Threat

[Deleted]

It was early morning and Amber was just leaving her dorm room, planning on going to the stables to see Rapunzel, when she felt her cell phone vibrate.  She picked it up to see who it was.  It was a little earlier then his usual morning call, but it was an exciting day for him.  She answered the phone.

"Happy birthday big brother!" she answered, cheerfully.
"I can't believe it's my birthday and you're not home, and it's snowing outside" he replied in a bitter tone.
"I'm sorry Jackson, but it's a school day.  I'll be home this weekend and I'll do whatever you want" she told him, as she stepped onto the staircase and then stopped and lingered.  She regretted her promise the moment she said it.  
"You better.  I have something new I want to try with you."
"Um... okay" she fearfully agreed.  She started slowly walking down the steps, and changed the subject.  "So, what's Mom making you for breakfast."
"Crepes."
"That sounds good."
"Well you can't have any because you're not home."
"I'm sorry."
"Anyway, I'm going to go and run on the treadmill for a little while until Mom finishes cooking.  Bye."
"Bye.  I love you."
"I love you too" he said quickly, before hanging up.  

Lingering on the stairway again, Amber fought back tears as she hung up her cell phone and put it back in her pocket.  She usually turned it off after their morning talk, but she decided to leave it on until her first class, in case he called again later to apologize.  On the occasions when he acted like kind of a jerk, he always apologized.    

[Deleted]

For the third time that morning, a half-scribbled on paper got thrown in the general direction of the trash can, and another was doomed to become Shay's next victim. Writers block had taken over ever single inch of her brain, and there was nearly nothing left to allow her to even function like a normal human being. Even worse, there was a portion of her newest work that she really wanted to write, but the filler chapters were destroying any hopes of it ever getting finished.

Shailie hung her head in her hands shamefully, staring at the blank page between her bony fingers. She sighed deeply,finding herself more frustrated with her work than it was worth. Her Maine Coon started whining next to her, drawing her attention away from the desk. After feeding Koa, Shailie dressed herself casually, hoping to find some muse in her new atmosphere. Making sure to lock the door behind her, she slipped out and walked the short distance to the steps.

Her eyes were down as she reached the top of the stops, ready to guide her near sprint down, but before she got far, she saw feet.

"Sorry," she said, raising her head to meet the girl's eyes. It was almost on command, but she didn't linger, and began taking on more steps. She stopped herself to do a double take.

"Are you okay?" Shay asked after taking a second glance. Her hand pressed against the wall for support, and her eyes now looking up at the girl who was a few steps higher than herself.

[Deleted]

Amber was taken aback, when the other girl spoke.  She hadn't realized that there was another person here, but it made sense.  The staircase was public domain and it was that time, in the morning, when people were getting out of bed and going to go and do stuff, like Amber was before her brother called her on her cell phone and she got distracted and scared.

After a few seconds, Amber nodded.  "I just, um..., got into a little argument, but I'm fine."  She knew that it was wrong to lie but Amber knew that she certainly could not tell this stranger the truth, and she also knew that it would be rude to tell her to go away, like she wanted too.  The last time that a stranger had caught her crying and had spoken to her, Amber had made a friend but she did not think that that would happen twice, especially not when the first thing that Amber spoke to her was a lie.  She regretted that already, but it was too late to take it back now.  Amber was mostly hoping that the girl would leave but, at the same time, part of her was hoping that she would not.

[Deleted]

What the girl had said didn't really come surprise Shailie, since it covers a wide range of reasons as to why someone may be upset in public. She pitied the girl for possibly having been embarrassed in front of someone else. Luckily for her, Shay happened to not care about such things unless they were quite juicy.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Early morning quarrels are never fun," her voice was light and airy, her smile somewhat sympathetic. She then turned to stretch her arms out on the railing. The girl seemed a tad reserved, which allowed Shay to expand upon herself a little and get inquisitive. It may be selfish of her, but if she could get any kind of inspiration out of this girl, she would do her best to fish it out.

"Overbearing parents?" It was her safest guess, and Shay could relate to that. Sometimes, how much they cared about their children having secured futures got almost too hard to deal with. So many mornings of waking up to the sound of her parents arguing with her brother, or her parents barging into her room to argue with her. Surely, Shailie and her brother couldn't be the only ones who have dealt with such a thing.

[Deleted]

Amber kind of wished that she really had had a quarrel, instead of her brother complaining to her and threatening and scaring her.  An argument would not be as bad, although she was sure that he would apologize later, but she doubted that he would take back his threat, because it was clearly something that he wanted to do for his birthday.  She had no idea what this new thing was but,  because of the way he had said it, she was sure that it was bad.  What he did to her just kept on getting worse and worse, and she knew that he knew.  She liked how he held her until she stopped crying afterwards, but that didn't make up for it and he always apologized, yet he never minded doing it again. 

"Overbearing big brother" she answered.  She couldn't help but think about how, if he were here right now, he would scare this stranger off.  He was her hero and protector and he could protected her or rescue her from anyone or anything , except for himself.  Sometimes Amber tried not to cooperate with him, but he always convinced her to cooperate, telling her that he really needed this and asking if she loved him and pointing out that she belonged to him.  She did love him and she did know that she belonged to him, and their mother had even seconded that Amber belonged to her brother.

[Deleted]

Shay was a little surprised at what the girl said. It wasn't what she expected but it was highly understanable, especially now that she knew that the girl was younger than her brother. It never surprised her that family were the ones to cause tears. Either losing them hurt, or they say something that can feel like a knife in the stomach, it was almost always family that made someone upset. A situation where "can't live with them, and you can't live without them" fits perfectly.

"I see. My brother was quite overbearing when he was younger. He would terrorize me to no end, until little sister cried them mom and dad came to the rescue," she grinned at the memories. As soon as Shay started yelling or crying, her parents were there in a heatbeat to separate them. Most of the time, Shay was them one who got in trouble for not wanting to play with her brother, but after a while they started to get along.

"Still hasn't gotten over that boyish need to terrorize, has he?" Shay asked, raising her eyebrows a little. If he was older than her, and still acted the way he did, he'd probably never change, at least that's what Shay thought.

[Deleted]

Amber had sometimes wished that her parents would come to her rescue when her brother was hurting her but, no matter how hard she cried, they never did.  She wasn't sure if her father even knew about it because it usually only happened when he was not at home, but he had always been suspicious of them because they never played with or hung out with anyone other then each other.  Although part of  her wanted her father to find out, she really didn't want him too because she was worried about what he would do to Jackson.  She knew that her mother knew what was going on, or at least had some idea, but she wasn't doing anything about it and she didn't know that Amber knew.  Amber felt like he mother was the only person who could get him to stop without him getting into serious trouble but she also worried that she might try to blame it on Amber.

"I guess not," Amber replied, finding it strange that the girl thought that terrorizing was a  boyish need.  He was much more terrorizing now that he was when he was younger and he kept on getting scarier.  Amber was worried about him.

[Deleted]

"I guess not, she repeated with lost intent. Her mouth made no other sound but her nails rapped against the wall with staccato notes. This other girl was quite adamant on not sharing much detail with Shay, leading her to believe that her presence was not necessarily welcome, or it really bothered the girl that much. With one last click of her nails, she knew what to ask next.

"Well, he should be ready for college soon, shouldn't he?" she asked. "I mean, with my brother and I, once he left for college, we started to get along better." Though she had no idea how old the girl's brother actually was, she guessed that he was about two to four years older, like alot of kids at her old school.

Just after Shay finished speaking, she felt a slight rumble in her stomach, reminding her that it was still early morning. Sooner or later she would have to get something to eat since she had missed out on a proper dinner last night because she was stuck on that infernal filler chapter. In on, subtle movement, Shailie rested her hand on her stomach, as if touch would make her hunger go away. Maybe, when she went to eat, she'd bring the girl along with her to chat more.

[Deleted]

"Yeah, he's been looking into that for next year," she told her.   She didn't bother telling her that he was planning to study business at the university in a nearby town and still live at home.  It wasn't like he would be going away or anything, but Amber had already gone away to school so she doubted that anything would have changed between them anyway.  She didn't think that her mother would let him go away.  She may have let Amber go away to school but she had always favored her first born and, although she tried, she wasn't very good at hiding it.  Amber didn't really blame her because her brother was superior to her in every way, or at least she had always believed that he was.

Amber glanced at her watch, as it had been a little while and she had thought of a good excuse to leave.  "Hey, um... I have to go, if you don't mind, and check on my horse and feed her breakfast and then get myself breakfast," she said, not mentioning that she also had to wait for her brother to call her again.  "So, um... bye," she told her, hoping that she wouldn't be upset.

[Deleted]

Shay never really thought that out as well as she had planned, realizing that they were already separated. It couldn't hurt to hold out for hope, now could it? Nevertheless, it is what it is and only a few people could actually change that. Shay just didn't happen to be one of those people.

"Good for him, anyway." Anyone who actually had the motivation for college seemed okay is Shay's book. Her hatred for the intellect of the kids in her generation would hopefully change when she went off to college and could surround herself with people who thought similarly to herself.

"Alright, see you around," Shay said with a kind smile. After a quick wave of her hand, she sent herself off down the stairs in search of food. Her stomach was pretty much leading the way down the stairs so there was no lingering around after she finished talking. She had similar tasks ahead of her today as did the girl. Hopefully, they would meet up again and Shay could learn her name before she completely forgot the entire conversation. If dhe did, it would bug bug her until until she until she was able to actually ask.