"Lena, Lena, Lena, guess what I got!" I stopped doing my homework and turned around to see my little brother who was smiling widely at me. I grinned back at him as I see the huge gap in his teeth where he had lost his two front ones.

"What's up, squirt?" I reply then rub his hair in a playful way. His smile then drooped into a frown. He hates it when I rub his head and calls him squirt. He always considers himself an adult. "Hey, I'm not a squirt! And stop messing with my hair! You know I don't like it!" I would've rolled my eyes at his antics but then he would've gone screaming to Ma about it.

I put my hands up as if to admit defeat. "Okay, okay! I'll stop messing with your hair and calling you squirt, if you…" I trailed off and looked at him with my right eyebrow raised.

He leaned forward eagerly, waiting for an answer. "What, what do you want me to do?" I remained quiet until he was almost touching me. "If you…. Sit on the bed….and close your eyes." He stared at me with his head tilted to the side, confused. I had to say it was so darn cute.

I put a serious look on my face and pointed to my bed. Once he did what I said for him to do, I stood up and walked up to the opposite wall, staring at my band posters. "Lena….what do you want me to do? Why did you want me to sit on your bed?"

I couldn't help it as an evil smirk crept up on my face and I slowly turned around to face him. He sat straight up, alarmed and tried to scramble off the bed while sheets were flying everywhere. "So I could to this!" I ran and jumped on the bed, trapping him underneath me. He struggled to get loose as I began to give him a noogie. "Lena, stop it, Mom!" He screeched helplessly while squirming beneath me. I stopped as my Ma rammed the door open, her arms across her chest.

"Lena, were you givin' your brother a noogie again? How many times do I have to tell you that I don't like it! You're doing the floor and dishes after supper." I groaned and ran my hands through my hair as Ma walked out and Jay cheered. I snapped my head back at him and gave him the most menacing glare I could muster up. He cringed away from me. "Would you be quiet?" I snapped at him angrily. He scurried out of the room, frightened by my sudden change of mood. And somehow, from downstairs my Ma heard me. "Lena, come down here and finish the laundry for me! I'm makin' dinner!" I hissed under by breath followed by a couple of curses.

I pulled on my socks and slid through the hall. Once I got to the staircase I hopped up on the rail and gave myself a kick-start. The staircase wasn't very large but it was fun for sliding down since you had a slight curve to go around. I love doing it because it's one of those things I could do without getting into trouble.

I landed on the floor with a soft thump then began making my way into the living room. But before I did I picked up my Mp3 player from the hall table and put my earphones in. I slowly walked in through the archway into the living room and then changing back to regular pace one I saw that Ma wasn't in here with the clothes. Good, she must already be looking to make something for dinner. Now I won't have to listen to her giving me lectures about treating others the way you want them to treat you.

It doesn't matter now if you treat someone good, they won't always do the same. I learned to put up with that after so long. And I see my brother did too. Not that I don't like him, I love him to pieces. But man, he gets on my nerves!

I picked a scrunchie out of the few I had on my just in case of major 'hair in face irritation' and pinned my hair up into a bun. Then, I turned on the music, putting it on shuffle and began folding the clothes Ma had wanted me to do.

I swayed to the music as I folded the clothes, piece by piece. I hummed along with a tune as I spun around to place a pair of pants in the pile my brothers clothing was in. Then I twisted back again when I had a bunch of towels to place in the correct pile. This went one and one until one by one; I had folded everything and had placed them in neat organized piles. I took each pile of clothes, putting a pile in my room to be packed away later, and then I stopped at Jays.

I knew he would be upset and that sooner or later my Ma would want me, or more likely, make me apologize to him. While sighing, I knocked on his door. Hearing the pausing sound of the video game, I shifted stances, putting more weight on my right foot.

"Go away Lena!" I heard his muffled shout behind the door.

"No, I'm not going away until you open this door." I said as I fixed a pair of socks on the top of the pile when it began to slip. While doing so, I heard the patting of little feet that stopped by the door. I smiled as I saw his shadow underneath the door, knowing that he was down on his stomach checking to see if I was sill there.

Grumbling something incoherent, he got up on his feet, opened the door and poked his head out of it. "What do you want?" He mumbled angrily while keeping a straight back. I held the clothes out to him and he gladly accepted it then began to close the door on me.

Right before he successfully did, I put my foot in his doorway, blocking it. I cringed as the door came down on my unguarded toes. He must have been going for the 'slamming the door shut is the symbol of go away and stay away' move. "Wait Jay, I wanted to…..say that I'm sorry." His once anger filled face turned into one of surprise. I expected him to be so because I usually never apologize to him. He nodded for me to continue. "I haven't been the best sister and I'm sorry. I just find you to be sometimes annoying."

His face fell for a moment but then he smiled and crossed his arms. "I know how you feel. Apology accepted." Before I got a chance to process what he had said, he shut the door in my face.

I shook my head to clear my mind and began to head for the stairs again but then remembered that I had forgotten to put Ma's clothes in her room. Turning from the staircase, I walked into her room. While looking around I placed the clothes on her bed. This room still gave me the creeps after two years.

"Lena, what are you doing!" I jumped slightly, frightened, then turned around.

There was my mother standing against the wall with a not so impressed look on her face. I could tell I was in for it.

"Uh…. I'm just bringing in your clothes…." I trailed off while scratching the back of my head.

I looked up and stared into her eyes. I was lost for words to say. She was furious. "Didn't I tell you to leave my clothes outside the door for me to get myself and never to step foot in here?" Crap, now I'm caught. I know I am because I can barely lie for my life.

"I forgot…" I mumbled and took a step towards to door. But I was blocked as she stepped into the doorway. "You forgot?! I tell you and remind you everyday! You can't do anything right! Now go to your room!" I felt my temperature rise as the anger inside me began to boil.

"I do nothing right?! I do just about everything for you! You always disapprove of what I do and I'm sick of it!" She narrowed her eyes at me and stood straighter. Perfect. She's in a fighting mood, just my luck.

"You do everything? I support this family, thank you very much for noticing! I shelter you, I feed you and I buy the things you want. So don't you dare say I do nothing."

"That's not it! I'm not talking about feeding us, clothing us and all that crap! I'm talking about us as a family. You never have time for us! You're always at work! This has been your only day off since February. You've had no real time for me or Jay for two months!" I screamed back at her furiously. I start to feel frustrated at her ignorance and tears began to prick in the corner of my eyes. She'll never understand. All she thinks about is work, feed kids, and work.

"I have to work so much because I have to support you and your brother! Don't be such an ungrateful brat!"

That's what broke me. I was never ungrateful in my life. Not once. I had wanted so much that I've never gotten. Though I never complained because I had learned to live with not getting what I wanted. But those words she had said to me made me say those three words I promised myself I would never say.

"I hate you!" I screamed at her and pushed past to make my way to my bedroom. Thankfully my door had a lock on it.

I flopped on my bed and stuffed my face into my pillow, muffling the noise around me. I could hear my brother Jay knocking on the door. I suddenly felt very guilty. He hates fighting, especially when I and Ma do. So I got up and unlocked to door.

On the other side was Jay with his big watery eyes staring at me. I noticed in his arms was the only bear he ever kept all these years. A large stuffed teddy bear names Bernard. He says he's too old for teddy bears since he's ten years old but still uses him when he feels frightened or upset.

I touched him on the shoulder and he slowly walked with me to the edge of my bed. We sat down for a while together just staring into nothing when I heard Jay's quiet voice intrude my thoughts.

"Lena..." I looked down at him and smiled slightly, or tried to for the most part. I think he could see it was fake."Yes Jay?" He looked down at his hands which were holding his teddy bear tightly. "Why do you and mom fight so much?" He must have felt me stiffen because he started to apologize. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't."

"No…it's alright. You see, I and Ma don't always think the same and agree on things so sometimes we can become upset with one another."

He yawned and put his head on my shoulder. "Come on bud, you want to have a nap?" He nodded sleepily and I moved him so that he was lying down on one side of the bed. I went around the other side so I could lay down with him.

"Now, why are you so tired?" I demanded and threw my arm around his shoulder softly. "I couldn't sleep last night?"

He squeaked and he tried to wriggle out of my grip on his shoulders but I tightened it. "Come on Bud, what's got you so tired? I won't get mad." He shifted slightly before sighing in defeat.

"I was…sort of playing video games all night." I laughed lightly and brushed some of his black hair out of his eyes. "Now that I believe," I said quietly. I knew that if he was still aware of what I was saying he would have protested greatly about being addicted to video games. So this was how I knew he was asleep. I gently brushed back his thick bangs as I kissed his forehead softly.

Getting up, being careful not to wake Jay, I went to my laptop. My laptop was my baby. I didn't have any friends, well okay, I did have a couple. But not those types of friends you would ask to go at something with in after school hours. I'm just not really social…I guess I was born to be socially awkward. My mom had always complained to me about it because when she was in high school she had been most popular, of course. We've fought about it a lot actually. We've had countless little spats over the stupidest things.

I just fiddled around on it for a bit when I decided to search random things up. It's really fun because you never know what you could find. I once found a cat eating a cheese string and drinking Kool-Aid. I decided to search up aircrafts just out of sudden curiosity and searched through the multiple websites. I kept scrolling until I found something that looked interesting. It was some sight about myths and sighting and all that stuff. It must have been my luck because I loved all that stuff and it's rare when you find a good site.

There was an article on the side bulletins that said 'ALIENS TAKING OVER UNIVERSE' I rolled my eyes at that.

I love these websites but the one thing that I totally dislike about it is the crazies that think stuff like this was going to happen. I don't think it's all these sites but just a few in particular. Like that one website I use to go on. I think it was the real f-ing deal or something like that? I mean, come on. Who's going to believe all the stuff that stuff on it? It's complete bull.

I clicked on the link to see what lame excuse the guy had come up with this time. I raised my eyebrows as I saw a video there. Clicking on the video, I watched it. I recognized where the video was taking place, it was Mission City. That was the place that had been shut down for clean up of the damage that was done supposedly by 'terrorists'. Can you believe that the government thinks we're that stupid enough to believe that?

There were people running all over the place while there were explosions in the background. The person who was holding the camera was running too which was causing a blurry visual. Then suddenly an explosion must have come from behind the person holding the camera and caused him to fly forward. Losing his grip on the camera, it tumbles to the ground and on its side. Just before it went black, a face came up in front of the screen; a face that had the blood in my veins running cold and heart galloping. I stopped the video and looked closely. This was no ordinary face. It was a metal face. Its face has jagged pieces of metal framing it in a way that made it look deadly. It had teeth that looked and probably were sharper than razor blades. Also, it had what seemed to be talons coming out of its fingers.

I felt the blood drain out of my face as I imagined how swiftly it could probably cut a person into half. Or chop them up for robot fondue. Scratch that, wouldn't our muscles get clogged up in their gears? I shuddered at that…bad mental image.

I put my thoughts back on track and continued thinking about the possibility of huge robots walking the earth. No, it just doesn't seem possible. The video could've been edited…but no one would be able to do that…not any amateur, and especially not one of the people who created the website. All those movements made by the robot thing would take a while to frame….. I feel that the video is real but it's just impossible. How can robots be terrorizing the earth? They aren't sentient…they can't think, or….can they?

Okay, I decided to start the story I would add chapter one in along with the prologue to give you more of an idea of where this is going. So, there you have it... chapter one of Turning Wounds Into Wisdom! Please review and tell me what you think. Also, if you have any suggestions or ideas for later chapters that you think would do good in one, you can PM me!

So far I am up to chapter four in writing and before christmas I have a goal of writing at least ten chapters, I'm hoping I can write more! With everything I'm trying to get completed, it'll be a miracle to reach that goal.

Au revoir,

Taylor