Not So Normal Family

[buildingaspaceship]

In a religious suburban neighbourhood, where each family is the definition of perfection, not one family sticks out from the crowd. Not one, except maybe... One family is a little different, but not on the outside. When no one is watching, the family faces dramas that could potentially tear them apart, or exclude them permanently from the perfect life they wish to share with their neighbours, but to their neighbours faces they live the perfect and ideal life.


1x1 between @Icefox11

 

[buildingaspaceship]

Thomas stood in front of the door to his home, nervously biting his lip as he extended his hand and twisted the doorknob. Friday. It had been a good enough day at school, like usual nothing happened, but why would it in this perfect town? He pushed the door open slowly and walked inside, shutting the door with his foot letting his bag fall to the floor by his feet. He used one foot to pull off one of his sneakers by standing on the back of it, then did the same to his other, kicking his shoes closer to his bag and away from the door. He ran his fingers through his hair as he practised fake smiling in the mirror hung in the hallway, before grimacing at himself. He pulled his baggy sweater over his hands and raised his shoulders before pouting into the mirror. Tommy only wore baggy sweaters so he could conceal his body shape. He was unhealthily thin, and didn't want his sharp collarbones and shoulder blades to show. He relaxes his shoulders and smiles at himself in the mirror again.


"I'm home!" He yells to whoever may or may not be in the house at the particular time. He knew his mother was usually home, an unemployed mom who stayed at home to clean and cook for her family, like most of the women in this neighbourhood. She called back to him from the laundry room, though he wasn't sure what she had said, as he had been distracted by his gaze falling over an open letter on the high hallways table where the key bowl was kept. He didn't often get distracted like that, but big red letters that screamed 'debt' to the reader could often do something like that. 
@Icefox11

 

[IceQueen]

Katie was up in her room. She had snuck in there hours ago. Like she was going to go to school with all those rich people who did nothing but smile like perfect little programed robotic children. She smiled, hearing her brother come home. She blew a bubble out of her gum, letting it pop as she sat there. "Well well, looks like little barf bag is home." she mumbled to herself.


She picked up another pen, drawing on her wrist. She had many covering the length of it, including a few scars which she covered hastily with long sleeves during the day. She sighed, finishing off her little heart tattoo on her wrist before blowing on it. She then pulled her sleeve up, concealing it from view as she opened her door and walked downstairs.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

Hearing Katie's footsteps on the stairs, he looked up from the letter and quickly hid it by shoving it in his pocket before she could see. She didn't need to know about debt, right? Well technically speaking he didn't need to know either, but he was probably much more capable of understanding what this could mean for them than Katie could. He decided that later on that night he would read through the letter and then return it to where it had sat on the table. Seeing Katie come down the stairs, Thomas frowned and looked down at his odd socks, (one was blue with orange circles, and the other was black with green stripes), before shuffling into the kitchen almost robotically.


He hated weekends, it was just days of him lying and pretending while he listened to his sisters insults and his parents bicker about God knows what. But it was bearable. Especially when he could just lock himself in his room and pretend that no one else existed but him. He walks over to the fridge, opening it and looking down the selection of foods that he could have, wrinkling his nose at the thought of them. He shut the fridge without getting anything and sighed.

 

[IceQueen]

Katie walked down a bit faster, jumping the last few steps and landing on the floor. She looked around their plane and boring entrance room with a bored expression. She let out a huff of air, looking around for her little brother. She turned all the way around and walked towards the kitchen. When she entered the plain room she saw her brother and let out a devilish smile.


"Hey snot bugger." She said, walking past him towards the fridge. She grabbed the carton from in between the wine and beer, opening the top and taking a long swig from the carton before putting it back and grabbing an apple from the counter. "Meet some more "friends" today?" She asked, taking a bite.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

He rolls his eyes at her insult and leans against the kitchen counter, crossing his arms across his chest almost protectively. He shrugs his shoulders and looks away from her. "That depends, skip school again today?" He says back to her, before looking her in the eye. He wondered whether or not their parents knew that she skipped school a lot. Surely it had to have been noticed by some teacher, who should have phoned home or something, their parents couldn't just be oblivious to the fact that she was never there? But then again, they were oblivious to most things concerning their children.


He looked at the apple that she was eating, feeling his stomach tighten. He was actually really hungry, he hadn't had lunch or breakfast, and every bite that his sister took made his mouth water. He looked away, he didn't need to eat anything until later. He usually only ate a small part of his dinner every night, and the rest of the time he just pushed it around his plate and made up some excuse like he'd eaten a large lunch.

 

[IceQueen]

Katie almost chocked on her apple, glaring at him. "Depends. Did you pretend to eat your lunch again?" She asked, glaring at him. A lot of things went unnoticed by their parents, like the fact that she skipped school a lot, or the fact that he pretty much never ate, but it did not go unnoticed to her that he barely ate. She had once found his lunch completely full of food, which is when she started noticing that he was throwing things out, not eating them.


She glared at him and took another bite, pretty mad about him accusing her of skipping school (Even though she did). She then moved on to finish the rest of the apple, taking the core and chucking it at him with a snarky smile. "I wouldn't keep doing that or mom and dad might get an anonymous hint." She said.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

Thomas felt the apple core hit him on the arm and he slid away from it disgustedly, looking down as it hit the floor. He realises what she had said then, and those words hit him instead of just an apple. He couldn't quite explain what he felt, or why. Fear that she knew, or fear she might tell? Anger that she would even threaten it? He didn't know. He pushes away from the kitchen counter and stands in the middle of the room. He rolls his sleeves up to his elbows, exposing his boney wrists and the sharp bone of his elbow which was much more prominent than it should be.


"You wouldn't dare." He says, narrowing his eyes slightly. He didn't know that she knew about his eating habits. Considering she and him weren't close, it wasn't like she spent enough time with him to notice. He was genuinely afraid that she would tell their parents though. "P-please don't." He wasn't very good at being confrontational, really. It never really lasted long, he was quite an emotional guy.

 

[IceQueen]

Katie smiled and knocked him on the head lightly. "Then be careful what you say to your older sibling, Thomas." She said, walking strait past him.


"And good lord, eat something. You are going to jab someones eye out with your elbow." She said, tossing him one of the apples. She didn't care if he didn't eat it, she just didn't want her eye poked out by him and his nasty elbow.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

He caught the apple this time, instead of letting it hit him on the arm, and he looked down at it. It was green, shiny, and he wanted to eat it so badly. He looked up at Katie and frowned, lowering his hand with the apple still held firmly. Maybe he would eat it, but he probably wouldn't. He'd take it up to his room at least.


He didn't say anything further to his sister, instead he pushed past her forcefully and into the hallway, before walking up the stairs and down the hall into his room. He shut the door behind him, wishing he could lock it but knowing he would never be allowed to have a lock on his door, he walked over and sat on his single bed, before placing the apple on the bed next to him. He pulled off his sweater. His tshirt wasn't baggy but it wasn't tight either, but you could see the shape of his collar bones through the material.


(His room)

 

[IceQueen]

Katie shrugged and took another apple, heading to her room. Fortunately, she had her own room, with her own bathroom. She walked inside her lush room, flopping down on the circular bed. She pulled out her drawing pad and did what she always did, drew how she really felt. This of course was a secret to her family, along with the cuts on her wrists and things.


Sighing, she took out some of her drawing pens and began to trace the creepy drawing she had done while she was supposed to be at school. She never smiled once as she drew, her pen following the outline of a girl with headphones and a guitar on the page. She sighed and capped it, setting it down. No one would understand her, and she was sure of it.

Spoiler

 

[buildingaspaceship]

Tommy was calm for a moment, until he looked down at the apple. He thought about eating it, and the thought of it pleased him as he imagined the taste of the juice in his mouth, but then the thought angered him, and he picked the apple up with one boney hand. Throwing it as hard as he could against the wall, he smashed one of the small snow globes on a shelf that he had, the sound of the glass cracking loud and when the apple hit it he almost felt his bones shake. He was a treasure keeper, always being sentimental and buying things on holidays and keeping them around his room. He felt slightly guilty that he had smashed it, but he didn't know what had come over him.


He sat for a moment again, before standing up and walking over to the floor to ceiling length mirror and looking at himself. He pulled off his grey shirt, messing up his hair in the process, and he looked at himself. He turned left and right, looking at his arms and his chest and his collarbones. He looked at his stomach. And his ribs. And he felt his stomach tighten, hearing it groan loudly for food. He bit his lip, looking at the apple that had fallen to the floor in the mirror. He turned and picked it up, examining the now bruised exterior, before biting into it unhappily.

 

[IceQueen]

Katie could hear a smash from her brother's room but didn't even bother opening it. She just got up from her bed and walked towards her bathroom. She sat in there for a long time, staring at her skin. Her arms where covered in little tiny slits, some crusted over, others new and fresh. She sighed, trying to remove the evidence.


She had gotten pretty good at cleaning spots of blood off of a completely black and white room. By the time she was done, there wasn't a trace left. She then walked out of her bathroom, grabbing a hodie and throwing it over her to cover her arms. She then went back to her sad little drawing, adding a few more details before closing the book.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

Tommy finished the apple soon after he started it, and was left with nothing but the core. He looked down at it in his hands and he suddenly felt guilty for having eaten it. This feeling caused his anger to return, and he threw it in the small trash can on the floor of his room. It crashed into the bin loudly, and as Thomas moved to walk back to his bed he stood on something sharp, feeling it cut into his skin through his socks. He yells out in pain and confusement before hopping about on one foot over to his bed. He sat himself down on it and looked at his foot, a few shards of glass sticking out from it in odd angles. He groaned and began to pull them out one by one painfully, gasping each time. Soon he had a pile of small bloody pieces of glass by his side, and he sat with his head in his hands.


He still felt guilty for eating the apple, and he stood, walking into his bathroom that was connected to his room. It was dark and cozy, and only had the necessary things he needed. He looked down at the toilet and knelt down in front of it. 'Dont do it,' something said in the back of his brain, but he ignored it, placing his hands at either side of the toilet to steady himself before using one hand, that had blood on it thanks to all that glass, to stick two fingers down his throat. He threw up in the toilet, his eyes tearing up but his stomach feeling slightly better each time. There wasn't much to throw up, though, due to his lack of food, and soon it was just watery and painful sick. He hadn't thrown up in a long long time, and he remembered now why he had stopped. It felt fucking awful.

 

[IceQueen]

Katie suddenly heard noises from her brothers room. Hastily, she taped up bandages to her arms, avoiding any small spots of blood on her clothing. She could defiantly tell her brother was hiding something, and she needed to know what. She threw her hood over her head and pulled up her sleeves, and marched out of her door. The only things she heard from his room where not pretty. "Coming in." She said as she pounded once on his door before opening it.


She looked around inside, seeing smashed glass. Groaning, she walked back down the hall to get a dustpan and came back with it. She made sure that she had some shoes on as she stepped across his floor towards the bathroom. She knocked again. "You ok?" She asked in the nicest voice she could muster, looking around at the small spots of blood on the carpet.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

Thomas spat the remaining bits of vomit from his mouth and coughed, his throat sore and hoarse after the throwing up. He leaned his elbows on the sides of the toilet and put his hands on his forehead, pushing his hair out of his eyes. He sat there for a moment, before registering that his sister was outside waiting. "Fine-" he says, but even he could tell what he had said, his voice so deep and hoarse that his words were inaudible. He clears his throats and uses his hands to push himself to his feet, one foot still bleeding slightly due to the glass. He runs his hands under the tap and washes away the blood before wiping his face, the remnants of vomit now gone from existence. He swigs mouthwash quickly, swallowing it with disgust due to his rushing, before walking over to the door. He opened it, peeking out at his sister.


"I'm fine... Just had an accident, that's all." He says quietly, his throat hurting still. He instinctively tried to pull his sweater sleeves down onto his hands, as he did most of the times that he was nervous or lying, before remembering that he was shirtless. His body sickened him, so he presumed his sister would feel sick about it too, and he quickly moved away from the door and through the room, rushing to pull on his large jumper from earlier, but before he could reach it, he again stepped in glass, and gasped again before hopping over to his bed and collapsing next to the small pile of glass he had pulled out of his foot moments before. He sat there, shirtless and boney with glass in his feet, looking anywhere but at his sister.

 

[IceQueen]

Kora could hear some things going on inside the bathroom. The sound of getting up and washing of hands resounded though the door and she leaned against the wall. "Seriously Thomas." She mumbled, hearing the door open up. She could see his nervous face peek out of the door. She noticed that his face was a bit pale.


Before she could say anything, he rushed past her and towards the bed room. "Watch...." She said, not being able to get her sentence out before he stepped on more glass. She groaned, looking at him hobble over to the bed. "Hold on." she said, walking back to her room. A few minutes later, she came back with a large first aid kit full of gauze and assorted bandages. She lifted up his foot and began pulling out the glass pieces.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

Thomas wasn't going to let her try and fix him but was in too much pain to argue. He had sensitive feet, and now that glass was being pulled out of them it took all he had to stop from kicking Katie in the face by accident. When she was done, he removed his feet from anywhere near her and scooted backwards on the bed, wrapping his arms around his bare chest protectively. "What do you want, anyway?" He asked her, voice still rough. She usually never came in his room or bothered him so he wondered what had spiked her interest enough to cause her to come inside. His mind didn't even think of the amount of noise he had been making.


Thomas leaned over to his left and pulled his large jumper from the pile. He pulled it over his head, messing up his hair and covering his hands with the sleeves. He ran his hands through his hair and sighed, his throat still hurt, and his stomach and chest did too. He just wanted to sleep now, like he always did after vomiting like that. He looks at his sister. Now that he was covered he felt slightly more comfortable.

 

[IceQueen]

Katie was about to do something else to his feet when he curled up and shrank to the corner of his room. She sighed, leaning back on her heels. "What I want, is for you to stop doing, whatever it is you keep doing. Look, I may not seem like it, but I care, just the tiniest bit. I can relate to the fact that I feel different from everyone, that I feel like I am always alone. I take it out on you because if I took it out on anyone else, who knows what mom and dad would do."


She let out a deep breath, running her hands though her hair. "I skip school because I hate it. I hate it because I can never seem to relate to anyone. I have never found a boyfriend, in fact I don't even lift a finger and everything gets blamed on me. At this point, you are seriously all I have. And I am tired of living this alone." She said, staring at the ground. That was sort of the truth, but it was all that she could muster right now.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

Thomas looked up at her and crossed his arms across his chest, furrowing his eyebrows slightly as he listened to what she had to say. When she was done, he opened his mouth to speak; "There is no- You don't- gah." Thomas stuttered, trying to think of a good way to phrase his sentence but coming up short each time, "maybe, when it comes down to it, if you weren't such a dick to me I wouldn't have let you feel alone." He says, pushing himself up from the bed and standing. He was 5'10, not short by any standards but not as tall as the guys on the football team back at school. He walks over to a drawer and tugs it open, rooting through it so he can find the baggiest shirt he owned. He was roasting in this sweater, and his other shirt was too tight to walk around the house in without giving himself away. Eventually, Thomas found a 3/4 length sleeve black shirt and he pulled it out of his drawer, closed it, and with the shirt in his hands turned to look at Katie.


"If I'm all you have then why didn't you come to me when I wasn't wasting away?" He asks her, rudely, pulling his jumper off and standing there, in front of his mirror. He glances at himself before grimacing and pulling the shirt on. "Whatever. Alone blah blah blah, couldn't agree more with what you've said, now if you don't mind I feel like crap." He says and narrows his eyes again. "Just because you came in here and said all these things doesn't mean I'm going to forgive you for taking everything out on me for the past couple of years."

 

[IceQueen]

Katie ran a hand though her hair. "I don't know, teenage things, drama. I guess I was to stubborn to see things as they where. And I seriously wouldn't expect you to forgive me for all that I have done, if anything at all." She said, standing up. Sometimes, she wished she could be 5 foot 100, then people would be to afraid of her to talk to her, but she was already kind of that way.


She sighed and walked towards the door, looking back for just one second. "If you need me, you know where I am." She said, giving a small wave and shutting the door behind her. With a heavy sigh, she trudged back to here room, flopping onto her circular bed. "Maybe I can stay here forever then."" She mumbled to herself, closing her eyes to take a nap.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

Thomas spent a majority of the next hour or so in his bedroom, doing homework set by the school so that he could keep his grades up and try to continue being the at least half perfect son that his parents dreamed of. He had to learn a text by Charles Dickens, more specifically the extract where Pip first meets Miss Havisham, and he had to learn it off by heart so that he could recite it in front of class at school the next day. He had it all memorised soon enough, and he was mumbling it to himself as he tidied up the glass, when he heard their father come home. He heard his mother greet him, and with his expert listening skills he listened to her tell him dinner would be soon. He groaned and tipped the glass in the trash can in his bathroom, before putting his hands at either side of his sink. He looked in the mirror on the wall and cocked his head to the side slightly, examining his face. His eyes were sunken and had dark shadows surrounding it. He was pale, and as he sucked in a breath he saw his cheekbones. He sighed and moved away from the mirror, he was a ghost of his former self in his own eyes, and he knew that he needed to change this, he just didn't have the will power.


He heard their mother call him and Katie from the dining room, dinner was ready and now would be the task of either lying about how much he had eaten at lunch, or forcing it down himself so much he made himself sick. Neither sounded brilliant. Thomas walked from his room, hoping to god that his 3/4 length shirt was enough to keep cool but avoid suspicion. He suddenly panicked, it probably wouldn't be enough, but he was already half way to his sisters room. He knocks on her door calling for her to come down, then walks down the stairs and to the dining room, seeing his father in his business suit smiling at him. He walks over to his father and smiles at him a little, looking down at the floor. When Thomas walks past him, his father pats him on the back as a greeting, definitely being able to feel his boney spine under his thin shirt. Thomas was afraid, but didn't make a big deal of it, and he sat down at the table, looking down at the plate of food in front of him. His mother and father both sat down at opposite ends of the table, now they waited for Katie to come down so that they could say grace and begin.

 

[IceQueen]

Katie sighed, hearing a knock on her door. She had a few fresh cuts on her arm now, the blood almost taunting her as it dripped down her arm. She knew her father had come home a while ago, but that just made her glad that she was in her room. He didn't like her hair and pretty much everything else. She sighed and cleaned it up again, tossing the tissues in her trash can, walking back down the hall.


She sat down at the table silently, giving a smile before they stated their prayer.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

They had to join hands to say grace, and Thomas tried hard to steady his, as it was always shaky during this time of night. Probably the idea of dinner. They all mumbled the prayer underneath their breath, and then opened their eyes and could now eat their meal. Thomas shoved his hands back underneath the table, looking down at the food in front of him. It was almost as if his mother knew his worst nightmare on a plate. The food was filled with fattening items and Thomas felt sick looking at it, he picked up his fork and began to push it around his plate slowly, he hated it.


"How was everyone's day?" Their father asks, shoving food into his mouth after speaking. He was a businessman, who tried to be the perfect father. Thomas's mind wandered all the way back to the letter with debt printed on it that was still in his back pocket. He began to use his knife and cut into the food. "Mine was satisfactory," his mother begins, "Laura came over today. She wants to invite us to Mina's birthday party. Isn't that nice?" She smiles widely and carries on with her plate. "That's lovely, what about you, Katie, Thomas?" Their father asks them. Thomas was a little preoccupied with cutting his food into the tiniest of pieces to form a sentence answer. "Fine." He squeaked out, his stomach churning with every second he spent by the food.

 

[IceQueen]

Katie clasped her parents hands, willing her hands to still for just a few minutes until they were done. She let out a breath she had no idea she had been holding and picked up her fork. She pushed around some of the food, taking small bites here and there. She just wanted to get out of here, but she knew her father wouldn't let her do that.


When she was asked about her day, she shoved a piece of food in her mouth, taking time to chew before answering. "Fine." She said simply. She knew her parents where to wrapped up in their problems to really care to much about what she was doing and what was going on with her. She smiled a horribly fake smile, taking another bite.