I woke up to the sound of knocking at my door, and I groaned, pulling the blanket up and over my head. "It's me." Oh great. The joy of speaking to my lovely older brother Michael. The door opened and the sound of his boots hit my wooden floor. He ripped the blankets off of my head and sat me up. "Michael stop, my head hurts - I'm hungover, I just want to sleep!" I snapped at him, lying, pushing away from him and sitting back against my headboard.

I peered my eyes open to see that the sun was almost gone, only a small sliver of light went through my closed curtains. "Why did you lie to me?" Michael asked, and I furrowed my brows. "What are you talking about?" My voice was tired and cracked with every word. "First you tell me you almost got into a fight with some girl on the boardwalk - you and I both know you've never been in a fight in your life. Then you tell mom that you got drunk last night and threw up in the sink - when I know that whatever the hell is in the sink is not alcohol."

I bit the inside of my cheek. "And how exactly is it that you would know, Michael? Huh? What, did you go in there and get hit by a huge wave of the inside of my body instead of alcohol?" I was getting defensive, and really angry, really fast. I couldn't help it. It was like every emotion I ever had was amplified times ten. "What do you want from me, Michael?" I snapped and I could see it. Around the rims of his iris they were growing bloodshot and red. He blinked a few times, turning his head away and that's when I knew. That's why he seemed so different but the same all at once.

Michael was like me.

"I just want to know what happened to you last night, Sophie. You're different - it's like I don't even know who you are." He whispered, and I sighed. "Michael-" I began to protest but he shook his head, "Sophie, tell me what's going on!" He demanded and I flinched away at the loud noise. "It was Dwayne wasn't it. I'll kill him. Did he try to do anything-?" I cut him off as quick as I possibly could, "no! God, Michael - first mom, now you? Dwayne isn't at fault here!"

"You're hiding something from us and I wanna know what it is, Sophie!" He yelled, pushing himself off of my bed and started pacing. "There's nothing for me to hide, Michael - nothing is going on-" I spoke too soon. In through the window came Dwayne, who shoved Michael to the wall without a second thought. I let out a yelp, running to the two of them before Dwayne killed my brother or vice versa. "Stop- Dwayne, stop!"

"Oh look who's here, the Dracula has-been!" Michael snarked, though his replies were short lived as Dwayne wrapped his hand around Michael's throat. "I would shut up before I send that pretty boy head of yours spinning in a circle." Dwayne snapped back and I pulled at Dwayne's arm. "Stop, you're gonna kill him - stop!" I cried, and the door burst open to reveal my mother. I managed to pull Dwayne off of him and he was gone before I could blink.

"What on earth is going on in here?!" My mother questioned as Michael fell to the floor, clutching his throat. "Oh my god, Michael-" she gasped, running to his aid beside me. Together we helped to lift him up, but he shook both of us off. "I'm going out." He snarled, pushing past us and storming off down the stairs. "Michael- Michael!" I yelled after him.

He pulled on his boots and shrugged on his leather jacket. "Michael, Max will be over soon, I'd like you to meet him." My mother suggested, trying to get his mind off of whatever was making him so upset. "Not interested." He grabbed a lighter from off the counter, shoving it into his jacket pocket.

He ripped the front door open and was about to storm out when a figure behind the door stopped him. "Oh, my, you must be Michael." A soft voice said from behind the door, and Michael gave him a glare. "You must be Max." He stated as politely as he could, and I saw Max catch my gaze from over Michael's shoulder. "Well, Michael. You're the man of this house, and I'm not coming in until you invite me." Michael rolled his eyes, pushing past Max, making the poor man stumble. I groaned, face palming at my brothers indignant actions. I sighed, opening the door wider for Max to step through. "You can come in, I'm sorry about him. It's been a rather long day." I said.

Max smiled, stepping through the threshold and looked me over. "You look just like your mother. You have her generous nature as well; not many people nowadays do. No wonder my boy Dwayne likes you." Well that had caught me off guard. I furrowed my brows. "I beg your pardon-?" I didn't get to gain a response from him, as my mother had entered the room, looking for Michael but finding Max instead. The two greeted and he handed her the flowers he brought with him. I shut the door behind me just as Sam ran through with two other boys.

"Just in time for dinner, dweeb." I joked, ruffling Sam's hair and he pushed my hand away. "Can't talk, got to do a thing-" He didn't even look at me as he raced into the kitchen, the two boys carrying off behind him. Well that was odd. I blew an exaggerated sigh, running a hand through my hair as I entered the dining room. "Hey, mom?" I said, interrupting something she was saying. "Do you mind if I just eat later? My head is still killing me, I think I wanna go lay down." I explained and she shook her head. "I suppose... You'll be missing out on quite a meal though."

I nodded, "you can condemn me on what flavors I missed later." I joked, heading up the stairs. I walked into my bedroom, leaving the lights off. My sight in the dark had increased a little, and so I walked into my closet (pitch black, by the way) and pulled out a pair of yoga pants and a big t-shirt. I changed in my closet, coming out and crawling into bed. I sighed, today wasn't the best day I've had so far.
Until a big, muscular arm wrapped around my torso and a familiar, deep voice spoke in my ear. "You kept me waiting long enough."