In A House, But Not A Home

4:30 AM. The clock's red numbers glowed, softly illuminating the bare white walls. Fallon Jade laid still, not asleep, but not truly awake. She could hear her mother's sobs in the next room.

"Another night, another fight," she thought, sighing to herself. She hated everything in this moment. She was too tired to ever sleep, but never rested enough to be awake. She'd never really been rested, she never slept. Not since Mitchell. Every time she drifted off, that night replayed in her dreams. The gentle rain, their song playing, singing along, the world was right in that moment. Fallon was content, no, she was happy. Everything happened so fast from there, it was too painful to sleep. Once her dream of Mitchell got to that point, she always jolted awake. She would never sleep.

Sitting up and dangling her tiny legs off the bed, Fallon stood up and crept to the mirror. The girl she saw was not her. This girl had big green eyes, filled with sorrow and something unidentifiable. The girl's eyes were shadowed with dark circles. Under her eyes was a dainty nose, sprinkled with light freckles. Then, her mouth. Cracked pink lips, dried blood in places, and the inability to truly smile. Fallon peered closer at the foreign girl, trying to find herself in those green eyes and contorted mouth. Brushing a strand of rich brown hair out of her face, she sighed again. This time taking note of how her shoulder blades protruded in a grotesque, but beautiful way. She couldn't remember the last time she's really eaten. Crawling back into bed, she listened. Her mother had stopped crying. The house was silent besides the snores of her father and the whispers of something that always lingered.