I got a headache from watching AJ race to every corner of the living room, returning to me with some sort of toy and pulling on my arm until I stood to play with him.

A year ago, I would have laughed and moved to the floor in a heartbeat so I was eye level with him and allowed him to teach me everything there was to know about his toys and games.

Now? The only thing I wanted to do was stay curled up on the couch and stare at the ceiling.

I'd only been here for a couple hours but hadn't been able to sit down since I'd arrived. Garrett hadn't been home but had let me know the sliding glass door had been left open I could let myself in if I walked around back. By the time I'd set my stuff in his bedroom, he'd come home from his game with AJ in tow. The seven-year-old had nearly knocked me off my feet at the foot of the stairs when he'd laid eyes on me, immediately yanking me toward the living room to watch him play Fortnite.

Unfortunately, Garrett had been a mess of dirt and sweat and had hopped in the shower, leaving me to fend for myself with the energetic kid. Our intense staring match was broken when the knob jiggled a couple times and was kicked open, a woman's voice filling the quiet house. "Gare! Can you come help me with these bags?"

The woman was still dressed in animal print nurse's scrubs, her dark hair a few shades lighter than both of her boys, tied back in a messy ponytail.

"Mom!" AJ squeaked, breaking away from me and racing toward the door as the woman kicked the door shut with her foot. It was when she looked to her son running at her that her eyes finally fell on me and she straightened immediately, blue eyes flickering to the hallway.

"Garrett!" she yelled again. No doubt he'd heard her since I couldn't hear the water running anymore, but I wasn't sure why he wasn't responding. "AJ, where's your brother?"

The seven-year-old was too busy peeking into every grocery bag as I crossed the living room to her, finally grinning when he pulled out a half dozen donuts. "Yummy!"

"Aaron Jacob Brooks, where is your brother?"

He throws one of his hands down the hall with a pout, not liking the full name card used on him, "We just got home an hour ago, Mom. He's showering."

I gently pulled a few of the heavy bags from her fingers and set them on the kitchen table. Her eyes widened, and if I hadn't been aware who I was standing beside, I would have thought I was looking straight into Garrett's.

"Thank you." she said, dropping the remainder on the table. She walked back to the door, locked it, then hung the keys before returning to me with her arm extended and palm up. "I'm Felicity, Garrett's mother."

I took her hand, knowing that if I even tried at a smile it'd falter, so I remained indifferent and said, "Everly."

"I'm sorry about that. I didn't expect to have company over." she looks over my shoulder down the hall. "Gare didn't mention anything."

It's as she stares me down that I see the realization of who I am enter her eyes, and with that dawning comes sympathy. To my relief, before she can say a word, Garrett takes the half of donut AJ is holding and throws it into his mouth before leaning over to kiss his mother's cheek, "Hey, Mom."

He leaves a little bit of crumbs, but she doesn't bother to wipe at it, but instead catches his arm and brings him back so he's standing between the two of us.

Upon walking into the house Garrett had been a mess of dirt and grass stains, not much else visible beneath. Now that he'd been cleaned up, I could see how marred his arms and face were. Under the scar my nail had left from scratching him during the drill was a nasty black and blue mark, and there was a wide-open cut along his bottom lip. She reached and pushed the hair matted against his forehead with water off and frowned when she found another cut there.

"I'm fine." he assured us, seeing that I was staring too, then made a gesture toward me. "Mom, this is Everly, the girl I was telling you about."

"Yes, I came to that conclusion already." she said, then makes a gesture over her shoulder. "Please put the groceries away and help me with dinner."

He groans as his shoulders slump forward, "Mom—"

"Just because you have a pretty girl over doesn't mean you don't still have to help out."

He mumbled under his breath but didn't fight her, and stepped in front of me to grab another donut from the box AJ was devouring. "You can go try and tame this little twerp."

"Says the brainless bozo." AJ fires back with a satisfied look, "Stop being mean to me because a girl is here."

Garrett winks in my direction as he ruffles his little brother's hair on his way to the kitchen.

Felicity unbagging veggies when she looks to AJ grasping at my arm, "You don't mind watching him for a few, do you?"

I shook my head and squeezed the little boy's hand, "No, not at all."

*

Sitting down at dinner proved to be a harder task that I thought it'd be. I hadn't sat with my parents to eat in over three months, and being here with an entirely different family at the table almost felt as though I were betraying them. AJ was playing with the meatballs on his plate while Garrett shoveled spaghetti into his mouth. He was already on his second serving and by the amount I'd seen him consume daily at lunch every day, I had no doubt he'd be going for thirds.

"So, did you guys win?" Felicity asked Garrett, dabbing at the corners of her mouth with a white linen napkin.

Garrett nodded and through a mouthful of spaghetti said, "Yep. By a field goal. Javi about fainted when we went into overtime."

She immediately grabbed his napkin and reached across the table to wipe at his mouth, to which his cheeks turn a bright red as he snaps at her under his breath. She just shrugged, with a small smirk playing on her lips, and says, "That's great, Gare. I'm so proud of you honey."

Irritated and embarrassed by his mother, he turned to me and said, "Angie was asking about you. I dropped her off after the game."

"Oh, Angie." Felicity perks up hearing the name. "That girl is just the sweetest. You fumbled so hard with that one."

This time his ears have a pinkish hue to them too as he muttered, "She has a girlfriend now, Mom. It wasn't me."

"That's 'cause she found you so gross she swore of boys entirely!" AJ piped in and I choked on the water I was sipping on.

Garrett chucked a bread roll at his little brother at the same time Felicity scolded, "Aaron Jacob!"

The scene is so normal, so typical of siblings, that for the first time in over six months a smile tugged at the inner corners of my mouth.

"Anyway, she's senior class president and saw one of your pieces. She wants to use it for the art showcase in a few weeks."

Felicity is as interested in me as she was Angie for the first time all night, "Oh, I didn't know you were an artist, Everly."

Before I can say a word, Garrett interjected, "Mom, she's amazing. You've got to show her some of your work, Ev."

I looked between the two, both blue eyes prompting me to say or do something. I finally looked to Garrett and said, "I'll think about it." And offered my phone to his mother so she can see my portrait of Miles.

"'Kay." Garrett hands my phone back to me. "I gave her your number just in case, I hope you don't mind."

I waved my hand dismissively, not able to verbally answer. He, as expected, grabbed another plate as I look down at the image of Miles on my phone and touched it to my chest.

Maybe I would do this.

For Miles.

*

"Shit!" Garrett's vulgar exclamation had me jumping where I was seated on a toolbox and I hit the floor hard. He spun around hearing the thud and though he tried to scratch at his nose to block it, I can see the smile on his face. "Sorry, Ev."

I set my sketchbook back on the toolbox as he reached out to help me to my feet.

"What happened?" I asked him, stepping into his little space so I could see his work of art. "You mess something up?"

He thought about it for a moment before he whispered, "Nope. I did this."

It takes my brain a second too long to connect what he's about to do to his words/ He takes a handful of AJ's Crayola paint on an old wood board a few feet away and smears it down my face. Gasping, I smacked his arm.

"Garrett! What the hell!"

Rather than respond, he grabbed the paints and offered them to me. I didn't even bother touching my hands to it, but shoved the old plank of wood into him, covering his neck, chin and white shirt in a rainbow mess of kid's paint.

He laughed, tossing the board aside and opened his arms, "Come here! You look like you need a hug!"

I shook my hed, darting away, but it sent a sharp pain through my left side and a second later I'm as covered in the array of colors as he is, my old ACDC shirt an abstract masterpiece. Unable to contain it, a laugh escapes me as I push away from him, and when I look up, I find that he must have realized what he'd done too, because while there was still a mischievous glint in those blues, there was also pride.

Seven months and he'd managed to not only get me to smile but laugh too. He had every right to be proud of himself.

"You're beautiful, Everly." He pulled a green piece of hair from my face and stared at it between his fingers. "But when you smile, I see why everyone was always so drawn to you back home."

I shifted, "Garrett, I don't think—"

"Don't worry, I'm not trying anything." He held his yellow and red hands up in surrender. "I just think it's something you should hear. You've been through so much shit, lost so much of yourself, that I know that there's still a little girl in there craving the life she once lived."

I eyed him, still smiling, "Okay, Dr. Brooks."

He winked but lowered himself down onto the stool he'd been on. "I should be a therapist, huh?"

"Totally." I responded, sitting back down.

The air in the room shifted suddenly, and when I looked back to Garrett, he was looking at me, but this time his expression was different. It'd taken on a curiosity, but with it was an apprehension. "Can I ask you something?"

"If it's about my mother or why I'm here, no."

"Why'd you do it?" he asked quietly, "Come to Oasis. You could have been homeschooled, away from everyone. If you knew how all our classmates were going to react to you being there, why would you subject yourself to that torture on top of what you were already going through?"

I couldn't say I wasn't rendered speechless by that question; I'd never considered any option outside of going to Oasis. Going back to school had always been a semi-bright light at the end of a dark tunnel.

"Clark destroyed me that day." I finally said softly, rubbing my clammy, colorful palms against my jeans. "He picked apart and destroyed every piece of me that morning. He made sure I had nothing left to live for as I limped out of that school. I needed something that was mine, that was for me. A way to prove he hadn't taken all of me, that there was still a little bit of Everly still in there fighting."

Garrett, taken back by the reply, sat for a while before he extended a hand and rested it on top of mine. "Do you even understand how incredibly brave that is? How brave you are?"

"He didn't deserve the satisfaction of seeing what he'd done to me." I croaked.

Garrett's jaw set and clenched at that. "Absolutely. I hope you rots in the deepest pits of Hell."

I stared at his paint speckled hand on top of my own, the blues a contrast off the black line work and dark red rose. "A reporter found me at a café a few weeks ago."

"Did you tell him to piss off?"

I lifted my head so I was staring at him, not at all surprised to find him listening intently, "He said he wanted me to tell my story. That he thought everyone was way too focused on Clark and Frankie and not enough on the victims, on how we can be the step toward change. He said voices like mine are what need to be heard."

I knew what his retort to this would be, but I still let him touch his hands to my own and look into my eyes with an encouraging look.

"You walked out of that school for a reason, Everly." he then touched his hand to my cheek and whispered, "This is your reason."