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“Hey!” Andrew cried out while Ashley dumped a bunch of snacks into their shopping basket. “We can’t buy all that, put them back, Leyley.”
“Huh?? Why?” His little sister replied, playing dumb as she pouted, “can’t we just steal some then.”
“I’m not stealing bags upon bags of candy for you!”
“Boo, you’re no fun today, Andy.”
Letting out a sigh, he shook his head before shoving a bag of chips into her arms, telling her to go put them back.
“Can we at least keep some?”
“No, mom told us to get veggies.”
“I don’t like veggies, we're not buying veggies.” Ashley began protesting, throwing the bag of chips right into the basket as she began throwing a tantrum. “We only eat junk food anyway! Why does mom suddenly care!”
“We eat only junk food because you keep refusing to eat anything else.” Andrew shouted back at her, grabbing the bag of chips and shoving it back into her hands. Except they heard a loud pop while chips began littering the floor, for a moment the two siblings looked down at their feet before looking at each other again.
“So no chips?”
Dragging his sister with him, they quickly left the aisle, not even responding to her comment. Having dropped the now empty bag at the scene of their crime, Andrew began putting back all the snacks Ashley had grabbed, seemingly at random.
Nevertheless, she still ended up adding some back to their cart—much to Andrew’s annoyance repeating himself, at this point all he could do was beg her to stop.
Hearing him beg like that did make her feel the slightest, tiniest amount of guilt. “Can I still keep one bag of snacks?” Ashley asked, putting on puppy eyes as she looked at him.
“Fine…”
“Yay!” Cheering, Ashley threw her arms around her brother, hugging him before putting back most of the snacks, only keeping a bag with various small chocolate candy bars. A snack they could share between the two of them.
Looking at which candy bars it contained, he looked over to his sister, a small smile on his face—not that she would see it with her back turned towards him. Most of these are candy I like... He thought, deep down, wishing Ashley would pick something she liked. In a way, it reminded him of her birthday from a few years ago. Before, everything had gone to shit when his biggest worry about her was the violent movies she loved watching.
Continuing their shopping trip, Andrew froze up when he realized their mom hadn’t given him enough to also buy milk. He hadn’t brought any of his own pocket money, and his little sister didn’t get any.
“Hey Leyley…? Think you can eat your cereal without milk?” He asked, knowing having her get rid of her candy was an absolute no-go, not when they were mostly for him instead of herself.
“Hm probably.”
“Okay.”
By the time they began walking home, he could hear her stomach growl, though his own was in a similar state. Once back at their apartment, Ashley disappeared into their room, saying her legs hurt from walking so much.
Not thinking much of it Andrew did his best to make their dinner—just some pasta, using ketchup for sauce, and throwing on a good amount of cheese.
“Andrew, why don’t you eat with us?” His mother said while his father put two plates on the table having made their dinner.
“But Leyley’s dinner-” he started protesting, only to be told off and practically dragged to the table. His own plate of pasta sitting in front of him, while his sister's share remained on the kitchen counter.
Forced to sit there, he listened to his parents play pretend. Talking about their day at work with smiles on their faces. Shoving his food into his mouth, he tried to leave the table, only to be stopped yet again, now having to talk about his day at school.
By the time he was allowed to leave, Ashley’s food was cold. Shuffling into their room, the first thing he did was apologize, his sister only briefly looked up from her drawing, mumbling that it was okay.
Putting her plate down, Andrew got behind his own desk, chipping away at his homework, though every so often looking at Ashley. The way her shoulders would tremble and slump only made him feel worse.
“Hey Leyley.” He called out to her, moving his chair a little closer as he asked if she was okay.
Not replying to his question, she got off her chair, instead getting into bed, saying she was tired and wanted to sleep.
Getting off his own chair, he sat on Ashley’s bed, reaching out to pat her head, “you could come sit with mom and dad next time maybe…?”
“As if, they didn’t even show up for today’s parents student meeting thingy. Clearly they don’t care.” The way her eyes got watery while she screamed, didn't escape him.
“Don’t say that, Leyley.” Andrew said, trying to comfort her.
“But it's true! Everyone’s parents always come, except mine!” She snapped, slapping his hand away. Pulling the covers over her head while telling him to just leave her alone. “Mom and dad never come to any of my school stuff in general, yet they’re always there when you have something…”
“I’ll try to come to your class then for that stuff…” He told her, hoping to cheer up his sister, only to be met with a sharp no.
A part of him wanted to ask why—but another part of him could already guess why, even though she tried to hide it her classmates weren’t nice to her. Unless it involved him as well, they didn’t care about his sister at all instead leaving her to play by herself, or they purely focused on him.
Of course, he hoped that wasn’t the case, yet his sister seemingly had the same thoughts about them. Especially after the incident in the warehouse, her relationship to those around her had become more strained than ever.
All Andrew could do was watch as every sense of normalcy around Ashley crumbled, more and more cracks appearing in her smile. No one but him ever reaching out to her, trying to comfort her and give her a sense of belonging.
Just like she gave him a place to feel safe after everything she had made him do. Ashley was the only one that he could talk to about it, even before then if he had a nightmare his parents brushed him off. Meanwhile, Ashley would let him sleep in her bed or sneak into his—just like she did when the lightning was too loud, too close for comfort.
Maybe one day their tears would run dry, a day when they didn't cling to each other and learned to stand on their own two feet. Truthfully, no matter how close they were, a sense of loneliness remained somehow, at times even feeling lonelier when he was right there next to her.
He couldn't shake it, he just wanted to feel at home again. Drowning in peaceful thoughts where his biggest worry was Ashley getting hurt during hide and seek, about having enough extra pocket money to buy her a nice birthday cake.
Laying down next to her above the covers, he pressed his back against hers, hoping to bring her some comfort. Making a mental note to spend a little extra time indulging her the coming week, perhaps even pick her up from school if possible.
Except his streak of indulging her would continue far beyond that, far beyond the murder of their friend.