I breathed in the familiar odor of the high school and sighed. It was going to be a perfect day. After that horrible day in the hospital, my sister had come to pick me up. My ribs were almost healed, and my broken finger was wrapped in a small cast, plus I was excused from gym. It wasn't hard to ignore and avoid my parents and Benji. In fact, I hadn't seen him since the hospital.

I caught sight of brown hair and turned in that direction. "Amber!" I squealed, racing up to her as much as I could with my heavy bag and wounds. She turned at the sound of my name, but something that looked like shock was on her face. "I-uh, hey, Cal," she stuttered. I raised a brow. "What's wrong? Didn't think I'd be back so fast?" Laughing, I hugged her. "You won't believe what happened, I had to stay in the hospital for three weeks!" I waited for her surprise, but she edged out of my arms and murmured, "I should go, we have class..." She sprinted down the hall.

Frowning, I looked around me for the first time. A dozen stares were fixed on me, and none of them were friendly. I gathered my courage and pushed down the nervousness. "What are you looking at?" I voiced, but none of the onlookers turned away.

Suddenly, one person- she might have been in my Civics class- sneered at me and pointed. "That, ugly." Her finger was aimed at my backpack.

Fingers trembling and tears rising, I rotated the backpack off my shoulder. A note, stapled to the fabric, read in a scrawl, 'KICK ME'. I ripped it off, not caring that the fabric tore, and stormed down the hall. What was going on? I almost ran into Jessica, and I stopped her. "What is up with everyone?" I asked. She smoothly flipped her hair to the side and said, "Retribution, darling. In the form of lies." As she pushed past me, I saw none other than Josh trailing after her like some sort of bloodhound. As soon as he caught sight of me, he winced and tried to scamper off in the other direction.

I didn't chase him. I just sat there, in the middle of the hallway, and cried into my ruined backpack until someone tapped me on my arm. I shoved the hand on my shoulder off and was about to start sobbing again, until someone spoke.

"Hey there, sis." Benji said.

I stood up, faced him, and the despair was too much to bear. I leaned against his shoulder and let my sobs disappear.

"Come on, I'm allowed to pick you up." Benji started to drag me across the hallway with my backpack, when the bell rang. "Shoot." he whispered, and as the crowds started to form, a voice came from behind. "Hey, idiot." Jessica barked. Stiffening, I ignored her and was almost pulling Benji to the exit when something hit me. A half-eaten apple rolled over my shoes, and I was just about to lose it when my brother stopped. He bent down, grabbed the apple, and before I could even move, he whipped it across the hallway and straight into Jessica's porcelain face. "Looks like you lost your lunch," he called over his shoulder. He marched out the door and stopped in the parking lot.

"Benji, I'm so sorry." I said. Benji shrugged. "You can repay me and the environment. We're running home."

"What?" I stared open-mouthedly at him. "Gas is bad for the environment. Let's go."

"Benji, what is going on..." I groaned as Benji started to jog along the street. He didn't turn back at me to check whether or not I was with him. I was.

"Are they always like that?" Benji asked as soon as I was within five feet of him. Startled, I stuttered, "What?"

"You know, throwing rotten apples at you and stapling notes to your backpack?" My ribs started to burn as I ran beside him, but I replied quickly, "No. They're not that bad, just... high school things. Uh, Benji, I don't think I'm supposed to exercise."

My brother ground out, "If you can suffer in that dump of a school, you can run a mile home." I paused. I recognized the harsh voice, the hooded face turned away from me. But I didn't know why. Panting, I finally looked up at his eyes. They were shimmery with tears, angry splotches of red on his face. "Benji?" I asked.

He turned around, and he choked out, "You were never the reason I left, Cal. Not you or Ivy or Dad... or Mom."

"It was this life. The boringness of repetition, stuck in an endless loop of living. So I escaped, and I had freedom. But Cal, don't do what I did. I lost the love that was my family. And I'd rather have love than independence."

I stared at him in pitiful surprise, as my oldest brother finally broke in front of me. Falling to the ground, angry tears leaked from his eyes as he curled up on the pavement.

It had always been the divorce, before I was born, when Benji's mother had discovered baby Ivy. Always the cause of some argument, this or that and blaming. I had never met Benji's mother, but she was heartbroken after my older sister was born and the truth revealed.

Benji had the perfect timing: always the broody step-brother, finally 18 and an adult. Police were called, but no one could do anything about it. Benji running away, or rather leaving, had broken us all. But maybe he had been broken from before.

"Benji." I reached down and managed to find his hand. His sadness was evident, but as he tottered up, I recognized the lightness in his face. Like the tears had weighed him down.

"I'm sorry. We're sorry," I said, as I looked him in the face. "We... it was our fault, and we blamed it on you."

"No. Not you. Dad. He... hates me. His own son." Benji said, wiping away the last of his tears. I didn't know what to say, so I didn't say anything. Taking his arm, I led him towards our street. "Is he home?" I finally asked. My brother shook his head. "I haven't seen him face-to-face since that day in the hospital. But Mom says he's been coming home drunk." I gaped at him. Years ago, dad had been an alcoholic. But eventually we convinced him to sober up and stay that way. He had never touched another drink in years.

This all felt like a book I would read, or a movie. None of it felt real. I was numb, frozen, and in shock. The icy shards of pain crept towards my heart, but I pushed my thoughts away. "Come on, let's go home."

***

The door to the house was open.

This worried me, but my Benji stumbled through like everything was normal. As soon as I stepped in, I recognized the smell of tension and alcohol. "Mom?" I yelled.

"Cal? Is that you?" My father walked in, and I blinked a few times to make sure he was real. He had bloodshot eyes, and his clothes were stinking of filth. "Dad?" I'm sorry-" I tentatively spoke. He rushed toward me, and I flinched as his arms came around me. "Calantha, I'm sorry I haven't seen you because your mother and Benji, that stupid son, but Amy was here so it's okay..." He sobbed into my shoulder.

I stiffened at the name of Benji's birth mother, but gently pushed my father away. "It's okay, Dad... Where's Mom?"

From behind Benji came a female voice, and I immediately relaxed. "Mom! Please forgive-"

I choked on my words as Amy strode over, grasping Dad's arm. "Hey, kiddo." She said to Benji, as he crumpled on the couch, and smiled at me. "How're you doing, Calantha? Your mother is out for a bit, she went for a drive." I gaped at the woman in front of me, a strong rock for my father. And right now, probably for me and my brother.

Benji sat up again, grinning at his mother. She winked at her son, and said, "Looks like you finally got the courage to return." I glanced from Amy to Benji, and gasped, "You knew he was alive?"

Amy grinned a half-smile. "He came to visit me a month ago, saying that he had wanted to go home... Of course, he came to me when he first ran away. But I turned him away because I told him my house wasn't his home anymore." Shock ran through me. "Then why didn't you tell us?" My dad was still staring at the floor, not hearing anything Amy said. She shrugged. "It wasn't for me to tell."

Then, something happened. A pounding noise of bullets rang through the house, and windows shattered. "What the heck?" Benji shouted, as he dove behind the sofa. I dragged my father to safety behind the kitchen counter as Amy slid behind a massage chair.

The bullets stopped ringing out, and a voice pierced the still air. "Get out of my house, Amy." This statement was followed by another gunshot. I rubbed at my eyes. This was too weird, too horrible to believe. But my mother's footsteps echoed through the floor, and there she stood with a rifle in her hand. And her gun pointed at Benji's mother.

"No!" Benji screamed, and my dad finally was aware of what was happening. "Vienne! What are you doing with my gun... No, no, put it down!" My mother's gaze was cold as she rammed the butt of the rifle into Amy's head. She crumpled to the floor and caught my eye. "Mom..." My words disappeared from my tongue, and light whirled around me. Shock finally got hold of me, and I felt myself slipping.

***

No one bothered to wake me up.

This was the first thought in my head, as I sat up on the couch, shivering and hungry. I looked to the right, on the floor: nothing. I sighed, a bit relieved that Benji's mom wasn't sprawled on the ground, dead.

From upstairs came shouting. Groaning at the headache building up in my forehead, I lunged up the stairs. "Mom? Benji? Dad?" I called out. Following the noise to Ivy's bedroom, I pushed open the door by sheer force.

Gasping, I felt faint again at the sight in front of me. Amy was facedown on the bed, blood gushing from her nose. Beside her was my sister, knuckles bruised and gaping at me. Across from her, Benji. His fists were raised, and blood smeared across his face. My mother was sitting with her legs crossed on Ivy's desk.

"What the heck?" I managed to choke out. I saw Benji and Ivy glance at each other, keeping their gazes on each other, occasionally flitting to me. "Stop!" I yelled, even though nobody was doing anything.

I changed my stare to my mother, silently pleading with her. "Mom?" I asked. It suddenly occurred to me that our family was crushed, and it was all my fault. Toppling to my knees and choking out a sob, I didn't care anymore. Family was a word long forgotten.

I was laying on the floor, hoping when I opened my eyes again I'd be somewhere else. And then: "I give up, Benji, help."

Ivy leaned over me, her back to her opponent. Benji glanced at his mother and my mother, undecided. He walked over, slowly, and I glared at the two of them, hovering over me. I didn't understand anything at all, it was just a jumble of emotions. And then, as my siblings helped me up, something clicked. "Where's Dad?"