Fighting Ourselves.

I fell asleep on the couch and woke up on the floor.
Please, don’t ask questions…

It’s already hard enough to be awoken by your own children almost running on your face and being forced to deal with Zacky’s face early in the morning.

Tonight was their first show of the tour, I had no idea where we were and I did not care, all I knew was that the bus was stop in front of the venue. Ellie had just come out of Matt’s bunk, and I was forced to sit between Zacky and Brian for breakfast.

In short, it was going to be a bad day, I could feel it.

“Mummy, can I have a mowhawk?” asked Damien, at 9am… I choked on my cereals and starred at him with my eyes wide.

“Excuse me?” I managed to blurt out.

“Just like uncle Johnny, but purple.” He explained, sitting up straighter and smiling.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea Damien.” Said Brian, looking at his son. I bit my tongue, stopping myself from asking him since when he was a woman. Damien clearly said “mummy” at the beginning of his question. But I knew it was stupid to argue over something so ridiculous but I was in a bad mood and wanted to vent my anger out on someone.

Smashing Zacky’s face on the table was an option too.

“We’ll talk about it later Damien… All right?” I said, suddenly not hungry anymore.

“Okay!” he said happily as Brian glanced at me.
He better keep his mouth shut…

“You know what? I’m going for a run, I feel like running.” I quickly mumbled, getting up and heading to the bunk area.

“Do you want me to come with you?” asked Ellie, from her sit next to Matt.

“Nah, I’ll be all right, but thanks.” I said, grabbing my mp3 and fighting to put my shoes on while trying to put my hoodie on at the same time.

“Don’t know when I’ll be back.” I said before running out of the door.

**

Ellie’s POV

I sighed as I saw Adeline running off.

That was to be expected, and yet, it was annoying. I felt bad for Brian, and for Zacky too… And basically I felt bad for every single person in this bus, even the driver.

Just face the fact, my sister was a pain in the ass. I love her dearly, but sometimes she could be a bitch. Zacky was pushing her buttons, I’ll give her that. But still…

Even the twins could feel it, Adeline was stressed and angry.

“Are you all right?” asked Matt, wrapping his arm around my shoulder.

“Yeah, I’m all right. Unfortunately, that’s not everyone case on this bus…” I said, before taking a sip of coffee.

“Your sister is a basket case, just face that fact. There’s nothing you can do about it… It’s sad I know, but that the truth.” Said Zacky.

“Shut up.”

I blinked, that wasn’t me. I looked at Brian, and by the look on his face, he didn’t say anything.

“You’re mean and stupid.” Said Damien, standing up on the couch and pointing at Zacky. “I hate you. Mummy is unhappy.”

“Damien, you don’t talk like that to Zacky.” Said Brian, standing up as well. “He’s an adult, therefore, you respect him.”

“But he’s being mean to Mummy!” he argued.

“Damien, Hailie, come with me, we’ll get you dressed and we’ll go look for a walk, right?” said Matt. He quickly kissed my cheek and left the table, picking up Hailie and Damien on his way.
It was nice of Matt to take the kids away from the bus.

“Hey, wait for me! I’m going with you!” I said, hurriedly leaving the table.
I jumped in the shower, trying to get ready as fast as possible because the sooner I’ll be ready, the sooner we’ll leave the bus!

Not even fifteen minutes later, we were leaving the bus. Having no idea where we were, I walked next to Matt, hoping he knew where he was going. Hailie and Damien were running around, when they were too far ahead of us, they would ran back to us, giggled and then run away.

I wish I was as active as they were. Not that I was old, but running like they were would be the death of me. I was quietly wondering if Adeline wasn’t high on sugar ¾ of the time she was pregnant with the twins, which could explain their vivacity and hyperactivness.
Don’t misunderstand me, I love my niece and nephew dearly, but they were a little bit too ‘jumpy’ for me. They couldn’t stand still… I guess they kinda inherit that from their mother.

“Hey, is everything all right?” asked Matt, looking worriedly at me.

“Yes, yes… I was just thinking…” I replied, smiling apologetically.

“You seem to be thinking a lot, is everything all right?” he asked, taking a step closer to me and wrapping his arm loosely around me, all the while still keeping an eye out on the kids. The last thing we wanted was the twins to get themselves hurt somehow… That would do it for my sister and she’d have a nervous breakdown… The worst ever…

“Yeah, don’t worry…” I trailed off, squeezing the hand that was resting on my shoulder.

“Is it because of Nate?” he asked, looking at me for a couple of seconds.

Unintentionally, I froze but Matt didn’t seem to notice, or if he did, he hid it well.
“That…” I started, trailing off. “And Adeline’s case… I’m thinking about putting some pills in her milk or something… To sedate her a little.” I explained, trying to prevent the conversation to be about Nate. Well, I wasn’t lying, I did consider sedating my sister, for our sake, and the sake of the whole human race.

Matt started laughing and retracted his arm. I pouted a little but had to prevent myself from smiling when he grabbed my hand and intertwined our fingers together. I felt my cheeks grow warm but tried to ignore it.

“Hailie, Damien!” shouted Matt as the kids were too close to the road. They immediately stopped whatever they were doing and ran back towards us.

“Sorry uncle Matt!” they both said at the same time with their adorable smile. I suppressed a chuckle.

“How about some ice cream?” he asked, looking at the kids. Their face light up and they squealed before pulling at Matt’s hand, “Chocolate!” screamed Damien, while Hailie was shouting “Vanilla!” pulling Matt in the other direction.

Chuckling, Matt let go of my hand and put his big hands on their head, stopping them from jumping.

“All right, all right… I have no idea why you are high on sugar this early but whatever… We’re going to buy you some ice cream but you have to promise me to stop jumping around and stay close to us, okay? If you get lost, your mother will murder me… And your father will probably help her too…” said Matt. He grabbed Hailie’s small hand. Damien and Hailie were holding hands and I took Damien’s. We looked rather funny.

After a short walk around town, we managed to find someone who was selling ice cream at 9.30 am. Matt paid for the kids’ ice creams and we headed to the park that was on the other side of the road.

We all sat down on a bench. I was sitting next to Matt and the kids were sitting next to me, enjoying their ice cream. Matt wrapped his arm around my shoulder and brought me closer to him. I smiled and rested my head on his shoulder, while keeping an eye on the twins.

There was an older couple who walked past us and stopped a moment to look at Damien trying to help Hailie with her melting ice cream.

The old woman smiled at us.
“You have very cute kids.” She said, her arm linked with her husband.

“Thanks!” said Matt, flashing them his dimpled smile while I smiled apologetically at the couple.

“Thanks, but they’re not our kids. I’m their aunt…” I said, feeling the need to explain.

They both nodded, still smiling and walked off. They probably didn’t believe me…

“Hey, isn’t that your sister?” asked Matt, lazily pointing at a random person who was running. I took a better look at the person and nodded.

“Yeap, that’s her…” I said.

“She looks deep in thoughts… I always wonder what’s going on through her mind…” said Matt.

**

Adeline’s POV

“Do you know the enemy?
Do you know your enemy?
Well, gotta know the enemy

Violence is an energy
Against the enemy
Violence is an energy

Bringing on the fury
The choir infantry
Revolt against the honor to obey

…”

If only I could shout those words in their faces…

Since I left the bus, I’ve been playing this song on repeat for some unknown reason. Okay, maybe I do know the reason…

I think what stood out on this song were the words “enemy”, “violence” and “energy”.

To put it simply, I’d gladly smash Zacky’s skull against the cement, and probably Brian’s too…
I thought running would calm me a little, guess not.
This was one of those times, when I just want to punch something and/or someone… I won’t feel any better until I actually do it.

Maybe I should ask Matt to be my punching ball… He will feel nothing.

I shook my head and decided to just head back to the bus. I was hopeless. After a couple of minutes, I finally managed to find my way back to the bus and stopped in front of the bus. I got in, out of breath and managed to shout a: “Is anyone there?”

No reply. I took a brief look in the back room and no one was there. The bus was empty. I went to lock the door and threw my mp3 on the couch, hoping I would think about it before anyone sits on it…

I went to the bunk area and grabbed my phone, putting on some music and putting my phone on the table before taking my hoodie and shoes off. I winced a little as I had to bend over to untie my shoe laces. I took off my T-shirt and threw it on the floor before starting to stretch. I put my leg on the table, careful not to kick my phone and stretched a little.

Some random Mest song was blasting through my phone as I took off my pants and headed to the bathroom. For the first time in days, I could take a shower without having to lock the door. I took off my bra and boxers before stepping under the shower.

**

“Famous Last Words” could be heard in the living room area as I stepped out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around my body and my hair dripping on my back. I sang quietly to myself as I head over to the ‘kitchen’ kind of thing so I could grab something to eat. Finding nothing, I settled on a can of Coke. I closed the fridge and turned around, to head back to the bathroom.

“WHAT?” I screamed, almost dropping the can of Coke as I gripped my towel tighter, praying to God that it wouldn’t fall.

Zacky was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed over his bare chest, smiling as he was looking at me from head to toes.

“What the fuck are you doing here?! How did you get in the bus?” I asked, trying not to shout at him.

“You locked me inside the bus, you failed to check in the bunks if someone was here or not…” he said, his smiling turning into a smirk. “The others left after you left, and since no one wanted to see me, I choose to stay here.” He explained.

“Huh, huh…” I said, my face blank. This was an embarrassing situation. My knuckles were turning white. “Well, I’m going to, you know… Get dress and stuff…” I trailed off, slowly moving my feet off the ground and trying not to trip on my discarded clothes on the floor.

“Huh… I’m heading that way…” I said, shyly pointing over Zacky’s shoulder. He was blocking my way, still smirking. The worst part was that I couldn’t get my eyes off him.

I knew I was in trouble when unconsciously I let the can of coke slip from my hand and crash on the floor…