✸  ANYONE ELSE
chapter sixteen ━━ we deserved to know

SOMETIMES, EVERYTHING FEELS wrong and out of place. Sometimes, you get awaken and get a real view of life. A view of how cruel it truly can be.

Everyday, you live in a daydream, thinking everything is fine. You think nothing bad can hit you. It never has before, so why now?

You know it's real; you know some people are suffering, you just never thought it'd be you. You never even imagined you would be the person people told pity stories about.

For some reason, it has to be someone though. So why couldn't it be you?

She had just gone looking for Jeremiah. They had realised that he was gone when the time for couple dances came up, and he didn't stand ready to dance with Belly.

She had internally punched him. This might have been the only chance he was going to get with Isabel, and now he was ruining it.

"Where is he?" Steven had volunteered to help her find him, but they were having no luck.

"He's just gone. Why would he leave like that?" Julie was beyond confused, it didn't feel like him to just go.

"Maybe he went to get some air?" Steven made his way to the door and opened it slightly, peeking outside. "Jules?" The sudden change in his voice made Julie walk quickly towards him.

Reaching the door, she immediately looked out, spotting her younger brother.

Steven made a move to join the younger boy outside, but Julie caught his arm before he could.

"Maybe I should talk to him?" Her voice was soft, a nervous tint to the edge, and he immediately obeyed, giving her a soft kiss, before walking inside again, meeting the others with a smile.

"Jere?" She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, and he turned to look at her with red eyes. "What happened?" Her voice was laced with concern.

"I- you- mom-" he choked back a sob, struggling to put together a sentence, and she gently guided him to sit down.

"Relax, Jere," she pulled him into her side, curling her hand up in his hair to calm him down. "What happened?"

The boy took a few deep breaths before talking again, focusing on his sisters touch to calm him down. He needed to tell her. He wasn't like Conrad.

"Mom's got cancer." His voice cracked slightly. "And- and she's not doing her treatments."

"What?" She couldn't comprehend what he was saying.

"Mom's got cancer, Julie," he squeezed her hand gently. "And it's serious."

She couldn't believe it. She wouldn't believe it. It had to be some cruel joke.

She looked at her brothers face for any sign that it naught have been a extremely unfunny prank, but the look on his face made it clear that he was serious.

She took another racked breath before breaking into a sob.

"And Conrad knew," Her brother continued. "He fucking knew all along, and he didn't tell us, Jules!" His voice turned angry. "He should have fucking told us!"

The boy stood up abruptly, yanking his sister with him.

"That son of a bitch!" He started making his way inside, and Julie rushed after him. Conrad knew, and he hadn't told them. He had kept something like that a secret for the whole summer.

"How could you?!" When she reached their table, Jeremiah had already reached Conrad, but she stood in between the two brothers, facing the oldest one with a distressed look on her face. "Why didn't you tell us?!"

"I-" Conrad looked taken back by his sister's outburst. She normally never got angry. She never yelled.

She was sobbing, broken sounds escaping her mouth, but she kept on going. "Why didn't you tell us? We deserved to know! I deserved to know!" Her voice cracked again, and she began shaking. "I- I-" she stopped, and Steven immediately stood up, guiding her down in the seat next to him.

"It'll be okay," he kissed her hair gently, as he whispered the words for just her to hear, and tried turning her head down in his shoulder when Jeremiah began throwing punches towards Conrad. She didn't need to see her brothers fighting. "I'm right here. I'm here for you."

Nothing seemed to matter to Julie in that moment. Nothing but the fact that he mother was deadly sick with cancer.

Her mother had cancer.

It seemed unreal. Was cancer actually a real thing? She had heard lots of stories about the sickness, but not even in her wildest nightmares had she imagined that someone close to her would get it.

Especially not her mother.

Susannah Fisher was always so full of energy. She used to be able to handle everything.

She had seemed more tired lately, but Julie had just brushed it off. She should have noticed that. Why didn't she notice that?

Another sob escaped her lips, and Julie clung tighter onto Steven. The whole room was watching them and Julie wanted nothing more than to disappear. She wanted to escape to another world. A world where the most important person in her life wasn't sick.

She hadn't noticed when the fighting had stopped, but when she felt an arm around her, the whole room was silent.

She didn't need to look up to see that it was Laurel who had softly caressed her shoulder. The older woman helped the girl to her feet, and together they made their way outside. Steven and Belly was right behind them, and after them came the rest of the blonde girl's family.

Conrad and Jeremiah had been fighting. She knew they had been, she had been in the room when they did it, but seeing the blood on her oldest brothers face made her realise just how mad Jeremiah was.
Somehow, she completely understood.

Conrad had known about it for the whole summer. He had known, and still, he hadn't told them about it. They had just as much right to know as he had. He wasn't even two years older than them.

When they reached the parking lot, her mother finally spoke. "I'm so sorry, honey,"

The arm around her disappeared, and instead she found herself embraced by her mother.

"Mum," she let out another sob, her body shaking in the arms of her mother. Her best friend.

"It's alright. It's going to be fine, sweetheart," Susannah let out a quiet sob too, hugging her only daughter even tighter.

"No, it's not. It's not, mum," She clung tighter to the woman, afraid that letting go would mean letting go forever.

Susannah didn't know what to say in return, thinking of nothing that could help in that moment.

"I love you so much," Jeremiah's voice cracked as he joined the hug, clinging onto his sister and mother just as hard as they clung to each other, never wanting to let go.

Her older brother eventually joined too, and for a while, the family just stood there, crying into each other's arms.

Conrad's nose was bleeding on them all, ruining their clothes completely. Normally, this would have made Julie upset, but right in that moment, she didn't care at all. Nothing mattered anymore. Nothing was important.

"We need to go home." Laurel broke the silence, looked sadly at her best friend and the children she considered her own. It wasn't fair. "Do you think you can drive, Steven?"

Steven instantly nodded, silently agreeing with his mother that none of the Fishers should drive in that moment.

"You and Belly can take Beck's car. Is that alright?" Feeling obligated to take responsibility, Laurel turned towards the Fisher family. "Any of you who'll drive with them?"

It was silent for a moment before Julie spoke up.

"I'll drive with them." She slowly stepped out of her mother's embrace, and into Steven's as he held his arms out for her.

She didn't want to leave her mother's side, but she wasn't sure she would be able to handle the car ride with her.

"You'll drive." Steven threw the keys at his sister as he helped Julie into the backseat. There was no way he would leave her alone in that moment.

"But mom said—" Belly tried giving the keys back to him, knowing her mother wouldn't want her driving.

"You're driving." He sent her a look, tilting his head slightly toward the girl in the car, letting her know the reason behind his decision. "You'll be fine."

She hesitated for a short moment, before coming to the conclusion that her brother was right. She climbed into the car and started it.

Steven climbed in too, sitting next to Julie. She had stopped crying, feeling like she had used up all her tears, but she looked like she could start again at any moment, so he gently took her hand in his, squeezing it tightly before giving her a soft kiss on the top of her head.

"It'll be alright."

Oh, how he wished that he could promise her that.

✸ edited ✸
1515 words??? i deserve an applaud for that