Isn't Someone Missing Me?
Chapter One: Please, Please Forgive Me
It had been a rough week in the McDonald/Venturi household. And the answer to their rough week could be said with two words: Derek and Casey. Their fighting had been horrible and non-stop. Every morning they were arguing about something, at school they ignored each other, and then as soon as they got home, something was brought up, and they would blow up at each other, and it wouldn't die down until one of them went to bed. Everyone in the house was stressed out, and they were all fed up with it. But, anytime anyone tried to talk to the teenagers, all they got were an earful. And it was after this week that the family was sitting down together at dinner, and Derek and Casey were miraculously quiet while they ate.
The rest of the family was enjoying the peace and quiet, one of the very rare times they had had it in a week. They didn't see the fact that Casey was silently glaring daggers at Derek as she ate, and they didn't notice that Derek seemed ticked off by something that he was stabbing everything on his plate, but eating nothing. So when they both excused themselves at the same time and then glared at each other, no one noticed anything. They just let them go, trying to keep the peace that they had longed for. As soon as the two reached the top of the stairs, they both tried to turn at the same time, and Derek's head hit the back of Casey's very hard. She groaned in pain, and turned to him, glaring at him so hard that her eyes could barely be seen.
"Oh, sorry, Case." Derek said, but his face gave him away; he was holding back his laughter, and his eyes were shining like they always were when something really gunny happened.
"Shut up, Derek!" she cried, keeping her voice low and she stomped away to her bedroom door.
"Quit being such a drama queen, it's not like it hurt so much." Derek said, following her, and leaning against her doorframe, grinning up at her from underneath his shaggy brown hair.
She had her hand on the door handle, but she kept her head down, took a deep breath, then looked up to meet his eyes, "Derek Venturi, I have never hated you more than I do right now. So, why don't you turn around, go into your room, and live your pathetic excuse for a life, alone. And leave me the heck alone!"
Derek, despite his better judgment, he looked shocked, "What did I do to make you hate me so much?"
Casey cleared her throat, "It's more like the fact that you exist. Ever since I moved in all you've done is treat my like crap, and maybe I'm just beginning to realize that I don't have to take it. Gosh, I can't wait until I don't have to live in the same house as you!"
Maybe she imagined it, but she saw something like hurt flash in his eyes. But when he then narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth, she knew it was her imagination.
"Listen. If you hadn't come in here acting like you didn't belong here, that you were better than us, then I wouldn't have found so much pleasure in annoying you. I just liked seeing you so pissed off because I knew that you didn't want to be here in the first place, I was just playing the role of a 'brother' and welcoming you into the family. But then it became a sort of game. I act like a jerk, you act like a drama queen. That's just how it goes. Now, it looks like you took all of it too seriously and everything became a challenge, and everything I did, you had to one up, and I was the bad guy, and I was always in the wrong! I think if you really thought about it, I was just playing around, and you were the one with the problem!"
Casey's jaw dropped, "What about this whole week, Derek? It seemed like it was your whole goal to get me to this breaking point!"
Derek laughed, but it was a stressed laugh, "No, Casey, my goal this week was to make you laugh! I was tired of getting yelled at by you, and I thought, maybe, just maybe, if I did something right, you might take it the right way, and have some fun! But, no, I got crap!"
"Derek, why would you ever think that I would laugh at you putting twenty pounds of gummy worms in my locker?"
"Because, anyone else would have; and you would have laughed if someone besides me had done it! But, oh no, Derek did it, so it must have some cynical meaning behind it!"
Casey glared at Derek again and twisted the doorknob underneath her hand, "I wish you'd never been born! I HATE you!" and with that, she flung her door open, entered her room and slammed it in Derek's face, leaving him out in the hallway completely confused, and somewhat hurt.
--
It was three in the morning. Derek was sitting in front of the T.V with a blank look on his face. He was stuffing chips into his mouth and not even noticing. He was all alone, because everyone else had gone to sleep hours ago. He had tried to sleep, but Casey's words kept spinning around in his head. He never thought that he would take something she said to heart, but for some reason, the fact that she hated him and wished he had never been born, deeply troubled him.
He then decided to leave.
He didn't care if he would be in heaps of trouble when he returned, he didn't care about the consequences, he never really did, anyway. He shut the T.V off, ran over to the door, grabbed his jacket and quietly opened the front door. He glanced up at the stairs one last time, and then turned around and left the house.
It was freezing outside. It was April, but there was a cold-front, and it was causing Derek to shiver. He pulled his jacket closer to him, and began to walk down the sidewalk, leaving his house behind him. He had no clue where he was going; he just let his feet lead him.
An hour later, he was sitting in an abandoned playground. The monkey bars were rusted, the slide was closed up, and the 'castle' looked like termites had conquered a severe battle against the wood. It looked exactly like he felt. Useless. He couldn't remember the last time something someone said affected him this way. Especially something Casey said. It was as if he was going crazy. He tried to think back on the pranks he pulled on her. Everyone else seemed to find them funny, most people would laugh. Who couldn't laugh at all those gummy worms just sitting in your locker?
Of course, they did melt, and that probably did make it hard to clean; he could've offered to help, though he doubted she would have accepted it, it would have been nice to offer. He felt dumb. Here he was sitting an hour away from his house in an old playground, thinking about his step-sister. She was right; he did have a pathetic excuse for a life. He rubbed his face and looked up at the sky. Now there was a beautiful sight. All the stars could be seen clearly, because there were no lights around, and the moon was full and bright. It was amazing. He felt calmer just looking at it.
He wrapped his jacket even tighter around himself, and laid back onto the grass, looking up at the sky, and finally feeling at peace.
--
Back in the McDonald/Venturi residence; Edwin turned over in his sleep, groaning, and grabbing at a pillow that he knew had been beside him, but now was nowhere to be felt.
Marti reached in her sleep for her favorite stuffed duck that Derek had bought her for her birthday one year, but couldn't feel it. So, she yawned and then fell back asleep.
Lizzie opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling. She couldn't remember having a fan up there. She shrugged it off as seeing things in her sleep and rolled over to fall back into a nice sleep.
Nora and George felt as if they were floating. But they were asleep, and neither knew what the other was feeling, so they didn't wake up. But they did notice when they stopped and landed on a mattress that seemed very familiar.
Casey smiled in her sleep and felt great, but somehow felt like the room around her was smaller. But the thought was replaced by a really lovely dream, and soon she was back in her own peaceful sleep.
There was an odd noise coming from deep within the house, but everyone, asleep in their beds could not hear it. And just as the noise stopped, the sun rose, waking everyone up.
Everyone felt peacefully relaxed, and at ease from their sleep.
Until they heard Casey scream.