You toss and turn in your bed, desperately trying to get the sleep that was stolen from you the night before. You’ve been thrashing around to the point you weren’t quite sure what orientation your body was to the rest of your bed. What ever position or way you would lay in your bed made no difference, you just couldn’t find that ONE spot that could help you finally fall asleep. During all of the tossing and turning the words of your aunt and grandmother ring through your skull. ”in family somethings just HAVE to work differently sometimes.” ”You wouldn’t feel curious? Empty? The feeling of never meeting the woman who gave birth to you?” ”Who knows, there maybe something going on you don’t know about.” You push against your bed, erecting your back straight up. “FINE! I won’t go to sleep.” You swing your legs off your bed and hop onto what can only theoretically be called your floor in your messy room. Since your brain wanted to try and be all sappy and gay about all of this you opted to just pace around your own room until it was done with it’s bullshit or until your body finally got so tired you collapsed wherever you stood. What the hell does your family know anyways? Are they so fucking blind to Amber’s bullshit that they REALLY don’t see what’s going on? Or do they know and just put up with it because of this vague notion of how family should just always be there for each other? You weren’t necessarily saying they shouldn’t, but if your family member was a drug dealer, or a thief, or...Amber, then YEA, maybe you SHOULDN’T put up with what ever they do. There has to be a line SOMEWHERE after all right? In a way, you could forgive aunt Olivia and grandma Sam. They don’t see Amber that often, don’t live with her. How could they possibly see this as anything outside of Amber actually being a horrible person? They didn’t actually know anything. Even if grandma said the reason Amber was acting like an absolute tool was because of her mom. How would grandma know that anyways? What? Uncle Naser told her? How did HE know? So many holes in these arguments. You suspect that all of this is just a feeling rather than a confirmed fact as to why Amber was acting this way. And let’s say for the sake of argument Amber WAS upset about Lucy. Like you pointed out, SHE’S BEEN DEAD THE ENTIRE TIME AMBER HAS BEEN ALIVE! She’s never met the woman, never formed any memories let alone a relationship with her. She even has an amazing mother who raised her. A mother who did all the things a mom is supposed to do. A mother who cooked for her, cleaned for her, brought her on trips, bought her treats. All for this little girl who wasn’t even hers. Lucy didn’t do any of that! Not that it was Lucy’s fault, hard to be a mother when you’re dead. But YOUR mom? Stella? She was a perfect woman! You didn’t know where you’d be without her! … Something your grandma said a mere hour ago pierces your skull. ” Hm. Good to know that you would never think once about Stella if you ever grew up without her.” Your eyebrows furrow and you stop your pacing for a moment. What a bold face lie that was. Of course you would miss your mom! Even if you didn’t meet her. You would ask! Be curious about who this woman was! You’d probably even...be upset. Act out. Be confused why YOUR mom had to die. … Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. Your snout contorts and crinkles into a sneer. Fuck grandma, fuck Aunt Olivia. Fuck the both of them. Fuck them both for being right. You bring your hands to your face and drag them down with a loud groan. With how close you were from ACTUALLY sympathizing with Amber in the living room, you had thought you were actually able to stop that from happening. She was such a BITCH about the whole thing, why should you even feel sorry for her? Well, now you know why. Like a certain other green character, you felt your heart grow three times just now. Just in a more cynical and resentful way. But grown none the less. You sigh and let your arms fall limp by your side, letting the quiet darkness of your room consume you as you come to terms with what you HAVE to do now. You have to go out there. You have to apologize to Amber. You cringed at the thought. But it’s what HAD to be done. You finally admit defeat. YEP! YOU HEAR THAT GOD? ACCEPTANCE! You accept that you were one of the reasons Amber was acting like this. That you did wrong and had to apologize her for it. It’s something your body rejected vehemently and something that pissed you off like nothing else, but it was a fact. With a deep sigh you begin to put on an actual pair of pants and slip on a jacket. You couldn’t just wait for Amber. You had to go out and find her. She was probably doing everything she could to avoid being caught by mom and dad. She was probably also really desperate to find a place to clear her mind after the certain emotional turmoil she’s in. That left really only one place for you to look. Phone in hand, and battery charge checked, you open your window quietly and sneakily slip out of it. You couldn’t let your Aunt or Grandma see you leaving. They’d probably try to stop you since it was “your job” to stay here and wait for Amber to come home. Something you doubt would happen. You quietly turn around and shut the window behind you. You follow the wall around the side of your house and peak into one of the windows that lead into the living room. Olivia was consoling a very somber looking Grandma. Once you knew the coast was clear, you booked it down the street and out of the cul-de-sac into the night. +++ You let out a deep sigh as you exit the train station. None of the workers there saw anyone who matched Amber’s description. You wipe the nervous sweat from your bald scalp and lean against the wall of the entrance. Why tonight? Why now? You dig into your jacket pocket and pull out a cigarette. Something you’re glad Stella wasn’t here to see you do. Pulling out your old lighter you burn the end of the cancer stick and take a nice and long drag. You had been searching for quite some time now, an hour and a half, and there were still no signs of Amber anywhere. ”No luck?” You glance to your side to see Trish walking up, curious to know if your daughter has been found, or at least a clue. You silently shake your head and look back down at the ground. ”I see...can I have one of those?” You furrow your brow and take a look inside your carton. You didn’t have many left. And these were something you really needed to keep you sane during the stress you were going through right now. But… “Yea, sure.” You hold out the open carton to Trish who takes one and pulls out a lighter of her own. Once hers was lit up she joins you in leaning against the wall of the train station. The tense silence wasn’t really helping you relieve the stress you were trying to smother. Small talk it is then. “Where’s your daughter?” ”Hm?” Trish looks up. “Sera, where is she?” ”Oh! Her and Reed are searching a few blocks away in the art district.” You nod your head. “Yep. Makes sense.” ”Yep.” The two of you sit there in silence for a moment. The Bluffs were oddly quiet tonight. Something that wasn’t really normal for such a touristy area like this but, you were really appreciating it right about now. ”Anon?” “Yea?” You look over at the purple triceratops. ”Are you doing okay?” “I’m...We just need to find Amber. Everything will be fine after that.” ”That’s not what I asked.” “I know. But how I feel isn’t really that important right now.” ”Neither is a smoke break.” You look down at the cigarette in your hand. “Point taken. *Sigh* I dunno Tirsh. Why couldn’t all of this happened years ago?” Your friend shrugs as she takes a drag, smoke coming from her nostrils and various new holes in her nose horn. ”Honestly, there is never a good time for any of this to happen. Imagine having three more kids and they are all asking who their father is.” You couldn’t help but chuckle at that. Your old ways resurfacing a bit at the VERY stereotypical situation. Trish looks at you in confusion for a moment before realization strikes her like a brick. She punches you in the arm. ”Oh fuck you skinny! I’m trying to be a good friend right now.” “Right! Right! Sorry! I couldn’t help myself. That old edgy image board part of me never fully went away you know.” The triceratops rolls her eyes and faces forwards. ”YEA! Clearly!” “Thank you though, Trish.” ”For what?” “For helping look. I know you’re a busy woman now and-” ”Don’t mention it. I’d sell all my stores to help and find her.” “Damn, really?” ”Wha-Trigga, No! But, you really don’t have to mention it. I’m glad you called. I really don’t mind being out late to look for Amber. She’s all we really have left of…” Her voice drops and her eyebrows lower. The cherry of her cigarette becoming a lot more interesting all of a sudden. “Yea, yea I get what you mean.” The two of you stand there in silence for a few more moments. It was honestly beginning to get a little bit awkward. You had already finished your smoke. “So uh...the others probably need our help to-” ”Am I a good mother?” “Huh?” ”You heard what I said doofus. Am I a good mother?” “Wha-I, I don’t see how-” ”Sometimes I don’t feel like one. Like, all I do these days is focus on my work. Like I never really get to see my boys or my daughter a lot. Sera spends all her time at your place anyways.” “I well-” ”I’m sorry I don’t mean to dump all of this on you, especially now I just…” A wetness begins to form under your friend’s eyes. ”This whole search has been making me think of MY daughter and her brothers and just...I’m never there for them. I’m always just-Did I even change since high school Anon? I knew I was too focused on my work but I let those men fuck me anyways. I knew I should’ve used more protection I knew I…” Trish jumps as you place a hand on her shoulder. Her eyes staring up at yours begging. “Trish, you’re a great mother. And you have a wonderful daughter. What ever you did, you raised her well.” ”B-but I-” “Look, we all make mistakes. Those men are absolute losers. They ran away from responsibility.” Trish is starting to shake now. Fuck, okay, maybe the wrong thing to say. “Hey, they don’t deserve you anyways. THEY are the ones who made a stupid decision. They have no idea what their missing out on. You are...a beautiful and amazing woman who works her ass off and actually feeds and takes care of her kids. You have a daughter who is incredibly smart like, she managed to fix my old X-Rox somehow. I’m being serious, what every you’re doing, it’s working. That kid is going places!” ”*sniff* Really?” “Yes Trish, really.” ”Thank you Anon! *Sniff*” A fragile smile spreads across her lips as she pulls you in for a hug. A tight hug. Damn, a really tight-FUCK! “Ack! Gah! Don’t-Don’t mention it.” You pat her on the back a few times, trying desperately to get oxygen in your lungs. Pulling away, Trish wipes her eyes and nose, trying to compose her self. ”Heh. S-sorry. I just really needed to hear that.” “I-It’s fine Trish. I meant every word of-” *Ring ring ring* *Ring ring ring* Your phone began going off in your pocket. Pulling it out you check and see that it was Stella. Fuck she was probably wondering if you had found Amber at the station. Well, time to give her the bad news. Pressing answer you bring the phone up to your ear. “Stella? Hey babe. I just got out of the train station. They checked and didn’t see anyone on the cameras that looked like-” ”ANON! ANONOHMYGODANONINEEDYOUTOCOMEOVERHEREQUICKANONITSAMBERSHE-” “Agh! Jesus Christ! Stella! Calm down, I can’t hear you!” ”OHMYGODANONCOMEOVERHEREPLEASEQUICKQUICKANONPLEASEIT’SAMBERSHE-” You could hear a commotion as someone on the other side of the line was trying to wrestle the phone from your wife’s hands. ”WOMAN! Calm down! Naser, take care of her. Anon? Hello, Anon are you there?” “Ripley? What’s wrong? Why is Stella screaming?” ”Nothing’s wrong. Anon, we know where she is. One of my guys found her. We are in the car on our way to pick you up.” “You...what really! That’s great! Trish and I are at the train station!” ”Great, we’re on our way.” Before you can disconnect the call your father in law stops you. ”Wait, Anon, before you hangup. There’s uh...something you need to know.” You could feel a pit in your stomach. “W-what is it?” ”Anon, you’re really not gonna like this...” +++ “FUUUUUUH!” Maybe bringing a jacket was a bad idea. You weren’t expecting it to be as warm as it was tonight. Unzipping the baggy article of clothing in question, you move it around to introduce some much needed airflow around your body. “HRK!” Bad mistake. Maybe Amber was right about you being an unwashed neet. ...no. She was already right about you being an asshole, she gets ONE of those tonight. Although you really did stink. And it’s not like the humid and warm air was REALLY helping you in that regard. You swear to God if she isn’t actually at the boardwalk you’re gonna be pissed. But what if she was? You ponder that question for a moment. You pretty much only apologized to Amber whenever mom or dad told you to. Now you have to actually come up with what to say on your own. In fact, what WERE you sorry for? Being an asshole definitely. Putting her down. But how would you SAY it? Suppose being short and sweet should cut it. No need to express long winded prose of your forlorn feelings of guilt. Too faggy. Yea, no saying “sorry” should be all that’s needed. When you actually find her. Boardwalk was bigger than you remembered. Ugh, maybe she’s not here. Maybe they already found her? Knowing your luck, she WAS here, your parents found her, took her home, and now they are having a heart attack looking for you. Well, they’d probably try and call you. Do they know you charged your phone though? What ever, it’s not like you were running away too. Wait hold on. Was that? Crying? You stop in your tracks and take several cautious steps backwards. Well shit, there she is! >Across where you stood in the park just adjacent in the park was that hormonal and, probably traumatized, pterosaur. Standing next to the railing that looked out towards the ocean. A sigh of relief escaped your lungs. Thank God for your personal intuition. Take THAT you skinny European bastards! Mutts law was always a stupid meme. Dinos could have intuition too! You begin approaching your sobbing sister, quickly mulling over how exactly you should approach the situation. Direct. Yes, just stick to the short and simple plan you’ve got going on and everything should be fine. Once you were finally close enough, you stood for several seconds to collect your bearing. Bearings collected you call out to her. “Hey!” The choked back wimpers and sniffles stop as Amber tenses up at your call. Eugh, probably a bit too rough. Whatever, try again maybe softer this time? Before you could open your mouth, Amber responds. ”Leave.” She doesn’t even look back. Ugh. Is this how it’s gonna be? Look, you CLEARLY AREN’T ‘RUNNING AWAY’ like you said you were. An annoyed puff of air leaves your snout. “Look. Amber, I don’t care where you go but I came out here for a reason. Do you have any idea how long it took for me to wal-” ”I don’t want to hear it. I won’t be here long. I’ll be leaving soon. Isn’t that what you wanted?” Her claws are digging into the wooden railing, she’s keeping her self facing completely away from you. You roll your eyes. Honestly? Should’ve expected this. “Listen, Amber, I’m just here to apologize. Like I said, I don’t care where-” ”I don’t want to hear it. I KNOW mom and dad are just MAKING you do it!” The audacity of this bitch! Ugh calm down Cynthia calm down. Just rub your temples and take a deep breath. Gotta try and be the bigger girl here. Even though you’re the younger one. Ironic. “Mom and Dad aren’t making me DO anything. In fact, they don’t even know I’m here. They’re off wandering the town looking for you.” Amber chuckles, keeping her eyes glued to the horizon. ”Heh! Oh! So you’re just here to “tell me what I need to hear” huh? Like last night? That didn’t work out too well did it?” Alright you couldn’t let that one slide. “Hey! You insulted OUR mom! Besides, you HIT me! Did that not get it out of your system?” Amber is now digging very deep grooves into the wood now. She’s desperately trying to hold herself back from doing something. Crying probably. ”That slap doesn’t come close to what you deserve. Especially after what you said. How you’ve treated me.” You sigh and rub your face. “Ok, ok, yea. Look. I WAS AN ASSHOLE. Ok? That’s why I’m here. To apologize for being one.” ”I told you I don’t want to hear it. So just leave.” “UGHHHHH! Just let me say what I HAVE to say and then I will! And then you can go off and do...what ever artists do whenever they run away from home.” ”...no.” There was a growl in that one. Damn, the tears must be very stressful to hold back. She was being such a fag about this. It’s hot, you’re sweaty, you stink, and honestly, you’re still tired. Like, all forms of tired. You close the distance between you Amber and place an arm on her shoulder. “Guh, look, Amber, I PROMISE I’m not here to berate you again. I’m JUST trying to help my sister who is going through her mommy issues phase. So if you’d just-” *WHAM* It took you several seconds to process what the fuck exactly happen. A silver blur, stars, a loud ringing in your ears, and then the force of years of pent up anger and family issues collides with you harder than an Alabama pick up hitting a deer. You collapse onto the grass behind you. The sharp pain is only now beginning to envelope the entirety of your face. ”MOMMY ISSUES?! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! AND JUST WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE PUTTING YOUR HANDS ON ME LIKE THAT! YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT!” Squinting you make out the blurry image of what appears to be a very pissed off Amber. “Y-you...did you just-” ”YEA! I DID JUST! I FUCKING HIT YOU! BECAUSE YOU DESERVED IT! AND YOU DESERVE A WHOLE FUCKING LOT MORE THAN THAT YOU DEGENERATE SHIT STAIN!” Amber takes a step towards you. Panicking you throw out your legs and kick her shin. ”Gah!” “HEY GET OFF OF ME!” Which...trips her and causes her to fall right on top of you. ”You tripped me bitch!” You begin to attempt to push and kick the pissed ptero off of you. “UGH! GET! OFF! OF! ME!” Throwing Amber to the side, you kick her square in the ribs. ”GAHH! YOU FUCKING-” You begin scrambling to get away from the menstrual raging she demon before she get try and get another swing at you. Just as you were about to be free from her grasp you feel a hand grab your ankle. ”Just where the fuck do you think you’re going?” “AWAY FROM YOU YOU PSYCHO!” You kick your legs as hard as you could but failed in trying to throw her off. Using a strength you honestly had no idea she had, she pulls you by the leg back over towards her. Using one of her arms she pins you and sneers at you from above. Welp...This is it. You were probably going to die here. And you didn’t even delete your browser history. *Wham* ”Do you have...ANY IDEA, what living with you has been like?” *wham* ”To share a roof with you?” The SMELLS!” *wham* ”The weird sounds I hear you make flicking your UNWASHED bean to the disgusting porn you’re into!” *wham* ”And the constant, fucking CONSTANT uppity holier than thou attitude of a girl with no hygiene,” *wham* ”no manners,” *wham* ”no talent,” *wham* ”AND NO FUCKING FUTURE!” *wham* The world was beginning to spin. The taste of iron was beginning to coat your tongue. It was very likely that if she continued you would ACTUALLY die. In a last bid attempt to get her off of you, you thrash your tail into her, embedding your spike into her thigh. ”AHHHHHHH!” Amber arches back digging at your tail currently lodged into her. Using this as an opportunity, you shuffle out from underneath her and star crawling towards a near by tree. Reaching the arborous abettor you cling onto it and begin forcing your self to your legs. Looking over to your half sibling, you notice that she has been attempting to crawl over to you, the wound in her leg however had been impeding her progress. Gaining all the bearing that you could, you stumble over to her, kicking her in the stomach. Amber shrieks and grabs her waist, grunting, she rolls to her side and expels her lunch into the grass below her. Now was your time to shine. “YEA? WELL YOU’RE NO SAINT EITHER! YOU-GAHhh!” Your time to shine as it turns out was about five seconds, just enough time for Amber to finish vomiting and punch you directly in the pelvic area. Just, right in the vagina, a pussy punch of you’d be so inclined to call it that. In a split second of thought you thank the lord you weren’t a boy, although, that really didn’t make it hurt any less. You crumble to your knees and groan. Yep, blunt force trauma is blunt force trauma, even if you don’t have any testicles. Now that both of you were at the same level, Amber launches her self towards you, using her wings as a means of propelling herself forwards, knocking the both of you back onto the grass. Grabbing you by your jacket she lifts you up and slams you into the ground. ”Gah! You don’t know me! YOU NEVER KNEW ME!” She picks you up and slams you again. ”You never knew what I liked! Never knew my friends! NEVER KNEW MY PROBLEMS!” Your back was thrown into the ground again, you could feel your spines getting damaged. ”You didn’t know what I was going through! What I AM going through! Oh look at Cynthia! With the amazing mother she always knew! You must feel REAL FUCKING LUCKY HUH?!” Another slam into the ground, you think she might’ve actually cracked one of your spines there. ”A mom who looks like you, sounds like you, with your own special language you two can speak together! Not to mention she’s just as big a WEEB as you are!” Yet another slam into the dirt. Ok this was just getting boring at this point. ”You don’t have to be awkward about ANYTHING!” She slashes you across the face with your claws. At least it was something different. ”YOU DON’T HAVE TO RUIN THE MOOD! YOU GET TO CONNECT WITH HER ON A LEVEL I’LL NEVER HAVE! YOU DON’T HAVE TO WONDER! HAVE TO KNOW WHEN IT’LL EVER BE A RIGHT TIME TO BRING HER UP BECAUSE EVERY TIME YOU’VE TRIED EVERYONE JUST WANTS TO STOP TALKING ABOUT IT!” With every word she’d inflict another injury on your body. A punch here, a scratch there, at one point she spat in your eye, even put the effort in to holding it open, making sure her saliva and your cornea got very familiar with each other. The energy was all but gone out of your body, all you really could do is lay there and groan in an agony you’ve never felt before. You just had to hope and pray that she’d stop soon before she finally decides to kill you. Eventually, the attacks became softer, her breath was getting uneven and heavy. Through your blurred vision, you swear you could see tears begin to slide down her face. ”YOU WERE NEVER THERE FOR ME CYNTHIA! YOU WERE NEVER THE SISTER YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE! You wanna know what I want? I WANT MY FUCKING MOTHER BACK!” *WHAM* ”I couldn’t think about upsetting dad with my questions and issues, not over his dead wife, and I would NEVER put Stella through this, how could she understand? All I had left was you, but you were never even an option. Always dragging me down, always shitting on my hard work, my fucking dreams! MY INTERESTS!” *Slash* ”M-maybe you’re right...maybe I DO deserve all of this. I’m the one who killed her right? Isn’t that what you said? If I were never born she’d still be alive right? I was too much for her. Not even out of the womb and already I destroy everyone’s lives just by existing!” You struggle to raise a hand, every fiber in your vocal chords attempt the sisyphean task of just trying to speak, even if in a hushed tone. “A...Amber-” ”DON’T YOU SAY A FUCKING WORD!” *WHAM* ”HEY! YOU! STOP!” You could hear Amber gasp. What was that other voice? ”Ma’am get off her!” ”A-Ah! Wait wait, no don’t I’m-” Some force you couldn’t see lifted the weight of your sister off of you. Dragging her away. You attempt to try and see who or what just saved you from the unending wrath but just as you were picking your head up, a second figure came over to stop you. ”Woah, woah kid, easy. We got that girl off of you. Just hold still, I’ll patch you up. Are you still with me?” Something cold was placed on your head, blinking your eyes a few times you could get a better image of your savior. A velociraptor, looked kind of cute too. Eh, but, lose the police uniform though, kinda mid. ”Hey! Wait! Ted, I think this is the kid Chief’s been looking for!” The officer kneeling over you looks towards his human compatriot, the one who must’ve pulled your sister off of you, a sister who is now muttering and shaking in the grass. ”Damn, really? Is she hurt?” ”A little bit yea, but I think she’ll be okay. What uh...what about that one?” The raptor looks back to you and cringes. Black pilled again. Not the first time a cute guy has done that to you and probably won’t be the last. ”Uhhhh, you may have been right about that ambulance. You still have that first aid kit?” Fuck...was it that bad? ”You’ll have to hurry, I don’t know how but I think I’m beginning to smell an infection.” Okay, fuck you, you weren’t that cute anyways. ”Hey it’s okay kid. We’re gonna fix you up don’t worry. Just stay with me and don’t fall asleep. You may have a concusion.” Pf...doesn’t he know that’s a myth? Not like you could sleep with the splitting headache you had. Well, not peacefully at least. From there, the not-so-cute anymore raptor began to tend to your wounds, while the human began interrogating Amber. Not too long after, an ambulance arrived for you, and you were finally on the way to the hospital. [POST-NOTES] Okay, so, sorry this is late. I was working on this for a while since this is clearly the "big climax". Just wanted to thank you guys for all of the kudos and over 1k hits. Didn't think you fags would actually enjoy reading about high school drama between two teenage girls hah! Seriously though thank you so far. More to come next week. I think we actually have 2 or 3 more chapters until the end. And then I can FINALLY just go back to being an artfag. ( I haven't actually started drawing for Snoot yet. Sorry.)