, which I knew they found annoying and walked out of the kitchen a smug smile on my face.
"Woah, don't you have school or something?" Rafe asked, pulling me back inside by the wrist.
"We, you mean. You're the same age as me. Besides school starts on Monday," I muttered matter-of-factly, waving away his doubt.
"And what day is it?"
I shrugged. "There's a calendar right in front of you, dimwit. Read it." Rafe rolled his eyes.
"Am I the one who has to be in charge over here? I'm no older than you two. It's Monday, and it's twenty past ten right now." I looked at Axel, who stared at me blankly.
"So?" he asked, as clueless as I was. Rafe smacked himself in the head, which was a stupid move if you ask me, but apparently he seemed to think that we were the stupid ones.
"We've got to be in school on Monday, and today is Monday. Need I be more clear?" he said, glaring at us.
"Oh."
Hunter
I groaned in frustration, kicking the door open as I walked into the room. Or barged rather. But I didn't care. I was mad, and mad as hell.
"Remind me why I'm wearing this piece of..." I trailed off as I spotted Mum's shocked face, mortified that I was about to use such inappropriate language. My mum, the small petite blonde lady who always seemed to have a smile on her face. The typical loving mother character.
"Trash," I finished, "I was going to say trash. Who the hell designed these things?" I tugged at the tie at my throat, threatening to strangle me. Scarlett emerged through the doorway and stood beside me, grinning as if the morning couldn't be any better. I begged to differ.
"They're not that bad," she said, tapping her tie with a finger to emphasise how perfect it was. I glanced down at my own pathetic excuse for a tie. How come my twin sister got to be good at everything?
"That's because you're a girl. All you have to do is look good and the whole world loves you," I muttered, momentarily forgetting the feminist in the room.
"Hey!" Scarlett shouted, kicking me in the shin with her polished school shoes that somehow didn't make her look like a dork.
"I'm sorry. God, control the anger, woman!" I moved away and sat next to Mum on the couch, who had been plaiting my younger sister's hair.
"Move out the way, Pipes," I said, ruffling my younger sister's hair to annoy her. "Mum, can you do up this thing for me? I think it hates me." Mum laughed, and pulled up my collar.
"You know what you need?" she asked, loosening my tie.
"An extra day at home?" I asked hopefully, even though I knew it was a completely useless leap of faith.
"No," she said, smiling, "You need a girl." I blinked. The last time, I'd had such a conversation with Mum, I was pretty sure she'd been heading the totally opposite direction.
"I thought you didn't like any of the girls I've dated," I said, watching as Mum's fingers went to work with my tie, her slim fingers weaving in and out, making short work of it.
"They're not real girls," she said. Scarlett burst into laughter as I frowned.
"Woah, Hunter. Mum says the girls you've dated aren't real ones. I wonder what that says about you?" I rolled my eyes. That girl was as childish as they got. And she just so happened to be my sister so I was stuck with her for the foreseeable future. Her and her unbearably painful puns- don't even get me started.
"I can hear what Mum's saying, thank you. You don't really mean that, do you?" Mum laughed, tightening my tie, now in a perfect knot, not too tight and not too loose as to look scruffy either.
"I was trying to say, that maybe you need someone in this world to keep you anchored. Just a thought," she said as she pulled Piper onto her lap again to finish plaiting the other side of her hair.
"I thought Aunt Crystal said no soulfinders until I'm eighteen." Of course she was bringing up soulfinders. But what surprised me was that it was now. Before, all I had been hearing was that I was too young, too young to fully understand what a soulfinder bond meant. Which was clearly stupid since Mum and Dad had met when they were my age.
"Well I was just saying. No one said you would need Crystal to find your soulfinder. It happened by chance for your father and I, so maybe, one of these days..." I wondered what that would feel like. To have something like Mum and Dad, an inseparable bond. All I'd ever felt for anyone was lust. I had never been in love.
"You and Dad had it lucky," I said, unbuttoning the top button of my shirt. I didn't want to suffocate. "Unfortunately I don't have such luck." I glanced down at my stupid school uniform. "Especially when it comes to school uniform."
Mum laughed, her whole face lighting up. "I thought you were over that."
"I don't think I'll ever be over it," I muttered moodily, reminded of what I was wearing again.
"Drama Queen," Scarlett remarked, hurling a cushion at me. Halting it in its tracks with telekinesis, I tossed it back at her face.
"And here I thought you were too old to fight over little things," Mum said, sighing.
"Scar started it."
"Breakfast's ready!" came a call from the kitchen as Dad appeared in the doorway, fully equipped with apron and wooden spoon. It would have seemed amusing to anybody else to see Dad in a floral apron since I'd heard he'd had quite the reputation as a teenager. But to anyone in the family, it was anticipation-wondering whether we would be having stacks of pancakes or charred bacon for breakfast.
"You sure about that, honey?" Mum said, smiling as she got up.
"I think so," Dad said, glancing back at the kitchen. "Okay, so you might not want to come into the kitchen just yet, but hey, you and I together we can make short work of it." He pulled Mum into his arms.
"And what makes you think I'll be helping you?" She asked, playfully.
"I can persuade you." With that, they both disappeared into the kitchen. They'd been married for so long, yet they still seemed as in love with each other as sweet high school couple. What with Dad being the tall man with the black hair and blue eyes and Mum being the little blonde with large eyes and timid nature, they seemed perfect for each other. And to be honest, I couldn't wait for that kind of magic in my life too. However I highly doubted it would be easy. No one in the Benedict family had had it easy with their soulfinder and I knew I would be no exception. I just wondered where on this earth my soulfinder was right now.
Hello everybody. So this is a new story, but not my first. If you've read my other story Discovering Alex then you might know that it's related to the Benedicts. I wonder if you've worked out who Hunter's parents are. (It wasn't that hard I'll admit- it's pretty easy to identify the cutest couple in the Finding Sky trilogy.) So we've been introduced to our two characters- I wonder what will happen when they finally meet. So what do you think of them? I hope you liked this and review to tell me what you think. Reviews always give a writer motivation so I would love some feedback on this. :)
Thank you xxx