Goodbye Blues

Once Joy was left alone in her bedroom, she took her seat in front of her mirror. Her eyes wandered towards her reflection and she gasped. What she saw in the mirror wasn't just the elderly Joy without a smile. It was worse than she could imagine.

The wrinkles that had gathered around her mouth and eyes seemed deeper than before, and her tired eyes seemed even more exhausted, the bruises under them seeming darker. Her hair that was once so long and healthy, now grew limp on her head, showing gray hairs here and there and only came an inch below her shoulders. Joy looked away.

The tears gathered in her eyes. 'Where had the years gone?' she wondered. But the answer was so obvious. They had gone to Brendon. She spent years stressing over him, even after she lost all contact with him. To get her mind off of him, she'd smother herself with work, and this lead to an earlier spot in the senior center; an earlier grave.

But Joy didn't want to think about Brendon for once. She wanted her mind to stray from the memories of the talented, handsome young man for just a couple hours. And she had the perfect way to do so.

Walking over to her closet, she stretched her arms up high to reach the shelf above her clothes and struggled to get a shoebox down. As she put her arms down, she heard her bones crack from old age and she frowned. But nevertheless, she made her way to her bed and sat down, lifting the top off the box.

Inside, tons of pictures were just waiting to be looked over after years of being ignored. Joy slowly reached out and picked the very first picture. It was a picture of her and Chris by the bonfire at around the age of fifteen, wrapped in a red blanket. Joy's head was thrown back with laughter, and Chris was looking at her, smiling.

Joy remembered that day clearly.

____________________

Joy and Chris's mother had finally snapped.

It was a bright, sunny Sunday morning and Joy had just woken up. She skipped down the stairs in a pair of boxers and a big t-shirt, her hair messy. Passing by the living room, she saw Chris in only his own boxers, sprawled out on the couch, watching an episode of Courage the Cowardly Dog. Joy flicked him in the head and made her way to the kitchen, but not before hearing Chris mumble, "Ow, Joy, that hurt."

Joy smiled to herself as she poured herself a bowl of cereal, not knowing she was being watched by her mother who was seated at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and a book. Joy, to this day, still didn't know what her mother was reading, but it lead her to crack that morning.

Joy stuck a spoonful of cereal in her mouth and exitted the kitchen, making her way up the stairs to her room. But her mother stopped her, yelling, "Joy, get your butt back in here! Chris, turn that television off and get in here, too."

Joy turned on her heel, and stuck another spoonful of cereal in her mouth, wondering what her mother wanted. She walked by the living room just as Chris was getting up. He looked at her and said, "What did you do?"

Joy would have replied with something witty but her mouth was full and she had some manners. So instead she just elbowed him in the ribs. He shot her an angry look just as they entered the kitchen. Standing in front of their mother, who had taken off her reading glasses and turned to them, Chris piped up, "Yeah?"

"Chris, Joy, I'm sick of this family!" Their mother said in an exasperated tone. Joy and Chris looked at each other for a moment, and Joy stuck another spoonful of cereal in her mouth so she wouldn't have to say anything. Chris knew she had intentionally done it, so he glared at her, then looked back at his mother.

"Then leave it?" Chris asked slowly. Joy turned to him quickly again and gave him a look. He looked at her and shrugged, but this just caused Joy to elbow him in the ribs again. He shot her an angered look but Joy just widened her eyes at him since she was still eating. Their mother watched, staying unamused.

"We don't act like a family. We're always scattered about the house, never together," Their mother stated. Joy and Chris slowly turned back to her, knowing exactly where this was going. Joy was about to say something, but Chris jumped in before her.

"Yeah, so?"

Joy slapped her hand to her forehead and scoffed. Chris glanced at her then back at his mother who was just glaring at him. Finally, she said, "So, we're going to do something about it."

Joy quickly said something before Chris could. "I agree, mom. From now on, we'll have family dinners every weeknight. We can bond over cooked meals. It'll be great."

Chris shoved her lightly, noting that it was a bad idea, but Joy knew that her mother wouldn't cook a meal everyday, so there wouldn't be family dinners every night. She shoved him back lightly and he snickered, but Joy didn't bother looking at him.

Their mother sat there though, watching them with narrowed eyes. She looked back down at her book and sighed loudly. "Nope, I have a better idea. Tonight, we're going to have a family dinner."

Joy and Chris, in unison, said, "What?"

They both had plans with their best friends and seeing as it was Sunday, didn't want to waste their last night off school to hang out with their mother. And their mother knew this, but she didn't care. She merely ignored them and looked back down at her book.

"But, mom!" Chris whined loudly. Joy elbowed him yet again, and he knocked her arm down, extremely mad that she kept doing that. She ignored it though, and said, "But mom, you have your date with Mark tonight."

A huge smile broke out on Chris's face. He was finally seeing where his sister was going with this. He mentioned, before his mother could reply, "And you can't miss something like that for us!"

Both of them started nodding. Their mother looked back up at them and said in a confident tone, "I'll just invite Mark here. He needs to get to know you two better anyways. We'll all bond together."

Instantly, they both groaned and walked away, knowing there was no getting out of it now. They stalked off to their rooms, muttering angered things, such as, in Joy's words, "how unfair this was," and "how totally bunk it was," in Chris's.

As they banged their feet against the stairs, they started blaming each other, both getting mad for being accused. It didn't take long for the shoving and yelling to start, until they both were in their rooms, the doors slammed shut.

_________________

Joy and Chris were bored out of their minds after having dinner with Mark and their mother. They were sitting slumped in their chairs, texting under the table as Mark fed their mother pieces of the steak that he had made for them.

Joy was texting Greta and Chris was texting Bob, both obviously whining about what a bad time they were having, and how the steak was a little over done, when their mother looked up at the kids and their plates. "Chris, you didn't eat all your steamed vegetables."

Chris glanced up at his mother as his phone vibrated under the table. He shrugged and looked back down, texting as quickly as his thumbs would let him. His mother sighed, and muttered, "Fine, but one day you're going to collapse because you didn't get all your needed nutrition, and you'll wonder why you never listened to me."

Chris scoffed just as he sent the text message, and looked up, his eyes cold. He grumbled, angrily, "Yeah, mom, I'm sure that's exactly what's going to happen."

Mark could feel the tension in the air and for some reason, felt the need to resolve it. Quickly, he said, "I've got the perfect idea! Let's all go sit around the bonfire and make S'mores!"

Joy and Chris looked up at him with wide eyes before both saying in unison, "What?! No, no, no, no, no."

The bonfire hadn't been used since their father walked out on their mother, only to file for divorce weeks later. They both shook their heads as their mother squealed and clapped her hands, gushing on about what a great idea it was. She ran off to get the materials needed for S'mores as Mark got up and chuckled while saying, "Wow, you guys really are twins."

Chris and Joy looked at each other as Mark made his way out the door and to the bonfire. They groaned and angrily texted their friends before getting up and walking outside, fighting at the sliding glass door about who was to walk through first and then getting stuck for a moment.

Slowly, they made their way to one of the seats around the bonfire and sat down as their mother's boyfriend turned the bonfire on. Their mother then walked out with blankets and the ingrediants. She handed her kids the blanket, then offered the other one to Mark, sitting down next to him as she did so. He wrapped it around his big body and her small one, making her giggle.

Chris and Joy on the other hand struggled to even out the blanket, whining about who was getting more. They tugged and pulled on the thin material until they were content, squashed together, but warm. Suddenly, both their phones vibrated in their pockets, but the only thing between them and their mother was the fire, and she'd surely see their keyboard phones being clicked away on.

They looked at each, then back at the fire, and slumped, angered with the situation they were in. Suddenly, Joy muttered, "Chris, you smell so bad. When was the last time you took a shower with soap?"

Chris looked at his sister angrily and said, "I could say the same for you!"

Joy turned her head towards her brother and gave him a look, saying loudly, "No you couldn't! I smell good! You smell like a garbage can!"

Joy and Chris's mother and her boyfriend looked at them, but didn't say anything. Joy didn't notice, and neither did Chris, who went on to say, "Isn't that a little contradicting? Big Foot can't smell good!"

Although it was a weak comeback, Joy glared at Chris and then managed to say, quickly, "Do you even know what contradicting means, pea brain?"

And here is where it got hectic. Both twins would start talking at the same time, throwing mean statements here and there, both ignoring each other. They'd speak louder, and louder so the other could hear what they were saying, until their mother made them quiet down.

"Joy Carmen Richards," Their mother said sternly. Joy stopped saying things and looked towards her mother just as her mother said, "Christopher James Faller. Stop it, you're embarrassing me."

They looked down with angered sighs and muttered, "Sorry mom."

For a moment, there was a long pause before Mark started chuckling. Everyone turned to him with confused looks. When he was done, he said, "You two are just a show. It's like television but better."

Joy and Chris's mother started laughing, but they didn't feel it was much of a compliment. Instead they just furrowed their brows at him and stayed quiet, silently tugging on the blanket, until their mother stopped giggling.

A silence was shared between the four people around the warm fire as the night sky shone with the stars and third quarter moon. Chris slowly turned to Joy and said in a monotone, "Bob wanted me to tell you that he says hi. And sugar puffs."

Joy broke out laughing at the inside joke shared with her and her friend since kindergarten. Chris smiled, laughing a little as well, seeing as he knew what Bob meant. When Joy stopped laughing, she said, "Greta wanted me to tell you that band practice is on Tuesday at five. And mushy toes."

Both of them at this point started laughing hysterically, sharing little mumbled comments about their friends and the inside jokes. The grown ups in front of them stared at them over the fire as they laughed and talked amongst themselves until they finally had nothing else to say.

"Chris, you're in a band?" Mark asked once the laughter had died down. Chris looked at the big man with a buzz cut and nodded. "Awesome, so was I when I was your age."

It took Joy and Chris a lot of effort not to laugh, but they did it. Chris nodded nonchalantly as he bit his tongue in hopes he wouldn't break out into extreme laughter. Mark didn't notice so instead he just asked, "What do you play?"

"Bass."

"Radical, man," Mark said, nodding with an impressed look on his face. Another fit of laughter was biting at the kids' tongues when Mark attempted to use hip lingo. They swallowed their immaturity down for their mother, though, and Chris nodded, muttering a thank you.

"Oh my God, Chris, I didn't tell you," Joy said, looking at her brother. "So on Friday, in math, Mr. Creepy called on me and I didn't really have the answer because Greta and I were talking so right when I was about to say I didn't know, Bob ripped a big one."

Chris started laughing with Joy, and then decided to share his own story. "I wish you had Lit. with me and Darren, dude. I totally made the teacher fall on her, " he stopped and looked at the staring adults before resuming, "butt. She tripped over my foot that I had accidentally stuck out."

Their mother scoffed at her trouble-making son, making Joy double with laughter, holding her stomach in pain. She threw her head back, not noticing the wide smile Chris had on his face as he looked at her. They didn't notice, but their mother pulled a camera from behind the marshmellows and took a picture of the moment her kids were sharing.

____________________

Joy smiled at the memories, her heart starting to ache for her brother. He was always a very negative person, who could very well be a pain in the ass at times, but Joy loved him anyways with all her heart.

She put the picture back and let her fingers fall to the next one, pulling it out. She glanced down at it, only to feel her heart drop to the pit of her stomach. She wanted to put it back so desperately but couldn't. Instead, she stared at it with sad eyes, the memories flooding back to her.