The past few days have like the longest days of my life.
I've been through a lot in my life, especially as a former cop and family that has always struggled financially but this is one of those events in life that's really starting to wear me down.
I think what hurts most is that something bad has happened to my sister and I didn't protect her. As her big brother and a cop, I failed her.
I scroll through last night's text with Rose wondering and hoping she was able to get more sleep than I did despite her nightmares.
It's frustrating knowing that if my sister just speaks up, a lot of the stress and worry can be lifted from Rose's shoulders.
I feel helpless. I can't help anyone.
"You have your own apartment you know," Victoria says walking into the kitchen.
I set down the coffee I just poured surprised to see her out of her room, dressed for school, and casually making herself a bowl of cereal.
"If you're staying here for my benefit, you're wasting your time. I'm fine." She sits across from me at the table happily munching on her cereal, a slight smile on her face.
"Really?"
Her phone chimes and she quickly flicks her eyes to the screen.
"Yup," she says as the smile spreads wider.
For what feels like the first time in my life since my sister was born, I don't know what to say. I was already planning more tactics to convince her to come forward or at the very least admit the bastard hurt her. But seeing her sitting her in front of me as if the past few days haven't happened is throwing me off a bit.
My sister sees that I'm stumped and her smile widens even more if that's possible.
"I told you and mom that I was fine. It was just one of those teenage girl things. I need some time to myself and now I'm going back to school."
She says all of this with the smile on her face and it sends an uncomfortable feeling into my stomach, as if an indicator that something definitely isn't right about this except all of the obvious signs. I'm replaying the shouting match the three of us shared the night before as I watch Victoria hum to herself as she checks her phone smiling and standing to walk to the kitchen.
If she's playing at something, I can do the same thing too.
Her phone chimes again and again and her eyes are locked onto the screen unblinkingly and smiling.
"For heaven sake Victoria," I mutter gesturing to the phone.
She takes one more look at the phone and slides it away, her lips still stretched into a smile. "Sorry, something...interesting is going around school."
"Really?" I ask dryly, more interested in what's going on with my sister than gossip around school.
"You'll hear about it later I'm sure."
I look up from my coffee mug to ask what she means by that but she's already standing and heading to the sink and I hurry to ask more questions before she leaves.
"So you're going to school and we're just going to forget the last few days."
"Yup." She smiles at a text on her phone again.
"And you're really okay?" I ask.
I just have to hear her say it again. I know in my gut something is off about all of this but I have to hear my sister say the lie to be sure.
She rinses her bowl out, grabs her bag, and stops to look back me with the same slight smile on her face as if she has a hidden secret that she is barely managing to hide.
"Definitely."
With that, she continues on her way out, staring down at her phone, but not before I hear her mutter with a smile in her voice, "at least I will be."
A/N: So sorry guys! I went through a month of finals and cleaning and organizing (and losing use of one of my typing hands for a while) and then a severe case of writer's block but now I feel nice and organized and ready to update again so thank you for the reviews. You guys are just amazing and I hope you guys still like the story.
By the way, I hope it's not confusing when I change points of view.
New chapter posted soon!