Snowcrystal of Thunderclan- I know right? :) The mixed emotions trend :D
Hadara's is girlfriend in this one, there's some Briarfeather friendship, purely platonic friendship :)
Bree's Nightmare and Guilt.
Grunting with exertion Bree forced her wheelchair up the small staircase of Jay's house by grabbing onto the stair rails and pulling herself up. She took a few deep breaths before reaching up and knocking on the door, waiting patiently for her friend to open the door. She finally managed to escape her mother's clutches for the night and was looking forward to spending time with Cynthia, Jay, and his siblings, something she hadn't done for years, usually Cynthia came over with Holly and the three girls had a sleepover at Bree's house but they never brought the two boys who were the fun of any sleepover; That and Cynthia wasn't as into it as she would be if Leon was there. Lost in her thoughts she was jolted back to reality when she was nearly knocked backward off the steps by an extremely excited looking Diana, "Bree! It's so good to see you-"
"Diana, if you don't shut up I'm going to kill you with my pocket knife," Cynthia grunted pushing Bree's chair back up the last stair and wheeling her inside.
"What's got Cindy in such a bad mood?" Bree giggled as the grumpy teen rolled her to the stairway to the second floor.
"I just got back from paintball with Poppy, Honey and her boyfriend Brendon." Bree winced
"Ouch."
"Yeah ouch. Brendon was showing off and kept aiming for my head so I have a pounding headache." Cynthia scowled before she yelled up the stairs, "Leon! Come help me with Bree!" Right away a golden blonde head popped his head down the stairs.
"Coming Cyn, Hey Bree!" He rushed down and together he and Cynthia hauled her up the stairs.
"Hey, Jay!" Leon yelled to his brother, "Bree's here!"
"What?" The blind gray and black haired boy strode grumpily out of his room, "Why are you carrying her? Didn't you guys set up the ramps?"
"Well we were going too but Cindy arrived just as Holly and I were hauling them out of the garage, she's got a migraine the size of a football field and we needed to get something for it first before she could help me get the ramps up," Leon responded easily. After a bit of a bumpy ride and Cynthia yelling in pain as Leon dropped Bree on top of her foot, they made it upstairs to Jay and Leon's room. Which was neat and clean on Jay's side while Leon's side was quite a mess. "Let's go get the ramps, Cindy." He dragged her back down the stairs while Jay continued to work on his brother's part of the room and Holly helped the paralyzed girl to get comfortable on Jay's bed, where they'd all watch a movie while waiting for Diana and Ivory to leave.
Bree had a good time, playing video games -Cynthia and Leon argued about who won even though it said they were tied- "I swear I beat you, Leon!"
"No, I beat you!"
Watching a few movies,- Holly was furious about the ending of a few of them- "What kind of ending was that? All the characters are killed?!"
And overall messing around and catching up. Skylar made one of the everyone's favorite dishes, Lasagna for dinner which was delicious. Then they had a video game tournament in super smash bros that Jay surprisingly won -surprisingly because he couldn't see the screen at all- before Skylar forced them all to bed. Bree stayed in Holly and Cynthia's room while the boys slept in their room.
Bree stared at the ceiling, not wanting to close her amber eyes and have a nightmare again. To pass the time she listened to Cynthia's and Holly's breathing, Cynthia's more of a soft snore almost a cat like a purr and Holly's was deep and quiet. She stifled some giggles at Cynthia's asleep breathing, even her body was vibrating. Having slept over to her before she knew Cynthia didn't know she did it, Cynthia figured she tended to snore from everyone telling her she made some kind of noise when asleep but always passed it off as snoring, even sometimes faking a loud snore just to mess with people. The giggled fit past and she looked over at her friends, amused at their positions. Holly was curled up in a small ball tucking in as far as she could, she wasn't moving and she could be mistaken dead if it were not for her steady breathing. Bree could see why as she looked over at Cynthia, who was sprawled on her stomach with her left arm pinned under her stomach, the other thrown over her head hiding her eyes from any sort of light, her toes were twitching slightly, probably from something in her dream. Bree herself was lying on her back in between both of them, her paralyzed legs stretched out in front of her, her arms under her head as she looked up at the white ceiling that contained many patterns. 'There' a bunny, a bird, a cookie, a cell phone? Hmm… oh, that's just a rectangle.' Slowly Bree's eyes drooped closed as she drifted to sleep.
"Get up Bree!" A voice snapped, 'You're going to be late for school!"Bree opened her eyes and was startled to see her sister bending over in front of her, "Get up before I drag you out of here." Brittany said gruffly, green eyes glinting with irritation.
"Oh, sorry Brittany, thanks for waking me up, though!" Bree chirped cheerfully and hauled herself into a sitting position before yelping as Brittany's fist connected with her nose, causing Bree's head to snap up and back into the wall. Bree covered her nose with one hand as stars blurred her vision. "What was that for? I didn't do anything!" She said with a confused tone, keeping a firm lid on her temper to be kind to her sister. 'She's just angry, I can handle this.'
"That's for letting the tree fall on top of you," Brittany replied coldly before spinning around and leaving the room. Bree looked at the mirror in her room to see red trickling from her nose at a steady rate.
"I don't think it's broken… bruised? Probably." She gingerly pressed against her nose and quickly pulled her hand back.
'No, let me out of here! I know what happens here!'
The dream blurred to after school when Bree was carefully getting out of the van, making sure her chair wasn't going to catch on anything and make her face plant to the ground. Brittany stuck her foot out and Bree fell arms flailing she tipped forwards and crashed to the ground, getting knocked out of the chair and hitting her nose again for the second time that day. 'That's weird, I swear I checked…' She thought as she took a few deep breaths, her eyes watering at the sharp pain.
"Brittany! Why did you trip Bree?" Ben asked with wide eyes.
'Oh… that's why I fell. What did I do to make her so mad?'
"Because I wanted to. Aren't you going to Mike's house?"
"Oh yeah! I totally forgot!" He ran off leaving his two sisters.
"Aren't you so special Breanna?" Brittany sneered stepping closer to her sister on the ground.
"What? I'm not special-"
"Mom loves you way more than Ben and I, why?" She pushed her sister farther to the ground, pinning her down with a foot. "Because you had to be a hero and get pinned under a tree."
"I wasn't being a hero, I just wanted to help-"
"That's what a hero is Breanna." Brittany sneers, "Idiots who risk their lives to help other people."
"Then everyone can be a hero, we're all heroes in our own way, Britt," Bree replied cheerfully, ignoring the crushing feeling in her ribs. "We're all a hero, even you."
"You aren't a hero. You're a broken girl Bree. And you stole mom's love from me." She punched her in the face again. Bree grunted but didn't retaliate, not wanting to use violence.
"I don't like it- Ow!" She covered her face with her hands as Brittany hit her again and again, "I ow! Don't like, ow! The extra attention ow! Either! I'm trying to talk to you! Stop hitting me!"
Brittany didn't heed to advice and Pinned her sister's hands behind her back. Bree let her punch her in the gut and didn't retaliate, partially 'cause she couldn't and partially because she didn't want to. 'Someone walk by and save me from her.' Fortunately, luck seemed to be on her side as she heard a few voices.
"What the heck?" I heard Holly gasp.
"I got Brittany." I then heard Cynthia's voice say, "Jay you get Bree. Leon, you help me." Brittany was lifted off me and restrained by the people I couldn't have asked for anyone better. I felt thin arms lift me up under the arms and carefully place me back into my now right sided chair. Jay knelt in front of me, an angry scowl on his face like always.
"You'll be ok. Probably bruised for a while, though."
Bree laughed almost nervously, "I can handle bruises." One of her eyes were swelling shut and her nose was still bleeding, "I'm fine you guys, I can take care of myself."
"Nah, we're your friends, it's our job for helping you," Cynthia said with fake cheerfulness, her blue eyes glinting with seriousness, and anger directed at Brittany.
'I don't want to be here anymore… Wake up! Wake up me!'
Bree stared at the mirror in her room, shock evident in the wide amber eye and raised eyebrows. Brittany had done more than she thought she had. Her left eye was turning dark purple, her lip was split, blood was dried to her chin and above her top lip. And that was only the face injuries. Bree quickly spun in her chair hearing the door open. Brittany was revealed, looking partially sorry and partially satisfied at the damage, "I'm sorry."
"Ok, apology accepted! I'll stay out of your way ok?" Bree chirped easily, outwardly cheerful while she could hear her blood pumping in her ears and felt the injuries she had sustained.
"Sounds good. But I don't like mom's favoritism…" She growled getting closer.
"I don't like it either Brittany-"
"I don't care what you think."
'This is enough! Wake up!"
"Bree wake up! Wake up!" Bree snapped her eyes open with a gasp and found Jay Leon and Holly all looking at her with worry. Cynthia's breathing was next to her, the sleeping girl providing comfort from her weird way of breathing.
"Are you ok?" Holly asked worriedly, she had been the one shaking her.
"Y-Yeah." Bree stuttered, she hadn't been aware she was covered in cold sweat until now. "I'm fine. G-go back to sleep, I'm just going to get a drink." Holly helped her into her chair and Bree quietly rolled down the hall, still shaking slightly from the memory nightmare. So lost in her thoughts and goal of getting a drink of water she didn't notice soft footsteps following her until she turned after getting the glass and nearly dropped it. "Jeez Jay! You scared the life from me!" She set the glass down on the counter and smiled at him, the smile itself was a struggle and he could see it. His blind blue eyes stared into her soul.
"What did you see Bree." He asked, his voice less gruff and more raspy and tired.
"Nothing, just a memory." She sipped her water, relieved at the feel of the liquid sliding down her throat.
"It must've been something from the way you were yelling and struggling."
"Just a memory-"
"About Brittany's unfounded jealousy?" Jay asked knowingly.
"Why and how do you always know that? And… yes, it was about Brittany." She took a larger gulp of the water, making sure not the choke on it.
"Don't listen to her."
"Well sorry, but it's hard not to when she's always there to tell me that," Bree replied with a bit of annoyance in her tone as she set down the now empty glass. 'I'm exactly what Brittany says I am-'
"Bree, stop. You told me when Holly left that it wasn't my fault she disappeared, just like now it isn't your fault your sister is being bitter-"
"Yes, it is! I ran after Liam and got stuck under a tree!" Bree snapped, water glistening in her eyes, "If I hadn't gotten pinned under that tree I wouldn't be injured, Brittany wouldn't be angry, and my mom would be there for my siblings!" Crystal like tears rolled down her cheeks dripping down into her lap, Her hands clenched into fists.
"So you regret saving Liam's life? Isn't it better he's blind now then completely dead?" Jay replied curtly, uncomfortable with the girl's self-anger.
That stopped Bree in her tracks, she froze staring at him with wide, shocked amber eyes, "Of course not," She breathed, "Of course I don't regret saving Liam's life."
"Then what do you regret? Getting pinned under that tree saved Liam's life. He's grateful and I'm sure his entire family is as well." Jay said grumpily, he was leaning against one of the counters, blind blue eyes looking in her direction.
"How do you always know what to say?" Bree asked with a small laugh.
"I don't. But like I always say, if you want comfort run to your mother if you want healing stop whining."
"You're just a softie aren't you Jay?" Bree grinned, her amusement entering her tone.
"If you say so." Jay snorted standing up straight. Bree was startled to find he was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, something she hadn't been able to see while he was in the shadows.
"Where're you going-"
"Hadara asked me to come meet her friend Finli, he's apparently Holly's boyfriend." He rolled his eyes, "She wants me to meet him first before Leon does."
"It's for the best," Bree laughed, "Leon would probably murder him for," She made air quotes that Jay couldn't see but could hear in her tone, "Taking his sister away."
"Probably. Why don't you go talk to Cynthia? I'm sure she could help settle your guilt, after all." He turned his eyes on her, looking directly at her face, "She's more guilt-ridden than any of us."
"I will. Have fun with your girlfriend Jay, thanks for talking to me." Bree smiled, rubbing one of her hands over her face before rolling over to the ramp covered staircase and going back up as Jay disappeared outside to go to his girlfriend Hadara Mason's house. Bree found the other three had fallen asleep waiting for her. Cynthia was curled in a ball in between Holly and Leon, the boy had an arm flung over both his friend and his sister, snoring slightly. Bree reached over and pulled on Leon's arm, she could feel his body vibrating from Cynthia's sleeping breathing. "Leon, wake up!"
"What?" Leon grumbled, turning over and sitting up, "Bree?"
"Yeah it's me, can you help me?"
"Sure." Leon got up and helped Bree up onto the bed before he returned back to his previous position, the four of them squishing onto Holly's smallish bed. Bree listened to the mix of deep breathing, content, for now, she'd ask Cynthia for advice tomorrow, but for now, she was ok squished with her friends, listening to the mixture of snoring from Leon, that weird purring noise from Cynthia, and the deep quiet breathing from Holly.
I hope you all like this, I'm working on a few more and Cinderpelt's Accident, but school is getting in the way and I just got a digital drawing pad that I'm trying out :) I'll put up a link for my deviantart account for those who want to look at it.
