A blinding explosion. Heat. Light. Hearbreak. Then darkness.
Derek woke up with a start. He sat up rigidly. Light was streaming in from his windows, blinding him. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, squeezed his eyes shut, and took a deep breath. The dreams, well, the nightmares, were always so vivid, it was as if he couldn't escape the death of his family. In his daily life, there was a constant reminder of it, it was always there. Like his heartbeat, the death, the grief, wouldn't go away. Even sleep, the one salvation he was supposed to have left, deprived him of all safety, of all comfort, of all joy.
Trying to clear his mind, Derek looked around his messy brown room. Clothes were everywhere. He groaned to himself, thinking he would have to clean them all up. He flopped down on his warm, soft bed, and felt something hard, and bony, in the middle of his back. He froze. He slowly looked to his left. An arm, leading up to a body, was wedged between his back and his mattress. The arm was attached to a shoulder, a shoulder that was covered with, long, gorgeous, chestnut hair. Derek felt his own body slump with relief, realizing that it was only Casey.
He carefully picked himself up, so as not to wake her, and moved her arm from underneath him. He watched her sleep. She was so peaceful. The night before was often pierced with her screams, as she too, relived the nightmare, the reality of seeing her family killed. It had been a long night, and she deserved to rest. Derek let himself admire her. She had always been beautiful, with her big baby blues, and her perfect skin. But it was more than her physical appearance that made Casey so wonderful. She was sweet, and caring, and open, someone you could truly trust.
He blinked out of his reverie, realizing that it wasn't quite right to think of her like that. Not that he had been actually doing anything wrong, but she was his sister, and that's how he meant to keep her. Casey was curled up on her side, like she was protecting herself, too bad it was her own mind that was hurting her. Derek's gaze lingered on her face. Her long, lush eyelashes swept down gracefully from her eyes. Her face was warm and soft with the sun casting its yellow and orange beams upon her. Her big cherry lips curled into a semi smile.
As Derek watched her, he smiled to himself. That's when Casey opened her eyes. They were red and puffy, from crying the night before, but still as blue as ever.
"Hi," She said quietly.
"Hey. How ya doing?" He asked, and not just as a formality, but genuinely concerned.
"If you want me to be honest with you, horrible. You?"
Derek chuckled sympathetically. "Been better. C'mon, we better get up."
Casey looked pained. "But why? I don't want to face the world today."
"Well, for one thing, I'm starving. For another, its 3 p.m. and we should get out of the house today."
She nodded. "Okay, Derek. If that's what you think is best," And then she started to move out of his bed.
"That's it? You're not going to fight me on this?"
"Nope," She shook her head. "I'm not. I'm too tired, and too depressed to be normal. Plus, I like not fighting with you." Casey looked at her hands.
"Me too," He said to himself.
"What?"
"Nothing. I said, nothing." Derek smiled. "Do you want to shower first?"
"Yeah, I think so."
Derek helped Casey out of bed, and to rush into the bathroom. Marti's things cluttered the floor, but the two young adults tried to ignore them. Derek got Casey a towel, and headed out of the bathroom. He decided to shower later that night, so he went to his room to get changed.
--
Casey hadn't meant to do it. She just wanted to get her cell phone from Derek's room. What she got instead, well, she still hadn't decided if it was better, or worse.
Casey had just pushed open the barely cracked door to his bedroom. She thought Derek was getting breakfast, and was surprised to see him, in his room, with his shirt off. Though living at George's house for over 3 years or so, Casey had rarely ever seen Derek without his shirt on, except for going to the pool, but she had been with one of her boyfriends then. She was shocked to see Derek so toned and tanned. Hockey had given him a 6 pack of abs, and matching biceps, too.
Casey stood in the doorway for all of thirty seconds, ogling her brother, before he turned around and caught her staring. His brown eyes drug hers up from his stomach, capturing hers, all the while his messy bed hair fell into his handsome face.
"Did you forget something?" He asked, quite unembarrassed about the whole situation.
"Um… " She cleared her throat. "Um… Yeah, I wanted my, uh, cell phone." Oddly enough she could feel herself blushing.
Casey, get a grip! So he has his shirt off, so what? He is your brother!!Leave him alone! Casey mentally scolded herself.
Derek raised his eyebrows at her expectantly, as if to say, what are you waiting for? Go and get your phone.
She giggled nervously, and rushed to get her cell. "Sorry," she called, racing back out of his room, and into the normality of the bathroom.
--
Derek stood there, sighing deeply. Casey staring at him felt, he didn't quite know how to describe it, but it felt right, and yet, at the same time, so wrong. He had never felt anything quite like it before. Casey, with her wild blue eyes scorching his skin, had woken something within him, and it was like a disease, spreading like rapid fire throughout his skin.
With his parents death, and Casey, and just life in general, there was one thing Derek was certain of. It was going to be a long day.
