Summer's on Its Deathbed

'This is Alice.'

Brendon was completely confused.

'Hi Brendon!' The young girl, who he now knew to be called Alice, called over, waving enthusiastically.

Yasmine didn't even give Brendon a chance to ask what was going on before she kissed Jane on the cheek and bid her farewell before left the apartment. It had all happened so quickly that a few seconds after she'd gone, brendon found himself still standing by the door of Jane's apartment. He uttered a quick goodbye and rushed out back to Yasmine's.

Brendon walked inside and saw Yasmine coming back from what he assumed to be the bedroom without Alice. She straightened her t-shirt and fell to the sofa with a sigh and Brendon joined her there. "So, care to explain..?" He gestured around wildly hoping the girl would understand what he was getting at.

She did understand what he was getting at. For a second she stopped and allowed herself to collect her thoughts, wondering how she wad going to explain how her life became the shambles that it was.

"Well..." she began, taking a deep breath. "it started about two years ago. I had just moved out here from Rhode Island, I'd been out here for two, maybe three weeks. One day, it was a Tuesday, I'd come home from the gym and my phone was ringing incessantly. I picked it up and my younger sister, Francesca was on the phone, in complete hysterics. She was crying so hard I could barely hear what she was saying. But there were three words that I did catch, 'mum', 'dad', and 'dead'. At that point, everything just came crashing down around me. My parents two people I counted on and loved were just gone and I'd never, ever get a chance to see their faces again." Yasmine had to stop, it was the first time she'd had to explain this to anyone in a long time.

"They were on their way out and their car spun out of control, they were pushed in the way of an oncoming truck - they had no chance." Yasmine paced herself, as she was talking she realised how long she'd wanted to talk to someone about this. "They were going out to pick up Alice from ballet - she's my little sister, she's 8 years old. And me, being the oldest of their children assumed all legal responsibility for her. I'd just turned 21 when they died, it was so much for me to take on all at once. I was barely done being a child myself, when suddenly I had an actual child to look after." Brendon laid a comforting hand on her thigh, he'd had absolutely no idea about Yasmine's life and how much she had going on.

"My other sister Francesca had just started college out in Oregon, so I literally had no one to turn to. We don't have an extended family, both of my parents were only children, all of my grandparents are dead and have been for a long time. I was really on my own. I didn't have any time to wallow in self-pity, I had to get up and get on with it. Alice needed me, I had to be strong for her, when I really felt like shattering into a million pieces; I'd lost my parents. But I couldn't forget that Alice had lost her parents too, and she needed someone to be there for her. Seeing as I was on my own, I had to be that someone."

Brendon swept Yasmine's fringe out of her face and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. "I'm so proud of you."

Yasmine blushed profusely, she looked up at Brendon through her eyelashes. But she now saw that as she'd started telling this story, she was going to have to finish it. "After that, I had to stop doing anything for myself. I cancelled my gym membership, I stopped going to clubs, I didn't want to waste any money on myself, when I could be putting that money towards buying things for Alice to give her a somewhat normal childhood."

As Brendon watched her, she had a fierce pride and protectiveness in her eyes as she spoke about her little sister. He thought Yasmine was amazing, awe-inspiring, she truly was a hero. She'd been through so much and she was only 23.

"We sold our parents house, which was really hard. We had to sell most of our stuff. It hurt having to say goodbye to our family house, but it was too expensive for just me and Alice to live there alone. Francesca comes to stay here during her breaks from college and at Christmas, we've kept our family together as much as possible. Y'know, there are still a few cracks, but we've patched it up pretty well." Yasmine said with a smile of pride. "But it is still really hard. I've had jobs, but none of them pay too well, its hard for a girl with only a high school diploma to get a well paying job. I have no special talents, the only thing I've ever been good at is doing people's make-up. So, a few months ago, I saw an ad in the paper to take a class on make-up artistry. I took it, and the lady who ran the class referred me to an agent who has been getting me jobs ever since. But they don't pay too well and I was selfish enough to let my own dreams get in the way of supporting Alice. Now, my rent is due next week, my electricity's going to be cut off at any minute and my home phone got cut off last week." The tears came back, flowing just as hard as they had when she was sitting on the sidewalk earlier that morning.

Brendon scooped the girl up into a hug, pulling her on to his lap. She cried into his shirt for a while as he softly stroked her hair. The pair were interrupted when Alice appeared in the doorway. "Yazzy, why are you crying?" She asked, walking over to her sister.

Yasmine wiped the tears away from her face, climbing off of Brendon's lap and kneeling in front of her younger sibling. "I'm not crying Ally, don't worry." Although she was only 8, Alice knew Yasmine was lying, so she wrapped her small arms around her shoulders and whispered in her ear. "It's okay Yazzy." Alice paused for a second before adding, "Who's that guy?" Yasmine couldn't help but laugh before turning back to Brendon.

"Brendon, this is Alice. Ally, this is Brendon. He's my...friend."

Alice looked Brendon up and down suspiciously, she looked as though she was sizing Brendon up, making sure he wasn't a threat or going to do anything bad to Yasmine. After a few moments, it seemed as though she'd deemed him okay, because she smiled at him. Brendon counted that as a win.