Riona

CHAPTER 2

I open the fridge, knowing that I was still going to have to order in but to my surprise, it's stuffed. Juices, food packs, ice cream, it was all there. This must be Korra, she's the cook between us. Being a professional chef just makes it even better. For most of our childhood, we didn't have a mother so dad used to do all the cooking and he was a terrible cook but he didn't want to believe it. Korra taught herself how to cook from TV and cookbooks while I spent all my free-time learning how to tie my own shoelace. I still can't.

I grab a food pack and it had Caesar salad in it with a fork attached to the side. Taking my bag with me and Sam at my tail, I go to the room and hurriedly undress. Stepping into the shower, I slowly give up and rest on the cold tiles, letting the cold water rain down on me.

No matter how hard I try, my thoughts are the one thing that I just can't escape.

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"Are you sure we shouldn't come over? A sleepover would really be nice."

"No Trev. I promise I'm okay. You guys don't have to stress yourselves coming over here. And now if you'll excuse me, Sam and I are in the middle of a heated game of Mah-jong."

"If you say so but tomorrow we'll both be there all day since it's a Saturday. Right Korra?"

My sister just nods and gives a small half-hearted smile. She's been silently staring at me the whole time. She already knows what's going on in my head. She always knows.

She knows that no matter how much Trevor tries to cheer me up, nothing's going to change. She knows everything that led up to me meeting Ash and she knows exactly what he meant to me. That he can never leave my mind, no matter how happy I pretend to be.

"Okay that's fine. Goodnight."

I end the Facetime before they can say their goodbyes. I just really need to be alone for a while and I think my sister understands that, she didn't utter a single word throughout the call.

Setting my alarm for 8 am, I set my phone down and call Sam. He sleeps beside me on the bed now – his decision, not mine.

My phone lights up with an email notification just as I turn off the lights. The subject read 'To all relatives of the deceased'.

I really need to sleep tonight so I don't read it, I just forward it to Korra and turn my phone off. She'll know what to do.

I slowly drift off to sleep with Sam by my side and only one person on my mind – the one person I'd rather not think of now.

THE NEXT MORNING

I hear a slight knock on my bedroom door and I start to panic, my eyes quickly shoot open and I start to reach for the small drawer on the side table.

"Hey, Riona are you up? It's Korra." I breathe out heavily in relief.

Why exactly did I give her a key to my apartment? I mumble a 'come in' and sit up to put on my slippers.

"Hey Riri. How're you feeling today?"

"I'm fine Koko."

"You have to stop calling me that." She laughs and helps me stand up to put on my robe.

"Only if you stop calling me Riri first." We both make our way to the living room.

"Never."

"Morning Riona." I turn to see Trevor in the kitchen with the smell of fresh pancakes thick in the air.

"Morning Trev. I see Korra's enslaved you again." Korra smacks my arm and I walk into the kitchen to see a tall stack of pancakes on the table.

"Nah. This is all me." He laughs and drops a bottle of maple syrup on the table.

"Thanks." I open the fridge and pick the jar of mayonnaise. Trevor and Korra just stare at me horrified.

I laugh at their silly facial expressions.

"Don't judge me."

I use a butter knife to spread mayo on all the pancakes before I start eating. Both Korra and Trevor gag as I stuff my face with the pancakes.

"Thank goodness we had breakfast before coming." Trevor says.

Just as I finish my breakfast and open the fridge to get some orange juice, there is a knock on the front door.

"I'll get it." Korra stands up from where she's sitting on the couch and hurries to open the door.

"Hey dad." My head shoots up as I hear this.

Someone emerges from behind Korra as she walks back into the living room.

My dad.

"Edan." He stretches his arms as he stands in the middle of the living room looking at me. I practically run to him, hugging him tight. My body starts to vibrate against his as I silently sob and he slowly strokes my hair as he tries to calm me down.

"It's okay honey. I'm right here. It's alright."

"Why didn't you call earlier? It's been 3 days dad." I manage to choke out between sobs.

"Honey I'm sorry. I didn't know. Alison just told me yesterday."

I glance at my sister and she also had tears in her eyes.

I hate crying, always have. I quickly let go of my father and wipe my face with my sleeve.

"I guess we're all going together then. I'll go take a quick shower. Give me 30 minutes. Sam!"

After excusing myself, I rush into the bathroom.

Today's going to be a long day.

You know what to do ;) 🤘