All That Glitters

Braylen Huntington was born on December 14th during the worst snow storm since 1953, they said it was going to last a week. Her mother went into labor a month premature and her father knocked over the mailbox trying to race into the hospital and nearly drove his car into the emergency room. After getting his car towed for leaving it in the patient drop off lane and a 28-hour labor, there was their daughter. All 5 pounds and 7 ounces of her, with bright bluish-green eyes barely opening, in a world she wasn’t even aware of. It was a troublesome birth, but when her father opened the blinds to show his little girl, low and behold the sky was bright blue with a small snowflakes glittering through the sunlight. Luke Huntington looked over to his wife smiling and said, “We got a special girl here.”

Five years later, Luke Huntington was holding his daughter on his shoulders, her light brown curls bouncing as her contagious giggles echoed throughout the hotel room. This was the first time after begging her father to take her with him to his conference. He sat her down in a room decorated with pastels and happy music, even at that ages others took notice. Her father set her down next to a blonde kid with a scraped cheek, who smiled a missing front tooth.

“Hi, I’m John,” He smiled, but Braylen was observant. She had already seen his outfit consisting of a button down shirt and black pants and his name tag where his father had written out ‘John’ in better hand-writing than a five-year-old’s.

“I know I can read,” Braylen giggled, before slapping her hand over her name tag and smiling brightly at John. “I’ll give you some of my gummy bears if you can guess my name!” She grinned, knowing full well he wouldn’t guess it. No one ever did, it was like a card counter making a bid based on the knowledge that he would win.

“Braylen, I saw your name tag too,” John laughed, holding out his palm awaiting the won gummy bears. Braylen frowned, she’d never lost that game, especially to a boy. After all it was well known amongst the kindergarden class that girls were much smarter than boys. She begrudgingly gave him the flavors she didn’t like anyways and he smiled. “These are my favorite flavors!”

“Good, because I hate those,” She snickered, that was when she decided she had absolutely nothing in common with John. It would be impossible for her to foresee that very trait would make them perfect for each other.

Braylen wasn’t even sure where her head was these days, she wasn’t sure how long she had been walking until she felt someone wrap their arms around her. She blushed and looked up at Caitlin who seemed worried. Caitlin gave her a look to ask her if something was wrong, but Braylen simply shook her head in response.

“We’re going to the bathroom to powder our noses,” Caitlin excused them over her shoulder, before grabbing Braylen’s arm and yanking her through Sterling’s fairly large house they both knew like their own. Caitlin used momentum to get Braylen into the bathroom and locked the door behind them. “Something’s wrong, spill,” she said bluntly.

Braylen laughed at her cousin, how they knew what each other were thinking without saying a word. They had managed to become closer than most friends or anyone else in their family. Then she sighed because how was she supposed to tell her best friend that the expensive therapy and psychoanalysis wasn’t working and her flashbacks were coming back more often. She was losing chunks of time because her mind was living in another one. She stared at the ceramic tile that probably cost more than most people spend on flooring in their entire homes. “It’s getting worse. The nightmares, the flashbacks, I can’t remember half of what I do and the other half feels like I’m dreaming. Like I’m in a haze and sometimes, the dreams feel more realistic than reality does…” Her voice was low and quiet, she was ashamed of the fact she couldn’t be normal like everyone else.

“What did Dr. Bergman say about it? Didn’t she put you on a new medication to help?” Caitlin responded without judgement. That was their beauty of their relationship.

“I haven’t told her…” Braylen admitted quietly.

“Bray! You have to she’s your doctor!” Caitlin whispered harshly, worry consumed her appearance and voice. Braylen felt guilty for keeping this secret from Caitlin most of all.

“They’re just sleeping pills, she said that they’re supposed to knock me out and stop nightmares. Get this, they’re for people who come back from war zones with PTSD. But they’re not working, I’ve had almost every kind of prescription and nothing helps, what if I’m beyond repair?” Braylen admitted, letting her true concern show.

“Hey are you girls done ‘powdering your noses’ ‘cause I have to pee like a fucking racehorse!” Jared pounded on the door making both girls jump, become letting out tiny giggles. Cailtin smirked as she leaned over to open the door and let Jared in, before re-locking it.

“Fuck you there’s like a four other bathrooms in this house!” Caitlin laughed with Braylen trying to contain her own laughter while nodding in agreement. When they were laughing the girls could pass for sisters, sharing the same crinkle in their noses and perfect teeth and smile.

“Yeah, yeah but you know how Sterling’s mom is about letting other people use any other bathroom besides the guest bathroom,” Jared blushed, and it was true. Mrs. Brady had serious OCD issues and a sixth sense of when a part of their home had been trespassed, so the kids just learned to ignore it. Both girls nodded, acknowledging the validity of his argument. “So what are you ladies talking about in here? A certain new boy added to our little group?” Jared smiled, sending an overdramatic wink to Braylen.

“Ha-ha, we were actually talking about how our cycles linked up again, so weird. Like last week we were both ovulating and now-” Caitlin lied with a big fat smile on her face.

“Okay, I get it. I’m not allowed to know, but seriously Bray, I happen to know that John has had a little crush on you since middle school, he’s just too wrapped up in his reputation and shit to do anything about it,” Jared said, breaking confidentiality with his friend.

Braylen didn’t acknowledge that information, because she knew. She had seen his glances in middle school and she knew. Girls always knew. So she stepped out of the bathroom and prayed her mind wouldn’t drift off again. She followed the hallways absent-minded until she reached the living room where John and Sterling had decided to play a game of Halo.

“God, boys are so predictable,” Braylen sighed loudly hoping to drop the hint for them to both stop playing. Instead, two middle fingers were lifted into the air and she let out a small chuckled. Maybe not, she thought.