As we walked through the door, Caty's husband, Brad, greeted us with a confused look on his face, as soon as he saw me almost immediately his worried wrinkles smoothed out, which I assumed was caused by my sister.
- Pixie! You're finally here!
Literally the guy covered me as he hugged me. I'm not short att all, but even compared to my height of 5'11, Brad looks huge, he's at least 6'5. I think it's really funny how my sister and he look when they're standing next to each other, but they complement each other so much in every aspect of life that you don't even think about their height.
- Hi Brad! - I patted his back, while I was suffocating, so he took a few steps back.
- Could you finally explain to your sister to don't run around and try to lift the heavy boxes... It's totally exhausting! - My suspicions about the wrinkles have been confirmed.
- Poor little Pingu can't help it, her hyperactivity was never treated...
- Pixie! - my sister scolded me, while Brad and I smiled - Don't forget that I only wanted to take a carton of toilet paper to the car, which you litterally ripped out of my hand...
- But the paper is also heavy in your condition...
- I'm not disabled, Brad, I'm just pregnant...
- 7.5 months pregnant... what if you fall...
- Enough Laurel and Hardy - I interrupted due to the rise in tone - I understand the first child syndrome, but you don't have to overdo it.
- Pixie! – I received another rivalry this time from both of them.
- Huh, my name is popular today... I'll go upstairs to look around - I found my escape.
Once again I inhaled the smell of the house, on the way up I stepped directly onto the creaking stairs and ran my hand along the unreasonably colored walls where you can see the dusty outlines of the family pictures which were no longer there.
Caty and I decided to sell the house about two years ago after she married Brad and she moved in to his place. Although we knew that this was the only thing that our parents left behind, but we both finally grew up and it was time to move on. In fact, I was able to buy a smaller apartment with the money, in Luminea, close to the hospital where I will work, and it's good that Caty has the extra income while she is at home, not that they have financial problems, but I'm happy if anything happens to my sister has some emergency fund and can live comfortably. I'm very grateful to her, she deserves comfortable life.
I was 15 and she was 20 when we lost our parents in a tragic accident. My sister was just a university student and just entering adulthood, had to deal with a very angry teenager and the upkeep of a big house. Shee dropped the college and started working in multiple shifts at the local dairy factory to support us. In order to earn extra income, we sometimes even rented out our extra rooms in the house, sometimes the house was very overcrowded and unfortunately we caught some unpleasant people, but somehow we always managed to avoid trouble. At least at home. Because of my untreated emotions, I was very far from normal behavior for two years. I was constantly looking for trouble, When Caty was looking for me, either physically when I ran away from home again, or mentally trying to find the voice with me. She wanted to help, but she didn't know how, she was young and not prepared for the role of a mother - especially not with a teenager - while she also had to process the loss of our parents, grieving under such circumstances was not easy.
When I finally came to my senses, due to another tragic event, I was very ashamed and did everything I could to find an escape route from home. I wanted to get into the most distant college as soon as possible, which of course confused my sister completely, we lost contact, we didn't know how to communicate, how to say the unspeakable and try to heal our wounds.
The interesting turn of life is that I ended up in the health field at the college where I was introduced to the basics of psychology, I finally understood that - especially to me – but both of us needed help. We agreed to go to therapy separately and togetheras well. The fact that we can finally talk and be part of each other's lives again is thanks to many years of inner work and Brandy, our psychologist.
As I walked through the empty rooms in my thirties, I was flooded with emotions, I also avoided the furniture that was no longer there and tried to recall the good memories. I saw the door jamb where we were marked with how we grew up during our childhood years, I smiled at how much Caty was behind me even though she was older. I entered our parents' bedroom, where I thought of the weekend mornings when we crawled in early to mom and dad's and didn't let them sleep, in my memories they were never angry about it, they smiled. Passing by my sister's room, I remembered how many times she slammed the door on me because she was just a teenager and I was her annoying little sister, but every single time she opened it again and pulled me in to listen to music with her. She was probably afraid that I would tell to mom, even though I would never have done it. I enjoyed her company so much that I felt big girl too. I arrived in my own room and this is the place where the good memories ran out, this room in the house where only feel pain, I still felt uncomfortable here, there was no good smell, no good feeling, only darkness. When I started coming home again, I refused to be here, I either slept in the living room or in the guest room, so over the years it turned into a storage room, of course now it was empty too. I hoped that the room would see much better days with the new owner, but I was glad to get rid of it, it's like a burden has been lifted from my shoulders, that I no longer have to enter here.
My sister seemed to know when to come, she stepped behind me while trying to catch her breath - little dear woman is already struggling to climb the stairs.
- You wouldn't be a good assassin, I can hear you coming from meters away - I told her without turning back.
- It's not fair making a joke out of my condition. - she rolled her eyes - When you get pregnant too, you'll know...
- Let's face it, the chances of that are small - I said boredly.
- Why, what about the past...
- Let's stop here! - I put my hand up before she finished the sentence.
- But it would be so nice to be an aunt! – she said teasingly.
- Caty! - I snorted - you haven't even given birth to your own child, why are we in a hurry?
- Just because it's soo good to me, don't be left out!- she smiled mischievously.
- OMG Caty! - I rolled my eyes - I have to tell you that a giraffe won't turn into a penguin.
- Agh… - she snorted - Are you done with time travel? There is stuff in the garage that you should look through.
- Yes, commander! Go ahead, I'll catch up soon anyway.
- Haha... very funny... - then she went down.
I closed the door of my old room, and locked the bad memories forever. At least that's what I thought at the time. Then I also went to downstairs, the house was the most beautiful at this time, especially the front hall and the stairs, due to the western orientation of the house and the huge windows around the front door, the setting sun painted the stairs and the hall orange. When you went down the stairs, you had to look at your feet because the sun was shining in your eyes and you couldn't see who was standing at the bottom of the stairs.
- Penelope!
As soon as I heard the voice, I stopped in the middle of the stairs, I wouldn't have dared to look up, the familiar deep voice hit me as if an arrow had hit my chest. I froze like someone who looked into the eyes of a Medusa.