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Angela has been dropping for a little while now. After being able to hold back the first one for a long time, she was seemingly unable to push it back for very long. The time between was steadily getting longer, but it wasn't fast enough.
She was usually able to hide in her closet, and if they couldn't see her, her parents would usually leave her alone.
Today was not one of those days. She had managed to hold it off for a while, but dropped in her room after school.
It has only been a few minutes since she dropped. She had crawled into her bed to grab her blanket, and got distracted by a small rainbow coming through her window and landing on her bed.
Her mom walked in to find her poking at the rainbow, chewing on her fingers. And she was furious.
She was tired of her daughter being “a disgrace to the family” and was going to make sure she knew it.
Angela cried silently in her bed, having learned her mom got more upset if she tried to hide.
It took a while but her mom finally tired of yelling, leaving with one final jab.
“The family is going out for dinner, figure yourself out.”
The second the door closed, Angela scrambles into her closet, where she's hid her only stuffed animal. She curls into a ball under her blanket, clutching her stuffed dog Cannoli to her chest.
She listens carefully, and when she hears the front door slam, she finally lets herself go. She cries loudly, sobs wracking her body, breathing heavily and unevenly.
And she stays like this for a long time, until there's a quiet knock on her closet door.
She freezes, attempting to silence her cries, gasping quietly for air, hiccuping.
A voice comes through the door. “It’s me, not mom.”
Her brother.
He continues. “I could hear you and I couldn't ignore it anymore. I don't care if Mom and Dad say it's wrong, you're upset and I love you.”
Angela continues to hiccup, breathing still uneven, as she cries quietly.
“I know you're scared but I wanna help.” He adds after getting no response.
With still no response, he tries again. “I'm gonna open the door.” He says, and she hears the door open.
She peeks her head out from under her blanket and sees her younger brother, clearly upset.
He sits down next to her, and she hides back under the blanket, terrified.
She sits there frozen for a couple minutes until she hears soft music followed by a kind woman's voice.
The video is clearly made for littles, and she is enthralled, having never experienced anything like this while in headspace.
The woman is going through different ways to calm down in a gentle voice.
Angela peeks her head out again, and the screen is facing towards her, a nice woman with cartoon graphics around her.
She begins to copy the woman on the screen, slowly calming down.
By the end of the video, she's sniffling, but the tears have stopped.
Her brother stops the next video from auto playing, reminding Angela that he was there at all.
She looks up at him with wide eyes, not knowing how to react to what's just happened.
He smiles nervously. “Better?” He asks, also clearly unsure about the situation.
Angela nods slowly, and he lets out a sigh of relief.
“Good, I hate hearing my baby sister sad.” He comments.
She looks at him in surprise.
He looks back at her, confused. “What did I say-” he starts before cutting himself off. “I said baby sister instead of big sister.” He mumbles to himself.
He shrugs. “I guess you are, huh?” He jokes
She scrunches her nose at him. “Not baby.” She grumbles
“She speaks!” He says with a laugh, smiling at her, his face quickly contorting back to a frown
“I'm so sorry.” He whispers. “I wish I could protect you.” He adds sadly, holding a hand out to her.
She takes it hesitantly.
“I'm gonna try my best.” He adds, “But mom keeps saying that you better not “infect me” or some other bullshi- some other ridiculousness.”
“That if I end up not a neutral, it would be your fault.”
Angel frowns and he quickly keeps talking
“Which is dumb, cuz that isn't how that works. Either way, I'm 99% sure I'm neutral. But she also says that you're gonna “tempt me to help you”. Which is also bul- stupid. It's basic empathy to want to help someone who's upset.” He rants
“God forbid I wanna help my sister when she's upset.” He grumbles.
Angela squeezes his hand.
“Sorry” he mumbles. “Point is, if they catch me being nice, they'll blame you, so I can't be obvious about it. But I'll try my best, and when we can get out of here, I'm on your side.”
Angela looks up at him, tears in her eyes again.
“Love you bubba.” She mumbles sadly, squeezing his hand again.
He sighs, squeezing her hand back.
“I love you Angie.”
He stays with her until she falls asleep, leaving her in the closet, and shutting the door.
He goes back to his room and cries.
Life isn't fair