Benjamin Payne looked at the definition of his beloved little sister's mental stability standing in front of him. If he hadn't found her by the time he did ,he wouldn't know what would have happened to the whole family. Your sister would have shared a ward with some psycho, that is what would have happened.
     " Good evening, child! How is your new school? Are you adjusting well, my dear?"
   " Yes Uncle Ben. Everything is going well."
  "You are still going to see Dr.Martinez, aren't you?"
   "Yes, I am."
   "When is your next appointment? I will drive you there myself."
  "It is next week, Uncle. I appreciate your offer but I would be comfortable if I go alone."
    " Well, off you go now. It is a school night."
   "Good night, Uncle."
   "Good night, Zara."
           ~~|~|~~|~|~~|~|~|~|~|~|~
       Zara entered her bedroom with the glass of water in hand. She leaned back on the closed door and slid down its smooth surface, sighing while her head softly thumped back.
     The water sloshed all over her lap but she was too consumed with the thoughts brimming in her head to notice.
    What am I doing? Why am I being like this after all this time? This is unacceptable!
    She knew she was entitled to succumb to her if she let her emotions loose. They will mess with her, body and soul.
    I have to remember where I stand now. I should go see her. I should remember that there is no going back, not after all that she had been through.
     She thought of taking a bath and did just that before going to bed.
           ~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~
    "Lemen! Lemen!LEMEN!!!"
  Nathanael jumped out of bed,startled.
  Oh no! Not again! He rushed out of his bedroom to his mother's. "Mum, Mum wake up!"
   "Huh? What?" Her voice became panicked." What is it, what's wrong? Are you alright?"
   " It is Zara ,mum! She is having her nightmares again!"
   Together, they rushed back to the children's bedrooms. The door seemed so far away to Samantha. When she finally barged into her daughter's room, her heart dropped.
      Zara was there on the bed, squirming away, her body drenched with sweat and she was shaking so bad. She has reached the edge of the bed and she would fall if she kept squirming and shaking like that.
     Samantha cradled her daughter while her son stood by the door feeling helpless, frustrated. He felt his anger surfacing  ready to boil over. He felt the need to punch something, someone. He couldn't stand seeing someone he cared for being in pain. He had done that one too many times and look where that has gotten him!
    But he can't do anything. He can't pass the invisible barrier that kept him from at least giving his little sister physical comfort. He knew how that would turn out, and it wasn't good. He wanted to scream so badly.
     Instead, he watched his mother taking care of things silently by the door.
    " Shh, my love. You are here, you are alright. You are with your mother now. It is all going to be okay. Nobody will ever hurt you, ever! Over my dead body!" Samantha's voice became fierce at the end.
    Zara whimpered softly and swam between consciousness and unconsciousness. She slowly drifted back to sleep. Her mother tried to untangle her
body from her daughter but in vain. Zara held on tightly. Samantha sighed and slid under the duvet next to her daughter.

    Meanwhile, Nathanael couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned but in vain. Finally, he gave up and threw the cover. He grabbed his trunk shorts and went to the house gym.
   Punch.
"Why does this happen to the broken people?"
     Punch. Punch.
" My mother." Punch. " My sister."
   He kept on punching the bag repeatedly, with no gloves on. He didn't stop even when blood trickled down his knuckles and onto the mat.
     When he came down from his adrenaline high, he grabbed a towel and trolled to the bathroom in the gym. He stood under the scalding hot water letting loose, physically and mentally.
            ~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~
    "OMG! She is so pretty! Well, a little throw off, but  beautiful. Too bad I missed first day of school but I would have made her one of us. Since, you know, she talked to me and all. I hope Tina hadn't gotten to her yesterday. She wouldn't let us live it down. You know, she knows my name too. I don't know how but she did!" Kate boasted.
  Courtney looked at her friend funnily. "She might have stalked you the moment she arrived, or wait, here is a crazy idea! She read your name tag!"
   Kate's face lit up in realization. " How did I not think about that? Hey, Court, do you by chance have any classes with her?"
   "I think we have Physics. Why?"
   " Oh, nothing just curious. Darn, I need to go grab my schedule and see where my locker is. Bye,see you at our usual spot at recess."
   " She gets crazier as time passes." She chuckled under her breath. She knows how her friend gets when she is excited. Her bubbly personality is what got them to be friends. Three years ago, both were newbies. Courtney is a shy girl. She stood in the middle of the hallway, quite frightened. Someone had stood beside her, eyes roaming their surrounding like hers.
   " I know, right! It is huge!" Courtney had jumped in surprise, staring at the goofy girl. She had dark blonde locks tied back at her neck, some curls loose at the front. She was smiling like she knew her forever, honey brown eyes crinkling and a dimple popping on her left cheek.
    " Hey, I am Katherine Dubois but you can call me Kate. Plus, I hate being called Katherine. It makes me cranky."
   Cortney liked her immediately." And I am-"
    " Courtney Snow. I know. I overheard you  in the office. So, we both are new then? We will be the new students together. Can I look at your schedule?"
    She handed her paper. She saw her face fall and then brighten.
   "We have fifth period together! Too bad we don't have the first! We would have stood awkwardly in front of the whole class looking for seats together. Well, I will see you at fifth! Ciao!" All the nervousness had left her when Courtney departed with her new friend.
     She snapped out of her daydream when the new girl came in sight. Had anyone welcomed her with an open heart the way Kate did for me? Should I make myself approachable? She almost laughed at the thought. Kate, you are so rubbing off on me.
      She decided to leave that thought to her sociable friend and went to class.
         ~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~
  'Sup readers soaring in the sky! I hope you find the chapter bearable because I wrote it while sparring with runny nose, trembling fingers(I was shivering from head to toe), a very tormenting headache 🤕 and a sniffling which my sister/ editor found really annoying and hence refused to carry out her editing duties. It is official. I have the worst kind of flu and cold.
     So. New characters! I love to meet new people, I hope you do too. I hope the chapter wasn't as awful as my flu because I had a different version in mind before I fell ill. Ahh, so many hopes.
       BTW, I am dedicating this chapter to a person I grew close to in a really really short time and she is leaving on Tuesday :( I hope we meet again. ( There goes that word again, hope.)

   🤧😷🤒Your very sick locomotive organ provider. Achuu