Chapter 97: Chapter 97
"Mate or not, you’re still a jerk" I said and bent, brushing my lips against his "but you’re my jerk" I kissed him softly and felt him smile against my lips. Faintly I heard the voices of the people downstairs counting down the seconds till the new year would come.
Five
Four
Three
Two
One
I smiled as I pulled back and looked at my mate as I heard the fireworks and saw the faint lights coming from the window.
"Happy new year Ethan"
"Happy new year Lily"
I laid beside him and smiled as I looked at him. At that moment I knew I didn’t regret anything that happened over the years. My mate wasn’t perfect and neither was I. We would drive each other crazy that was a definite fact. But we both loved each other, imperfections and all, and that’s the best kind of love.
I looked around my room for the last 18 years and sighed. This was it. I was leaving. Though I would have stayed forever if it meant my brother would still be alive.
Gabriel Tatum was without a doubt the best younger brother any girl could ask for. He was the only one I truly considered family. Gabriel was a premature baby, two months premature to be exact which caused major health problems for him.
He had Cerebral Palsy which paralyzed him from the waist down and even the smallest act of sitting up caused him to be out of breath due to the fact that his lungs weren’t fully matured and he had a respirator attached to him at all times so he’d use it when needed, which was a lot.
Nevertheless, my brother was amazing; he was funny, charming, smart, and selfless. He was always there when I needed him and helped me a lot through my life. He was what my parents should have been.
I shook my head and picked up my bags, Gabriel had died two days ago and it was expected. He lived to the age of fifteen, more than what the doctors predicted. And before he died he made sure I promised him to only take a day to cry, and be depressed but then I’d move on, he made me promise I’d do whatever it took to make myself happy.
I walked down the stairs and instantly came face to face with my mom, Cindy. My mom was the picture of perfection; with blond hair, big blue eyes and perfect lips it was no wonder my dad fell in love with her. But her beauty never made up for the fact that she was never there, she never cared.
"Where are you going?" She asked eying my bags suspiciously. "Away from you" I thought but didn’t say aloud, like always.
"I’m leaving" I said with determination, my mom’s eyes widened
"What do you mean you’re leaving? Where are you going?"
"I have no idea; I just have to leave this place"
"Is this because of your brother? His death was expected dear. We’ve been preparing for it ever since he was born"
I felt my blood boil.
"No mom. You were preparing for it. Dad was preparing for it. I was fighting against it"
And it was true; my parents never gave Gabriel the time of day. They brought everything he needed to the house. Hospital bed, respirators, heart monitor, and hired all the nurses he needed. But that was the only connection they had to my brother.
"Honey you’re brother wouldn’t have wanted you to--"
"Don’t you dare" I said anger bubbling up inside of me. "Don’t you dare preach to me about what Gabriel would have wanted, you didn’t know him." I threw my bags down and they landed on the ground noisily "You didn’t know a thing about him! He was just an imperfection in your picture-perfect family that you wanted to hide." She started to answer but I interrupted her "You never talked to him, never spoke about him, and never even stopped by his room to check if he was alright. You never cared."
"Of course I cared" she said "he was my son"
"Was he really? Tell me mom what did he like to do while he was locked up in that room? What was his favorite show, favorite food, hobbies? What did he wish he could do if he wasn’t sick?"
"I-I..."
"You don’t know" I stated "You never knew. You blamed him for being sick; you blamed him for dad hating you. You blamed me for not shunning him like you all did, for not being perfect, for looking like my great-grandmother instead of looking like you and dad"
My mother gasped, it was the first time I had talked to her that way. But everything I said was true. Dad blamed mom for Gabriel’s premature birth and for their second child, me, not being perfect. They stayed married but it was a well-known fact that dad cheated on her constantly. They wereboth the same, both pathetic excuses for parents.
I took a deep breath, calming myself down, before I picked up my bags and walked to the door. "Tell Dad I said goodbye"
"If you get out that door you can kiss your inheritance goodbye" Mom said sternly and I smiled, she was finally showing who she really was. "You wouldn’t get a dime from me or your father."
"I wouldn’t expect anything less" I said without looking at her and got out of our mansion and put my bags in the trunk of the taxi I called for.
"Nate" I heard a familiar sweet voice call me. I turned around and saw my little sister, Grace, get out of the limousine that took her to school.
Grace was seventeen years old, a year younger than me. She was a perfect image of what Gabriel and I should have looked like. She had my mom’s hair, mouth and skin and my dad’s eyes and jaw.