A Stitch Away From Making a Scar...

Valissity hadn’t spoken to Adam in three days. Every wounded and worried look he sent her was painful to ignore but the most painful thing was that scared look Ash got suddenly all the time. So Adam was just going to have to deal with being hated for being the asshole he’d been.
Quiet, anxious and fidgety, Ash was even more off focus then usually and his eyes darted around the room. His fingers played with his placemat and he moved everything on his plate around so it was symmetrical. His shirt was blue because blue was for good luck and he needed good luck lately.
“Hey Ash,” Adam glanced over at Valissity determinately for a second before moving his gaze back to a startled and scared Ashton. “Oops, can you pick that up for me?”
The fork dropped to the ground, it’s asymmetry grating against the actual symmetry of the tiled floor so much that it formed a lump of anxiety in Ashton’s throat. Sending Val a panicked look, he let out a little breath and tried to look away.
“Come on Ashton,” sighing, their mother sent her son a condescending look. “Don’t be difficult. Just pick up the fork for your brother, please?”
Tears pricking his golden eyes, Ash took a deep breath. Adam’s smile was so smug, so full of itself that it killed him to get up slowly and move over-.”
“I’ll get it!” Valissity announced, sliding her chair out from underneath the table and rushing over to grab the fork before Ash’s fingers could reach it.
“No- Val,” Adam’s eyes narrowed with worry. “Seriously, don’t worry about it. Don’t stress yourself.”
“Sweetie, Ash could have gotten that,” sending her a sweet smile, her father dipped his gaze back to his food and slipped back into his more characteristic silence.
Closing his eyes tight, Ash let out a small sigh. It didn’t even matter. None of it mattered. If Val was happy then that was what mattered. It was like they didn’t even care about him and at the moment he had a wild urge to shout something at them or make some grand gesture to show them he wasn’t as “selfish” as they all made him out to be.
Even the slight jealously he felt towards Valissity made him cringe in disgust though and pushing his food away, he wanted to throw up suddenly. What even gave him the right? This was all so stupid and it was mostly his fault for making Val so protective over him and for what- a stupid prank played upon him by his dumpish older brother?
“You guys are so full of bullshit,” Valissity finally said out loud, her eyes burning holes into her parents. Linda and Paul both sat there dumbfounded. Sweet and sympathetic, even at her most sullen and antisocial, Valissity had never at one point been liable to be described as snarky and that was exactly how she sounded in this moment.
“Excuse me?” Linda’s voice strained under the shock and confusion she felt. “W-What did you just say?”
“Ash is a person too,” her voice was dark. “I don’t care if he didn’t try to fucking kill himself; it doesn’t make him any less worthy of human decency. Did you even hear Adam yelling at him? Or punish him for totally destroying Ash’s room twice! No, cause you’re the most hypocritical bullshit excuses for parents there even-.”
“Valissity, stop!” Linda’s face was red with anger. “You are not allowed to address me in that way.”
“Say something, Ash,” Val urged, nodding encouragingly to him.
Fingers going cold and his heart thudding loudly in his ears, Ashton’s eyes grew teary once again but he didn’t let the tears fall. No way was he going to let that happen. “I- Val no, look, I’m sorry…”
Her eyes went cold and she turned back to her parents angrily. “Tell him that he’s allowed to have feelings!” she was yelling now. “Tell him! Now!”
“Please… V-Valissity.”
“Of course he’s allowed feelings,” Paul interjected, finally darning to join the argument and smiling sadly. “He knows that.”
“No, the sad thing is, he doesn’t dad. If he’s not bad enough to want to die than his problems don’t even matter, right? And he should shut up and just let people treat him like shit, right mum? Right?”
“Val, calm down,” Adam’s voice rose in panic. “Please, you’re going to have a break down if you keep yelling so much. Just- stop okay, we can talk normally-.”
“NORMALLY?” Val yelled back rebelliously. “You want to tell me you can converse feelings of anger in normal conversation now? After telling my little brother that it’s not okay to be scared if someone fucking trashes your bedroom and calls you selfish and pathetic? No, you don’t get to tell me to calm down! You don’t get to!”
Tears choking his voice, Ash had pulled his legs up to his chest and hugged them there in absolute terror. “P-Please stop?” he asked her softly. “Honestly Val, j-just please stop yelling so much.”
“Am I scaring you?” she asked, guilt drenching her words.
“You, stop,” Linda snapped. “Ash, grow up already. I know that we haven’t been being entirely fair to you but you can tell us instead of balling your eyes out like a four year old okay.”
“WHAT THE FUCK, MUM!” Val exploded.
So many thoughts were racing through his head at the speed of lightening and it was choking him. His mother’s eyes, the way the tablecloth tilted just slightly to the side and how so long as he was counting, if the argument continued past twenty seconds then something bad was going to happen. He could feel it.
Peas on Val’s plate. The shoes on the floor, the knife that sat slightly crooked on the dining table. It was all driving him crazy. So as they all yelled at each other, Val’s eyes determined and furious and his mother’s face red with eyes much the same as her daughters, Adam sitting there shocked and worried and his father sitting back in his chair trying as it seemed to appear as small as possible; he left.
Nobody even really noticed as he slipped out of his seat, walked off to his room and slowly closed the door. Moving over to sit on his bed, he took deep breathes and pulled his books out one by one, counting them as he did and then reorganising them by colour this time. 1… 2… 3… 4…