A ray of hope?

  

 DAWN'S POV.

The mail icon had a notification that said plus one on it, it popped and hopped in anticipation of being clicked. I would do so without reluctance if I wasn't frightened out of my mind of what the mail contained—whatever it contained does a lot in deciding how interesting my life would transform or the polar opposite; I didn't want the polar opposite. I heaved a sigh clasping my hands together before settling them on my thighs. Well, here goes nothing, I clicked, then immediately rested my palms on my face—completely covering my eyes so I don't see the contents of the mail immediately, I slowly spread my fingers enough to see a word, two, a phrase, then a sentence.

  In a swift movement, I was hugging my laptop and screaming my lungs out, exhausting my voice to the last of its capacity. It was worth it! I just got admitted into college. COLLEGE!

   "I got in! I got in!" I let out an earsplitting scream that carried the electrical current I felt surging inside of me to the walls of the house, I could have sworn the house shook—it needed to! I just got into college after all. I jumped on my bed and danced silly around my room, my life was about to get better—it was about to get eventful! Ever since we moved to Fulton, Our lives had been pretty casual, shall I say? No, it was annoyingly tedious. It sickened me having to follow a patterned way of life with little to nothing a bit out of the ordinary—then again, maybe I didn't try hard enough. I craved adventure, something to make me feel alive again and this was it, College. 

Reality hit me once more as excitement welled up in my stomach and made its way into my throat, I let out another sick yell that earned me one from a brat that stayed in the room next to mine.

  "Keep it down, airhead!" Even the strong walls couldn't stop his voice from pinching into my ears. I guess mine must have done the same. Not that I cared though, he very much deserved it.

"Shut up!" I yelled back before making my way out of my room to his doorstep. I knocked.

Okay, I didn't exactly knock, I banged on the door repeated till it clicked open revealing a tired Henry, partly collapsed on a swivel chair with his headphone around his neck and his hands dangling, rolling his eyes. Sometimes I wished they'd fall out—his "eyeballs" had a way of saying "you annoy the hell out of me" maybe I did but at least I was the older sibling.

 I threw a pillow at him knocking off his gamepad from his lazy hands, I aimed for the console itself, too bad. He glared, and I giggled, it feels good to be older sometimes.

 "What..." He throws his hands over his head "praytell, do you want from me, lovely sis? Cause I'd really like you to scram" His sarcasm more obvious with the smug grin on his face, he shooed with his hands.

   "I got into Brownston," I sashayed around his room, twirled, lost balance and hit my back against his precious shelf of action figures. Yep, typical me. The shelf made a rumbling noise from objects that fell out of place as a result of my hit. I mouthed a sorry even though I wasn't, this was payback for his ordering pineapple-flavoured pizza when he knew I was allergic; that was just yesterday.

Siblings, siblings. Ever so annoying.

  His lips curved into a smile and it dissolved immediately, he didn't like being seen as cute at the moment, he was in his typical sixteen-year-old "void of emotions" phase, it was adorable.  

   

"That's amazing news, I can't wait to get rid of you," He made a relieved face although I saw right through it. "Called mum yet?"

  "No, I'd rather she's back from work."

"Imagine so many blissful days without you to make my life unbearable, I'm taking this win," He announced again.

  "Took the words right out of my mouth, Henry, just imagine how it feels to be away from someone who constantly tried to murder you"

  "Oh, the pizza", this was accompanied by a guffaw, he ran his hands through his light brown hair—contrary to the pitch black one that slept on my shoulder.

  This kid makes me mad sometimes. "I'm going to have my revenge, Kiddo", I smirked, well I attempted to. Smirks aren't my thing, Henry made that clear after showing me a picture of a patient with partial stroke and how similar the poor lady looked to my smirking face. Again, siblings were the worst.

   "You already had your revenge the minute you used my favourite shirt to take out a tray of cookies from the oven! And when you told Tracy I wet the bed back in fifth grade" His brows furrowed. I let out a giggle, maybe I did have my revenge after all.

  "In my defence, you liked my friend—who was in the eighth grade, two years older than you and way out of your league and your shirt was just a victim of life's tribulation."

"Same as your diary, your appetite for pizza and the celebrity crushed you'd never get, let it dawn on you, Dawn!" Now he wore a triumphant simper, whenever he made a pun with my name—he wore that stupid smile, it was hilarious but annoying.

  I steadied my feet against the ground as my mind flash me a couple of things I was gonna miss—those things I felt as though I was losing. I'd miss home, no matter how boring, its peace and tranquillity can't be seconded.

I'd miss Henry, he was my best friend—he had always been all through the years, through thick and thin, bickers and silly fights. Every memory I cherished had him in it. Somehow, he managed to grow taller than I was in the blink of an eye which makes me sometimes forget I was two years older. I didn't need a soothsayer to know how precious of a relationship I had with my brother, and I loved it.

I'd miss mom, although she's rarely around. It wasn't her fault, a single mother had to work twice as hard to make ends meet. Still, she made time when she could to make sure we lived our best lives. It's funny how I vaguely remembered a father at four, at five, mum said he went far away, just a year after Henry was born — I grew to understand what she meant by that.

   It was his heart, mum said. It couldn't bear the struggles of going on with life anymore, so it stopped so his soul wouldn't. His physical features waned from my memory with time, I only had a few pictures to remember him by and a faint memory of his holding my hand. 

   Henry, on the other hand, had nothing to hold on to. Well, except stories from mum about how exceptional of a man he was. A kind heart and a smile that lightens up one's day, she'd always go on and on about him on days where reminiscence took over and nostalgia hung in the air.

She talked about how much semblance we bore, eyes brown and intoxicating, how his hair was like a rainy night—dark but shiny. I missed out on someone that exceptional. Deep down, I'd trade anything for a day with him.

  "Get out of my room, I have a tournament," he motioned towards the screen of his console—whatever game it was.

  "Yeah, whatever. At least you're good at something."

  "Yeah, unlike someone I know!" He retorted.

  I made to argue but the words were stuck somewhere in between my throat and my thought. He was right though, I was pretty ordinary. Talents? none. Dreams? Nope. Interests? Uh, Nope; except if writing whatever came to your head counted for something. Asides from that, I was there— plainly existing. 

  Yup, he was right, I was just a potato hanging in between the strings life sprung. I rolled my eyes and walked out of his room, intentionally slamming the door.

~~

   I grumpily rose to my feet from my bed where I had forgotten my body, literally. My initial plan was to sort some of my belongings, resumption isn't until after a few weeks but I was a little too hyped to do nothing. Well, I was before I drifted into a deep sleep. 

I looked out the window adjacent to my bed, the brightness that penetrated was dim, it was evening already. I brushed back some of my hair that escaped the ponytail I tied it into before grabbing my phone from the stool that rested on the wall next to my bed, I came on and revealed the time to be 6:57 pm, three minutes before he comes online to text me. That part of me that craved his attention awakened as I typed with vigour.

  'Hey, guess what? I got into that college I told you about.' I typed hastily.

I hit the send button and waited as the three dots paced forward and backwards to indicate the other party typing a response.

  "That's my girl, I knew you got this"

The response arrived fast, I could feel a dozen butterflies flutter in my stomach, this was going to be a good night.