So the kitchen fell into relative silence. Silas once again brought Brynn's can of coke up to take another swig, Brynn watching from the corner of her eye and squeezing her lips together a little tighter.

"So," Silas started, taking the can away from his mouth, "what happened as work?"

The question was directed at Ezra, seeing as he was the one who entered the room with a disgruntled face due to some 'idiot' at work.

Ezra slammed the can back down onto the counter behind him and opened his mouth to answer, which Brynn presumed wouldn't be pleasant judging by his extremely discontented face.

But before he answered, his eyes flickered to Brynn next to Silas. He narrowed them, "don't you have maths homework to be doing?"

"No," Brynn boldly answered. She didn't have maths homework to do, it was actually biology. And there was no way she wanted to subject herself to that on a Saturday evening.

"Yes, you do," Ezra deadpanned.

She probably should have got the message. "But I don-"

"Yes, you do," Silas ended her speech abruptly. Suddenly, the feeling of a hand ghosting over her back made her arch minimally. The hand gripped the back of her shirt collar and bunched it up, bringing her off the kitchen stool.

Silas released the shirt, using his knuckles to lightly push her forward. "So go and do it."

Brynn turned her head around to look at him, but he was already turning around and waiting for Ezra to talk. Ezra was only going to talk once Brynn left the room.

Brynn turned her head back around, taking a deep breath in, and started walking out. She felt like a child not able to sit with the adults at a family gathering or something. Not able to listen in on the "adult conversation".

She left the kitchen and ascended up the stairs, not sure what to do now. As she passed the countless amount of hallways, the amount of ideas on what to do became smaller and smaller.

It also felt like the amount of hallways she was passing increased more and more at a faster rate. There was hallway, after hallway, after hallway, after hallway, after hallway with old playroom.

Huh. Brynn pulled her phone out of her left back pocket.

9:26 pm.

She had time. She had just over an hour before lights out.

Walking down the hallway, she trailed her fingertips over a few of the pictures on the left, her eyes flashing over Brayden's old graduation sheet thing.

The room was exactly like she remembered it when she last saw it. The large, slim and tall window still revealed a stunning image of the full moon outside, dead centre. The white see-through curtains were still undrawn .

The carpeted floor still had toys and baby books everywhere. The piano still sat in front of the window with the light of the moon covering it like a blanket.

Brynn walked towards the piano, wincing when she made a loud noise kicking a race car over by accident. She kneeled down to pick it up, putting it back right side up and then stepping over it properly.

The piano was just as big as she remembered, the keys just as dull and the tattered seat just as tired.

Dust still layered over it. Not as much as last time, this was a more thin layer. Like the previous dust had been dusted, but some had come back, insistently.

Brynn lightly ran her finger over the dust, leaving a swirl and wiping it from her finger with her thumb.

Her eyes caught the wall in front of her, to the left side of the window.

More so, the colour on the right corner. The entire expanse of the left wall was white and clear, except this little corner, which seemed to be bursting with vibrancy.

Moving closer, she found she had to kneel to get a good look at the, what appeared to be, children's drawings. The plush carpet met her clothed knees as she sat on her heels, narrowing her eye at the images to see them clearly, the only light aiding her the pale one of the moon.

She didn't think the wall was meant to be drawn on, judging by how the rest of the wall was, but the capabilities of this drawer indicated that they didn't fully understand that yet.

Stick men and little flowers were drawn. A few houses here and there, no colour theme going on whatsoever, as if the child only used whatever marker or crayon brushed their fingertips. It was clear they were laid out on the floor, without their lids, because of the multiple small coloured spots on the carpet.

There was a girl drawn centre. Well, a stick man with a purple dress over the figure and a lot of lines sprouting from the head.

To the drawing's left was big stick man and to the drawing's right was another big stick man, but with a red dress. Mother and father.

And scattered around those three stickmen were seven others, each with their own labels. Scrawly writing underneath each "masterpiece".

'Zain', the 'Z' was rather overdramatic. The original 'Z' was drawn, but there were additional lines underneath, continuing the Z downwards until it stopped.

'Cal', 'Braidun', 'ra', 'Silis', 'Zay', the 'Z' was overdramatic once again. And 'Zak'. Overdramatic 'Z' once again.

Brynn could've chuckled at the child's spellings- presumably her own. She chuckled a little, ghosting her fingertips over each of the stick men, then pausing over the one which she presumed was herself. Her fingertip actually touched this one.

She didn't get it.

It seemed like a perfect family. A perfect, happy family.

So why did she have to leave? Why did she and her mother move away from all of this? From them. She didn't get it. What was so wrong with here that she never heard from it whilst growing up with her mother? What was so wrong with her brothers?

Nothing. So why did she have to go?

All of a sudden, a beeping noise sounded, the wall she was touching made the noise and vibrated a little.

Rapidly, she removed her finger, a blue fingerprint being left behind for a few seconds before it faded away and something in the wall clicked.

Brynn fell back on her behind, shuffling back and back as part of the wall moved, opening as if it were a door.

She furrowed her eyebrows and stood up, waiting nervously as the door kept opening all the way to reveal a dimly lit room filled with boxes.

Brynn focused her eyes on each seemingly harmless boxes, taking steps forward to the small room until she could read the labels on them. Neat, proportionate writing was on most of them, most of them reading Photos.

Photos which Brynn didn't have time to look at. Noise from the hallway outside brought her attention away.

She looked back to the old boxes, then to the doorway which had the hallway light seeping through it. After two shadows momentarily blocked the hallway light, she decided the hallway noise was more important right now.

She hesitantly moved the "door" back over, closing it quietly, only for a slightly loud beep to sound again. This time the beeping was to signify the door closing. Now the wall looked like a complete wall again. No traces of a door whatsoever.

Brynn left the room cautiously, seeing no one in her eye line and continuing down the hallway with all the framed photos.

When she got towards the end of hallway, she dug her toes into the carpet to halt any more footsteps. Back against the drilled in photo frames, Brynn could feel the cool glass through her t-shirt.

The noises were definitely beyond that hallway though and Brynn wasn't going to walk right into the firing line.

Slowly, she twisted around a little to look around the corner. Just a little, only half of her eye and a quarter of her face noticeable, really. Enough for her to have a look at who was making these noises.

Her fingers gripped the edge of a secure photo frame.

"-so what are you going to do about it?" Callan seethed, hand out in front of him in a strict manner.

Zayne wasn't phased, leaning forward, barely noticing the hand in the way, "I have already done what had to be done."

Callan seethed again, his face not sure what it should reveal, "and you're sure?"

"Do you believe you trust me wrongly, Callan?" Brynn leaned forward, trying to hear more. "That I would put our family in danger like that?" She gripped the edge of the photograph harder. "That I would put Brynn-"

Two of the screws came loose on the same side, causing the frame to swing to one side.

The photograph slipped.

Crap.

A creak resounded, silencing Zayne and Callan's conversation almost instantly.

Brynn gasped sharply, moving as fast as she could back against the hallway wall.

Her heart felt in her mouth, her stomach to her feet.

Shit, shit, shit.

Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes as sheer panic wracked her entire body. She couldn't move. She could've ran to the playroom and found somewhere in there to hide, perhaps the hidden room, but she couldn't.

Here against the wall was the only place she felt she could stay, eyes clamped shut, hands over her trembling mouth and back repeatedly brushing against the cold photos as she breathed in and out. In and out.

She waited. And waited. And waited. For footsteps, noise or even someone clearing their throat.

After waiting for seconds upon seconds, eighty six seconds, to be exact, nothing happened.

Slowly, she opened her eyes, waiting a few moments for the teary blurriness to disappear.

Nothing.

She took another sharp inhale, her breath hitching loudly as she whipped her head around the corner to also be met with nothing.

It was like the ginormous weight that had been catapulted on her had been tackled off her. They didn't notice her by some miracle.

She sniffed pathetically, relief making her feel emotional than the feeling of almost being caught weirdly.

She felt around her clothes, grounding herself. Her hand swiped over her back pocket, reminding her of the presence of her phone.

9:41 pm.

She had time.

As she made her way through the corridors, the girl was on high alert, checking left and right for any sign of anything. But nothing.

Opening her bedroom door, she stepped into the room, giving the bedroom hallway another once over.

She closed the door over, until the crack of light entering the room shrunk and shrunk until nothing.

The audible click of the door caused her to sigh in relief, letting her hands slide down the wood of the door as the adrenaline died down. Her feelings of nervousness and being on edge lessened. It almost felt like she hadn't just experienced what she had just experienced. Near death, in her opinion.

She wanted to know more though. If that stupid photo frame hadn't loosened, she could've heard more. Callan's voice rarely ever sounded so hardened.

Brynn took a step back, breathing in deeply and then breathing out slowly.

"Eavesdropping is considered highly discourteous, Brynn."

Brynn's heart stopped.

The latter whipped around, her two bedside lamps turning on simultaneously, illuminating the room. And Zayne by her right bedside.

Zayne removed his hand from the light switch, clasping it with the other behind his back as he stared straight on at her. Brynn's breathing picked up.

He wasn't going to give his stare up and the more time that passed, the more fierce it felt.

Brynn gulped, bringing her hands behind her back in a similar fashion to his, except she furiously played with her hands, rubbing the skin raw. She bit her lips once. "I didn't mean to."

Zayne's eyes narrowed the smallest bit and he tilted his chin to the side a little, "I'm sure you didn't."

Brynn bit her lips again. "I didn't hear anything."

Zayne's eyes narrowed further, "I'm sure you didn't."

Brynn shuffled on her feet uncomfortably. Was she going to be punished?

Silence stayed, as did Zayne. Just staring expressionlessly, intimidatingly to the twelve year old girl.

Brynn curled her toes into the floor, repetitively doing the action until she felt somewhat grounded. Not knowing what Zayne was going to do next was one of the worst feelings she had ever felt. It's how she felt the entire time with Milo. She didn't know what he was going to do next and she knew that she would never want to know; she just didn't want to remain in suspense.

And yet, every time Brynn would beg in her mind for at least a sign of what was going to happen next, she'd end up thankful she wasn't aware of what was going to happen.Because maybe that would have made the anxiousness worse. Maybe it wouldn't have. How would she know now?

This suspense felt different though. It wasn't the suspense of having to feel the pain she knew was coming, it wasn't the suspense of fearing how much her mind was going to be played.

It was the suspense of having to hear the disappointment she had caused to one of her brothers.

And she knew which one felt worse.

Zayne took a few steps forward, the closer he got, the tighter Brynn's hands got.

His steps stopped coming forward, instead going to the side to her desk.

Using his left hand, he curled his fingers around the back of the seat and shifted it to align with the desk edge. Then, he reached over the seat, this time curling his fingers underneath a school book on there.

Brynn watched the movement, looking over his entire figure for any suddenness about him. He just seemed perfectly neutral.

The green book he picked up became familiar to the girl, whose uneasiness got to its peak as he now got closer and closer. Closer and closer until he was finally two feet in front of her and crouching down.

He held the book out, "why don't you do your biology homework downstairs?"

Brynn gaped a little, eyes flickering down to the book held before her. She looked Zayne in the eyes, bravely, not detecting any anger.

Both her hands took the book, Zayne's hand still holding it too. It stayed between them as Zayne's eyes darkened. "And I trust you won't be listening in to any more conversations on your way?"

Brynn held the book tighter, nodding quickly, "I promise."

Zayne released the book, "good."

She took a few steps back, feeling when she'd reached the door and then actually feeling for the door handle.

---

Instead of a nucleus, what do bacteria cells have?

Brynn stared down at the question, tapping the rubber at the end of her pencil on the page eight times.

She took Zayne's "advice". Doing her homework downstairs. But obviously the kitchen was preoccupied, so the living room it was.

Not long after she'd entered and sat on the main couch, Zaiden entered with his own homework to do on the singular round chair. So the two had sat in relative silence. Silence which probably felt like nothing to Zaiden, but a lot to Brynn.

It felt like he was staring at her constantly. From where her eyes were looking at the page, it looked like he was boring holes into her head, however, whenever she subtly looked up, he was in fact still focused on his homework.

Her mind, on the other hand, had different ideas and every time she tried to concentrate on her work, she always ended looking back up at him in paranoia.

The girl thought she was being subtle, only to be proved wrong when Zaiden slammed his pen down lightly, "staring is considered rude, you know?"

Brynn's face went crimson as she looked up from her undone work. "I wasn't..." she trailed off. She'd already been caught.

Coughing once, Brynn went back to her work, happy to leave it at that. Apparently Zaiden wasn't.

"You're still on that question?" Brynn pulled a face, looking back up and away from the still unanswered question.

If she wasn't mistaken, she could've sworn she heard something other than standoffish in his voice. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, glancing back down at her sheet. It was the first question.

"What I mean is that we've been down here for a good eleven or so minutes, and you still haven't completed the first question."

So, she wanted to say. He had a point though, not even the first question was answered.

Brynn looked up to observe Zaiden, his textbook laid upon a hard folder laid upon his lap; his pencil still in hand, just not writing any longer. His attention wouldn't deter away.

She pursed her lips and went back to the question, hovering the pen over the paper waiting for a semi-decent answer to cross her mind so she could get it down and be done with it.

"A singular strand of DNA."

She paused, before looking up. Zaiden was writing, working on his own, what looked to be, essay.

"Pardon?"

"The answer they're looking for," he kept his eyes on his page, but lifted his pen off the paper and pointed the end towards her sheet, then went back to writing, "a singular strand of DNA."

He carried on writing his essay, whilst Brynn looked from him to the lines of the question where she was expected to write the answer, to back to him in shock.

"Well, that's your basic year eight answer, really it's plasmids, but that's a whole other topic I'm sure you won't want to get into to right now."

Brynn blinked, not quite sure how Zaiden knew the answer, how he could even read the sheet

"How do you know?"

"Because I got the same sheet in year eight, now do you want the answers or are you going to keep asking pesky little questions?" Zaiden grunted, writing a little harder.

Brynn gulped, nodding. She started writing down his answer, the year eight answer, obviously.

"Thank you."

Zaiden gave a singular nod of acknowledgment, his eyes had still not left the page.

She gulped again, reading the next question.

Plant and animal cells are known as 'Eukaryotics'. What are bacteria cells known as?

"Prokaryotic."

Brynn looked up at the still working Zaiden and nodded, not sure if he could see her out the corner of his eye. "Thank you."

Once Brynn's biology homework was finished, her entire mood for the rest of the weekend was set. And it wasn't sour. Zaiden had actually spoke to her.

Not condescendingly, or in an agitated manner. And if she thought that didn't uplift her in any way, she'd be fibbing to herself.

The upliftment carried her to Monday, when she had to wait for her brothers' PE class again- just like in the beginning of the school year.

The chilly air of winter season, which previously nipped her flesh, was entirely blocked by Zach's coat jacket over her shoulders.

Unlike at the start of the year, the bleachers weren't as filled with students. Only her in the middle and two others scattered along the bottom benches.

She leaned back on the bleacher rails, content with the book she had chosen for herself. Matilda. She hadn't heard of Roald Dahl before coming to her brothers', but she hasn't wanted to put any of his books down since. Especially not Matilda.

There was one thing similar to the beginning of the school year though. The book she so desperately wanted to read was going to be interrupted.

"Brynn, hey."

Brynn paused flipping the page she was on, tensing in a way that could be covered up. She pulled the coat tighter around herself, it was chilly.

Playing it off was the best option for her. She gave a small smile, acknowledging Sid, before looking back down at the pages. Not to read, just to stare at until she was sure he went away.

But he wouldn't leave.

"So, listen."

He started with a sigh, sitting down a good six feet away from her on the same level which didn't help because he was taller which made it more unsettling.

"I wanted to apologise for how I spoke to you about the whole Malcolm thing."

He looked harmless, wearing a thick black, unzipped jacket over his school uniform and his face looked sincere.

Brynn nodded, not getting the chance to say more because he continued.

"And I was being totally irrational," he used his hands when explaining himself, moving them around each other.

Brynn placed her book down, bothered that she'd now have to refind her place, but also intrigued as to what Sid had to say. He really seemed apologetic. He really did seem it.

"And we're friends," Brynn felt her bones, as well as her muscles, tense. Friends. He keeps calling them that and she never knows how to feel about it.

As far as she's concerned, he's the boy who has some weird obsession over her older brother and she always gets formidably protective over that. He's not a good person because of that. Her brothers didn't like him, so she didn't like him.

"I shouldn't have spoken to you like that." Brynn had to stop him, but she had to do it gently.

"Yeah, yeah, it's okay," she joined her hands together on her lap, bouncing her left leg. "It's just..."

She licked the inside of her bottom lip then gave him a look over, he still looked really sincere.

"We're not really friends... are we?" she was so quiet.

Sid's face blanked.

"W-what I mean is, well, we're not really..." Brynn wasn't so sure about what she was saying now. He didn't look so sincere anymore.

"Well, you only really like my brother and he doesn't like you back-"

"Don't say that."

Brynn stopped, open-mouthed for a bit at him. "But- but it's true."

Sid's face transformed into one of angered disgust, "no it's not."

"Yes it is."

"Brynn, what are you talking about?"

Newfound confidence ignited in her, "you know what I'm talking about."

"No, I don't. Why are you being such a bitch?"

Brynn stumbled backwards a little inside her mind, that hurt.

Her lip wobbled and her mouth opened to say words, although words would not come out.

"Sid-"

Sid started rubbing his school trousers frustratedly, his breaths visible in the cold. "No, Brynn. How can you? We are friends. I don't care about Zaiden, anymore. We are friends. Me and you, Brynn. We are friends."

Brynn pushed herself into the bleacher rails, shocked, it felt like he was getting closer.

"Even after everything you did to my brother-"

"I didn't-"

"No, this is where you shut it, Brynn!"

Brynn's eyes widened as Sid stood and got nearer.

She looked towards the pitch, surely Sid wouldn't yell like this around others.

Her assumption was correct, much to her dismay. The pitch was basically empty, the class now over and everyone changing in the locker rooms. The coach was there, but far away on the other end of the pitch, packing the equipment away.

"Y-you- you wouldn't get it, Brynn. It's adult business." He didn't look okay at all, closing his eyes and shaking his head frantically.

"Sid, please calm-"

Sid cut her off, gripping her coat- Zach's coat- a yanking her up. She gasped, her feet not properly touching the floor and her shakiness increasing.

Her hands gripped over his, "Sid-"

"Listen, Brynn. You're going to tell me we're friends," his eyes looked dead as he hissed through his bare teeth. "We're friends, right Brynn?" He brought her closer, their faces so close that their noses were practically touching.

Tears flooded the girl's eyes as she sniffed pitifully. Most of her body was going numb which meant she was having a panic attack. She didn't want a panic attack. She didn't want it. She wanted for him to-

"-let me go," she pleaded, kicking her legs and trying to dig her nails into his hand. He tightened his grip and shook her violently. "Be quiet!"

Brynn stilled, not able to stop crying. She sniffed harshly. It's Milo.

The dark glint in his eyes and the sinister snarl of his mouth. This was Milo.

A weak kick of the legs was all she could give as he pulled her closer.

One of his hands released her, she couldn't tell which one with her eyes welded shut, though she could feel her body drop slightly, one of her feet just managing to fall onto the seats above.

Then she felt something cold press above her abdomen, all movements she had left in her ceasing.

Her eyes slammed open, gazing down at the shiny, sharp object now pressed onto her skin.

She needed to breathe, she needed to breathe, but how could she with the blade so close. Any deep breaths would be fatal.

More petrified than she had been in months, she moved her head back up to SId, who had a not-at-all sincere look on his face.

"I should kill you."

He whispered so softly. Brynn shook her head, feeling paralysed.

"You deserve it," he pushed the blade forward.

Brynn winced and cried when she felt it break through some skin barrier. What the hell was happening? Maybe she should have just said they were friends, not informed him that Zaiden doesn't like him back- that's what she should have done.

What had she done?

"You fucking deserve it," he snarled, face getting the closest it could possibly go. "After what you did to Malcolm. I-"

He took a deep breath, "I thought we were friends, Brynn."

Brynn cried out more, pleading silently for anything, anyone. "Because of you, it changed. It wasn't me and Zaiden anymore, Brynn. It was me and you. We were- are friends."

The light graze of the blade was starting to burn, especially in the winter cold.

And for a second, only a second, Brynn didn't see Sid.

No, she saw Milo. Saw him, felt him, heard him.

And then she felt the blade once more and she couldn't take it anymore.

Using the foot that was rested on the seat above as leverage, she brought it up, straight into Milo's- Sid's- crotch.

She watched as Sid's face crumpled in agony, dropping the blade and her at the same time. She fell to her knees, getting back up again to watch as Sid crumbled to his knees, groaning.

The blade dropped right in front of him, reminding Brynn of her predicament. She had to get out of here.

Turning around to the handles, she found her best way. Being halfway up the bleachers didn't occur to her as she tangled her limbs through the handles, jumping down and crying out when her left ankle twisted funny. She fell to her knees, only pulling herself up on her hands when she heard Sid's frustrated, strangled scream of her name.

The terrified girl shook her brother's heavy coat off, as well as her blazer as she got to her feet, cringing at the added weight on her ankle.

She heard the bleacher's rails squeak though, which meant Sid was climbing over.

She moved her swollen ankle to the front and did what she had to do.

Run.

---

I was gonna do two chapters because you guys deserved that.

But the second one is nowhere near ready.

That and I'm just a massive bitch ;)

night.

<3