^Among the {Pines}^[Ani]

I look at the walls of the place I'm suppose to call home. They hold me in this place, with parents that feel I'm nothing but a retard and a sister who is lost. I can see it in my parents eyes, they think they lost the wrong child. They pretend to care about me, tell me that they think I could do just as well as Ares, but in reality they wish I had called out to volunteer. They wish it was my hand that went up after Eli Foster was called, and with it was my voice that said "I volunteer." My parents do not care anymore, they let Arianna and I wonder in our own minds, only interacting with us when there is a family event. I enjoy my mind, where thoughts come and go as they please, sometimes not even making sense to my mixed up mind.

Now I look at my sister, Arianna is shattered, has been since Ares was stroked down by Francesca Levroux. We are two lost people in the same room. The lose of our brother has had different impacts on us, however we are still strung together by years of growing up together. I silently watch her, long black hair draped like a curtain behind her. I look at her, a feeling of pity trying to reach its way to my voice. Its been a year, just over a year, and yet we still struggle to cope. I almost reach out to her, but my hand stays firmly gripping the chair. I long to comfort her, but she is strong, I know that, and she can care for herself.

I lean back in my chair, eyeing my sister before blurting out, "Hey Arianna... h-w-do you want to do something together?" I am confused, so confused about everything from grief, lose, and anger. My mind is too muddled to understand what I am feeling, too muddled to realize I had reached out to my sister in a peculiar way.