Chapter 3
"Zoe, are you crazy! A Party! How could you throw a party! Shane is going to be so ticked off when he comes home," Seth yelled at his sister as a few people from the party turned their heads to stare at the quarreling siblings. He had taken advantage of the time that Shane was gone to go and meet Sammy and had come home only to find tons of people milling around the house. Shane was not going to be happy about this, especially after the little joke they played on him earlier.
"Chill out Seth. I didn't invite all these people, my boyfriend did; besides you left the house to meet your little girlfriend, what's her name again?"
"Her name is Sammy, and she's not my girlfriend."
"Yeah that one. Nothing bad is going to happen so just relax. Why don't you invite your girlfriend over?"
"She's already here."
"Ohh."
"Bite me."
Sammy chose this moment to walk over to Seth and enter into the conversation,
"I didn't know there was going to be a party at your house."
"Neither did I." Seth answered with a scowl towards his sister.
"What's with all the security devices around your house?"
"The bodyguard and my mother are paranoid. Sammy, why don't we go to my room and talk?"
"Alright."
Seth was looking at Sammy as they entered his. She looked so much like her. "You know Sammy, you look so much like this girl I used to know. In fact you look so much like her, it's kind of creepy."
"What was her name?"
"Lillian, I don't really remember who she was or how I knew her, but I know that I cared for her, but all I have left of her is a few memories."
"What do you remember about her?" Sammy asked extremely intrigued and almost excited about the conversation.
"Not much. All I remember is that she was extremely important to me and that I loved her. I remember that I promised her that one day I would see her again. I remember that she had long brown hair and blue eyes, the most sparkling blue eyes full of energy and light that could brighten up any cloudy day, her smile could make me happy when times got rough. Lillian could always make me laugh and smile even when there was nothing to laugh or smile about and there was always a bright side to any situation for her. I miss her so much and I don't even know why. I dream about her almost every night and though she is just a memory to me, someone I barely know, I know deep down, that I will see her again, just like I promised all those years ago."
Seth looked up at Sammy, embarrassed by his ramblings, but as he looked into her eyes he noticed that her purple eyes were storming with emotion, they were full of sorrow and pain and Seth swore he saw a flicker of guilt flash through them. Tears were welling in her eyes, but she refused to let them go. The pain in her dark purple eyes was so deep that Seth felt the happiness suck out of him just looking at her.
"What's wrong Sammy?"
"It's just that your story reminds me of my brother. I lost my brother along time ago and he had promised me that we would see each other again, even if it was in Heaven or Hell. I didn't believe him. I knew that the day we were separated I would never be happy again and that was the day I stopped caring about other people. The world was cruel enough to take away the only thing in the entire world that I cared about and I was devastated. I vowed that I would never feel that way again. That was the day that my eyes became cold."
"But they're not cold anymore Sammy. You don't have to be sad anymore, I'm sure your brother would want you to be happy again. Like Lillian used to tell me, there is always a patch of sunshine even when the whole world is covered in thick black clouds. You just have to find your patch of Sunshine."
"The Sun has no rays to spare for me."
"Sammy…" Seth was about to continue disagreeing with Sammy, but voices outside his door interrupted him.
"The party was my idea and my fault. You don't have to get Seth or anything. He didn't know that there was going to be a party, he had nothing to do with any of this," he heard Zoe say.
"Why are you protecting your brother like this? You seem to be almost overprotective of him because I wasn't even implying that this was his fault or that he was in trouble," Shane replied.
"Sammy, you better leave before we get in trouble."
"Alright, but I'll see you at practice tomorrow?"
"If I can make it, I will be there."
"Alright, bye."
"Bye."
Seth saw Sammy crawl out of his window, and even though he hadn't known Sammy that long, this was not the first time that she had ever snuck out of his window.As she left, Seth returned his attention to the conversation outside his door.
"If I'm overprotective of him it is because of you. You scare him."
"And why do I scare him?"
"Because you remind him of Graft! My mother told you that he was abused, right?"
"Right."
"Well Graft was the monster that tortured him. He spent years with that man and was traumatized. When he first came to live with us he only spoke if he was talked to, he barely ate, and he barely slept. He thought that everyone was just like Graft. He would sleep on the floor instead of the bed because he thought that was the way things were supposed to be. He flinched if someone made a sudden movement towards him and he was so quiet that it was like he wasn't even there. He once accidentally broke lamp when he tripped and he thought that Dad was going to be so ticked off. He actually thought that my father would end up hospitalizing him like Graft used to and this scared him so bad that he actually did visit the hospital that night because he passed out while having a panic attack. I was the one that found him in his closet that night freaking out because he was so scared. Seth was like a walking corpse then and I don't want to have to see him go through anything like that again, so yeah, I am overprotective of him and I have good reasons to be!"
"Okay, I won't say anything to him now and I won't make him clean the house with the rest of you and your friends, but…"
"But what?"
"It is dinner time and I am told that your brother is a good cook. I think that he should cook us dinner because I have to inspect the cleaning skills of you and your friends. Is that acceptable?"
"I guess."
"Good, now get cleaning."
"You are such a jerk."
The party guests had departed, the house was clean, and dinner was done, done in complete silence, but never-the-less done, and now Shane had one very angry teenager who decided it was time to lodge her complaints. Zoe never got to finish her complaints that night, though.
