She sat in the plastic green chair, staring at the clear tubes that ran into her mother's veins, feeding her medication that only extended her heavy breathing and unbearable aches for a few hours more. The heart monitor beeped, but it wouldn't be beeping for long. Rin knew that, and it seemed that she was the only one who could acknowledge the truth. She quickly peered at her brother as he sat next to her, kicking his feet as his legs dangled from the chair. Her twin brother was still naively hung over his own force-fed lie that their mother would suddenly sit up from the bed and start playing games them. Rin knew that it would never happen again. She knew from the first day that her mother entered the hospital that days like that were over.

It was going to happen eventually. She figured it out when she saw her coughing up thick, heavy blood a few months prior. It was the same moment as well when her father realized that he couldn't force their mother to live anymore, as much as he wanted her to exist so he could get extra money from the government. That's all he cared about. He didn't care about them in the slightest. It was sleeping, work, and money- that was all that mattered to him. Perhaps eating was another exception, yet Rin knew that getting his attention wasn't worth the effort. She didn't want his rancid breath in her face in the first place. Rin would have preferred to see him on the bed instead of her mother, but then again, he was the breadwinner, nor was her mother going to live forever, contrary to Len's beliefs. Len always clung around her, and his mother clung to him for the simple fact that they were both weak and frail and could easily depend on one another. It made Rin cringe; Rin was independent, almost too independent for a ten year old child, and she wouldn't have been surprised if their mother forgot that she existed while she was stuck in her drug-induced existence. She could only reply to that thought with a simple shrug. She never admired weakness, the victim-hood that her mother carried on her back. She wished that her mother hadn't let her illness define her, because she let Len's define him, too.

He didn't have the same illness she had, and hell, she didn't even know what illness her mother had in the first place- some sort of disease that made people cough up blood, Rin supposed, but Len was weaker than paper and as mentally fit as a sloth. At least her mother was there for them before she became incredibly ill, that was a given, even if she spent most of her time babying Len. It was bound to happen, after her father began to restrict their mother to the insides of the house, and then to her bedroom. Now that she thought about it, perhaps even if her mother didn't want her illness define her, she didn't seem to have a choice. Everything went downhill too fast- her mother went from gazing aimlessly out the window to spitting up thermometer-red liquid in the sink within seconds. At least, it seemed like that to Rin.

Even when their mother was restricted to her bed, she always talked to them. Rin less so, because they were so different, and Rin didn't need to be babied nor coddled. Sometimes, Rin could see through the crack of the bedroom door, and she could always see Len curled up on the bed, with an arm as white as a corpse's wrapped around him, with marble white fingers stroking his blond hair, the blond fluff that baby chicks were covered with. She always heard her dad call the scene 'pathetic' under his stale breath, and sometimes it angered her. Yet, in her mind, she knew that it truly was pathetic. Both mother and child sucked the pity pacifier and passed it back and forth to each other like a joint.

Both children were soon to be completely alone, especially Len. Rin still had Len, the most important person in her life, considering she had no one else. Even if he was spoiled and wimpy, he was her brother, and she was always told to stay with him. They only had each other once their mother was dead. However, Len was losing his mother, the light of his life. Rin hadn't realized that he curled up next to his mother on her death bed after she locked herself in her head to juggle her thoughts.

"Len!" Rin whispered hoarsely. "Get off!"

"B-but mommy-"

"She's sick! Leave her be."

"Mommy said I could."

Rin heard a low moan emit from the gray figure on the bed. She watched as her mother's watery eyes fought their way open, but the eyelids stubbornly remained half-lidded.

"Rin? You're here? I didn't know..." The voice trailed off into oblivion.

Rin walked over to her mother, focusing on the slow beeps of the monitor. "I'm here."

"Hmm." She murmured.

Rin heard Len cry loudly. "Mommy, please stay!"

"Mommy is going to be fine, Len." The mother croaked.

Rin resisted from laughing as a way to cope with her mother's pathetic denial. She wondered how her own mother could lie to herself at a time like this?

"Lenny, dear, I need to speak with your sister."

"I don't want to leave, mommy."

"Lenny..."

She listened to the listless voices sluggishly battle each other until Len reluctantly slid off her bed.

"Make sure mommy is okay." He requested.

"Sure, Len." She lied.

He left the room. Now it was only her, her mother, and the heart monitor. She stood by her bed and watched the woman with limp hair and hallow cheeks take in shallow breaths. It was weird to think that once upon a time, her mother's hair was voluptuous and her face was full. Those days were clearly over.

"Rin?"

"I'm here."

"Great, great..." She whispered.

More beeps filled in the silence.

"What is it, mom?" Rin asked quietly, being careful not to interrupt the heart monitor's beeping. She watched her eyes flutter open again.

"He has a weak heart..." She said drowsily. "I had weak bones, but his heart...you have to protect him, Rin."

"I already do. I'm not doing a good job?"

"You are, you are. But..." She looked at her tiredly, the conversation already exhausting the last of her mortal energy. "Len needs a lot of protection. Your father...won't be there, and I'll be dead. Then again...I've been dead for a while." Rin witnessed her mother attempt a defeated smile, but her lips relaxed.

She was too weak to pretend anymore.

"You have to take care of him, he's my baby..." She groaned.

"I always protect him, and I always will." Rin promised.

"Promise, please? He's so weak, Rin..."

"Look at yourself, mom."

"I know." She saw the woman smile, her cracked lips revealing the yellowed teeth that had been eaten away by vomit and caustic medication. "That's why Len has to live. He's my baby. He'll get better one day. Don't break the promise... That's all I want..."

"Okay, mom. I promise."

"Rin?" She asked urgently. Her eyes suddenly widened as she stared at her daughter. "Do you love me?"

The beeping lingered, waiting for an answer.

"Yes, I love you a lot."

A relieved sigh snuck through her mother's pale lips. "Good..."

She watched her mother's body slowly shut down. She watched her dull gray eyes close for good and her entire body prepare for eternal sleep.

"Mommy?" Len came back into the room.

Rin watched the white hand fall limply beside the mattress. She winced upon hearing Len's quivering voice.

"Mommy!" Len screamed as he heard the heart monitor beep wildly, as it beeped faster while their mother slowed down.

She watched her mother's chest sink, failing to rise again. Her mouth went slack. Rin was forced out of the room as doctors and nurses came running in. She made her into the hallway. She frowned at her brother's screams. Rapid footsteps made their way into her mother's room.

"My wife! My wife!" Her father screamed wildly. Rin heard Len cry and watching him be shoved out of the room. "Get away! The doctors are trying to save her life!" Their father squeezed into the rooms with the doctors and nurses who desperately tried (to Rin's bewilderment) to revive their once-suffering mother.

She only heard Len's screams and then the unsettling silence as the heart monitor flat lined. She listened to the heart monitor as she wiped away the wetness from her cheeks.

It was pointless for her to be sad. Her mother always asked for so much, but gave back little. She could never afford to tell her 'I love you'. Rin was never her baby, and she knew that she never would be. But why did it matter now? The burden of her mother's existence was gone- she never had to spoon feed her medicine again- and it should have been a sigh of relief for her. Except now, the burden had been replaced with a desperate promise that she was expected to carry on forever.

She heard quiet shrieks erupt from her mother's room. She watched the unemotional doctors and nurses walk out, and she made herself back inside the room. She ignored her father's grim face, and figured that he was depressed over the loss of his other source of income. He wasn't going to comfort Len, and she knew she'd have to do it. She already had to perform her mother's chores once she her mother became ill and it seemed that emotional support would become another task for her. Rin bared the heavy scent of alcohol wipes and walked towards her brother, who had made his way to his mother's deathbed.

"Mommy, come back!" Rin watched him squeeze his mother's lax hand.

"She's not coming back, Len."

"But Rin-"

"I'm here now, Len." She grabbed his thin shoulders and forced him to look at her. "I'm here."

Rin watched his eyes slowly shatter.

"I didn't get to say goodbye, Rin."

Rin felt her own eyes begin to shatter and she immediately blinked her eyeballs back together. She sighed sadly.

"Me neither."

He sobbed and she let him bury his face into her shoulder. She stared at the wall in front of her, contemplating when Len would get over her death. Probably never, at this point. She winced as he shrieked in a pitiful fashion. She patted his back and sighed, trying not to express her emotions, ignoring the increasing dampness on her shoulder, and attempting to silence the ringing in her eardrums. He wouldn't know, but the load on her back was already heavy enough, and all she wanted to do was cry, too.

"Rin, are you done shelving those books?"

"Almost, Meiko."

Rin listened to Meiko walk away while grasping the final book to be shelved away. Rin climbed up the ladder to reach a tall shelf. She made space between two books to put the last one in. Suddenly, she felt herself falling backwards and shrieked. She quickly grasped back onto the handle of the ladder and smashed her foot back onto a rung. She felt her heart beep drop back into its normal tempo when she realized that she had regained her balance, and that she wouldn't be like Humpty Dumpty, splattered all over the walls.

"Geez, that could have ended badly," A voice down below said.

"I almost died, Miku!" Rin cried out dramatically.

"C'mon, Rin, get your butt down before you almost die again."

"Dying isn't an option for me."

(It wasn't, at all.)

"Then get down so we can go home!"

Rin climbed down the ladder and pushed it down to the end of the shelf. Miku followed her while she held a book up to her chest.

"Let me book this one last one back."

The girls walked to the biography section. Rin listened to Miku whistle quietly before talking quietly. Miku gently slid a book back onto its shelf.

"Rin, I saw some kids picking on Len this morning."

Rin snorted. "Was it Cul and Mayu?"

"Er, I dunno, but one had ruby hair and the other was blonde."

"That's them. I told them to screw off before I cut their hair. They fled. They're just fucking cowards, like the rest of them are." Rin rolled her eyes at the thought of them as they chattered their way to the front desk.

"Shh, Rin!" Miku attempted to hide her giggle. She walked behind the front to pick up her backpack, and lifting Rin's up for her. "We're in a library. Watch your mouth!"

Both girls quieted as their boss walked to the desk. She smiled and waved to both teenagers. "Nice work, girls, see you tomorrow."

"Bye, Meiko." Both girls said. They walked out the door of the library.

"And now, we're out. About fucking time."

"Rin! My mother would kill me if I said things like that!"

"I don't have a mother, so I guess I'm fine."

"Oh, yeah." Miku cringed at her mistake. "I-I'm sorry-"

"It's fine, Miku." Rin reassured. "It's been two years. I'm thirteen, not a baby."

"Yeah, but Len still seems melancholic about it at times."

"He was closer with her." Rin shrugged.

"Ah. Are you a daddy's girl then? You never tell me this stuff, Rin!"

Rin's shoulders hitched in the middle of her relaxed shrug. "Not in the slightest." She sneered.

Miku laughed nervously at her second blunder. She rubbed the back of her head. "H-huh. Hey, it's almost six. I know you have to be at your house by then, or else you get all antsy."

"We'll get there by then. I just need to give Len his meds around that time, or else he gets nausea for the rest of the night."

"Why can't he just give it to himself?"

"He has too many medications to keep up with. I try to take the load off of him sometimes."

"Oh."

The girls walked through the thick breeze. Miku untangled a strand of her teal hair, then suddenly pouted before she began to stare at Rin gravely.

"...Is everything okay at home, Rin?"

Rin raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, why?" She sighed. "This is the fifth time you've asked this month. Sixth. Something like that?"

"You don't seem to like your dad...a-and, look, SeeU said that- look, I know that SeeU can tend to exaggerate everything, but she seemed concerned when she told me. She said that she saw a bruise the size of a baseball on your back while you were changing for gym."

"Oh, that." Rin mused. She nodded as if she suddenly recalled the memory. "I hit my back on a rock the other day while rolling down a hill."

"And why were you doing that?"

"I was trying to make Len feel better, and we had a competition to see who would roll down the hill first. I won, but I almost broke my back in the process."

"Ouch." She muttered, her eyes still staring at Rin unconvincingly.

"Pretty much."

"Make sure you put some ice on that." Miku suggested with a murmur.

Rin knew that Miku wanted her to be honest, but knowing Miku, she wouldn't be able to hold a secret for her. As much as she wanted to trust her, Miku wasn't an exception; she was grouped in with the rest of the population that Rin couldn't trust, which included everyone she knew.

Rin began to approach her 'home' and she felt her stomach clench.

Miku frowned and finally popped the bubble of silence. "Sorry about that question. I shouldn't be prying into your business."

"You don't need to apologize for everything, Miku."

"I-It's a bad habit, I know, I'm sor- damnit!"

"Tsk tsk tsk, you're letting my bad habits rub off onto you."

"N-no! Everybody slips up sometimes!" Miku whined.

"Next time, I'm going to put soap in your mouth." Rin teased.

"Please, don't!"

"It's a joke." Rin rolled her eyes and grabbed onto the banister as she walked up to her porch.

"I-I knew that!" Miku shouted as she walked further away. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

Rin waved to Miku until she could no longer see her. She put her hand down and frowned, and gently touched her back. Her fingers circled around the discolored splotch of skin until she applied some pressure to the area, causing her to wince. She didn't think the bruise was that bad, but it'd appear so.

'Way to be, Rin.'

She tiredly walked into the house when she remembered it was around six. Time to make dinner- not for her, of course, but for her lovely father.

"Len, I'm home." Rin began to run up the stairs to her brother's bedroom until a harsh smell filled up her nostrils. She stopped halfway up the stairs and ran down and shrieked.

"The fish!" Rin quickly opened the stove and sighed. She observed the fish carefully and glared at the burnt ends. Her father would have to live with it. She felt her back tingle and she groaned. No, she'd have to live with it.

'He can't even remember to check the fucking fish.'

"Len, you nearly set the house on fire!" Rin yelled from the kitchen. She hastily grabbed a bag of noodles from the cabinet while she let a pot of water boil on the stove. She didn't expect a response from her brother. He was likely resting, like he did every day after school while she worked. He was too exhausted after school to work.

"That doesn't give him an excuse to make me suffer." Rin gritted through her teeth. When the water boiled, she poured the noodles in. It was six thirty when she checked her phone and she realized that she didn't have time to spare to yell at Len. He didn't handle anger well anyway. It was like yelling at a baby- a toddler, at best.

She ran up the stairs and knocked harshly on his door. "Are you up?"

Her brother opened the door. She glared at his boxers, littered with miniature dancing cartoon bananas. They danced over the hem of the boxers gleefully. Len frowned.

"Where were you?"

"Working, so we can, you know, eat." Rin snapped. The acidity of her voice would have dissolved metal. "Where were you when the fish was burning?"

"Oh crap, I- Sorry, Rin." He said, seeming slightly guilty. "I was sleeping."

'Breathe, Rin.'

Rin unfurled her clenched fingers from her palm. "It's alright, Len." Rin smiled, gulping down her anger. It settled in her stomach and boiled until the frustration settled into a slow simmer.

"Just remember next time when I make fish to take it out of the oven." There was no point in yelling at him. He never remembered, anyway. He didn't need to remember anything as long as it didn't involve him getting bruised all over.

"Just give me your clothes."

"I already have them out." He threw the bundle of clothes to her. "Do you have your clothes?"

"I was getting to that."

"Hurry before he comes. P-please, Rin."

"I'm trying, Len." Rin sighed wearily.

'You haven't had to worry for the past two years.'

Not since she had found Len on the floor in his bedroom with blood spilling out of his nostrils and a black right eye when she came home from track practice. She had to quit track the next day when she saw the red mark the size of a gorilla's hand etched onto the skin of his side that night. At least he never had to worry again, and at least she didn't have to worry about track practices anymore. She hadn't needed to worry about her hobbies for two years. Running wasn't even a thought in her mind anymore; her brother was more important, wasn't he?

She ran into her room and fumbled to throw off her clothes and put Len's shirt on. "How are you feeling?" She asked loudly. She looked at herself in the mirror and wondered if Len had gained weight; the shirt barely clung to curves anymore. Then again, it had been happening to the other shirts, too, yet she couldn't recall buying Len clothes recently. She thought about her father buying Len's clothes and she almost cackled at the asinine thought.

"Better than yesterday." Len called. He walked up to Rin's door while pacing nervously. "I hope he's not too hard on you tonight, especially with the fish-"

"It's fine, Len. Don't even think about it." Rin fastened her hair into a ponytail. "I'm done." She threw her door open and appeared before Len as his carbon copy. Rin threw her clothes at Len. "Put them on. He saw me in those clothes today before he left for work."

"T-thanks, Rin."

Rin frowned at her skirt, nestled in Len's arms. She briefly wondered how long it would be until Len would have to shave his legs. Thankfully, he was a late bloomer. "I'm going to take out the noodles. Hopefully that's done so he can stuff his face with that if he finds the fish too unappetizing. Do you want me to bring you up a small bowl before he gets home?"

"I'll just take whatever he doesn't finish."

"I doubt there will be a lot left."

"Maybe you can make that stir fried rice like mom used to make? If, y'know, you're fine afterwards?"

"I'm sure I can." Rin smiled. It was a mother request. She was afraid of the emotional storm that would ensue if she denied Len the stir fried vegetables their mother use to make before she became a living vegetable herself.

"I have to drain the noodles out before his fat ass gets home."

Len grinned before nodding nervously. "Just before he gets home."

She raced down the stairs and smiled at the smell of the noodles. She drained them and pushed her head out of the cloud of water vapor that had wrapped itself around her head as she dumped the hot water into the sink and into the plastic colander.

'Hopefully this is good enough.'

Rin rushed to put down a plate and utensils for her father. She put the fish and noodles onto his plate, covering the burnt pieces of the fish with the noodles. She placed other condiments in front of his dish, ensuring that he had everything he needed in order to stuff his face to his heart's content. She put a glass on the table, dried her hands on a cloth, and sighed with relief. She put a lid over the steaming pot of noodles that were leftover in the pot. She heard her stomach grumble, feeling the rumble shake her stomach, and looked at the noodles longingly.

'I haven't eaten since lunch.'

She slowly lifted the lid up to release the leftover steam from inside the pot. Her stomach screeched again.

'Fuck it. I'll hear him when he gets home.'

She darted to grab a pair of chopsticks and raced to the pot. She frowned before her utensils could touch the hot food.

'Len needs to eat first.'

She groaned reluctantly and retrieved a bowl to pour the noodles in.

Slam

The sound of the car door almost sent Rin's heart flying out of her chest. She silently shrieked hastily threw the bowl on the counter and threw the lid over the pot. She grabbed the bowl from underneath and a searing burn entrenched her hand. She nearly sobbed when her burnt hand released the bowl and let it shatter all over the ground. She stared at it silently, with one thought racing through her head:

'No.'

But there was nothing to do by that point. She heard the front door slam and heavy footsteps slam into the kitchen.

"What the fuck?"

The harsh voice seared into her ears. She cringed.

'Why am I so stupid?'

A heavy hand clasped the back of her head and she was forced to look down at the shattered bowl.

"What did you do this time?"

Rin gulped unconsciously at the growl. "I dropped it." She muttered quietly.

"I can fucking see that."

He roughly let go of her head and instead latched onto her hair. Rin groaned.

"You're looking like a faggot, growing your hair out like a fucking mop."

He roughly let go, letting her stumble from his grasp. Rin quickly regained her balance, not risking the chance of falling on her ass. Her stoic face hid the rapid sound of her heartbeat. She watched him stomp over to his dinner.

"Clean it up while I eat, or I'll make you eat that off the floor."

"Yes, sir."

He was a time bomb now. There had already been two strikes: first was the shattered bowl, and then it was her 'gay' hair. Strike three would be the fish. The fact that he was hungry enough to still hit her made the situation worse. Most of the time, he'd throw a few slurs at her and go straight to his food. Tonight, burnt fish would mean a black eye for her, and it could have been avoided if she hadn't been so fucking clumsy. She could only wait now. She silently went to retrieve a dust pan and a broom, and returned with complete reluctance, cleaning her mess while waiting for her father to finish his food so she could clean up after him (like the baby he was).

"Rin burnt the damn fish." He muttered bitterly. Rin felt his eyes on her and she shivered.

"That was my fault." At least Len could take the blame for that one.

"Since when the hell did I let you touch my food?" He stood up and Rin set her eyes to the floor, wringing her hands together anxiously.

"I was helping her. I left the fish in the oven for too long by accident."

"Cooking is your sister's job and you goddamn know it. Whatever you do, you seem to fuck it up. At least Rin knows how to make herself useful. You're just useless." He snarled while stuffing a heaping of noodles into his mouth, gnashing the food loudly.

She quietly finished picking up the broken pieces of the bowl. She threw it in the garbage.

"Are you ignoring me?"

"No, sir."

"Might as well throw this shit out, since you tainted it."

"I'm sorry."

"You better damn be sorry. The least you can do is clean up." The heavy man sneered.

"Yes, sir." She picked up the plate and gripped onto it tightly. Her damaged body depended on it.

She listened to him fume while she cleaned up after him. She heard him take the lid off of the pot and examine the noodles, and she ignored his muttering of how the 'useless brat' probably contaminated them, too. She heard him mutter and sputter some more before he opened the fridge.

"Where the fuck is it?"

She began washing the dishes. She stared at the wooden cabinet blankly.

'God God God please don't blame me.'

She heard something rumble to the ground. She stared at her father bizarrely as he began to sift through the garbage from the can that he had kicked to the ground. Suddenly, he lifted a ball of tinfoil up. His hand clenched it fiercely, his face demonstrating a rage even stronger than his clenched fist.

"Get over here."

His toxic voice made Rin stand still.

"Get over here!" He screamed.

And she walked over, letting him shove the ball of tinfoil into her face.

"You ate my fucking leftovers from last night!" He threw the ball at her.

She was able to dodge it, but in the process his hand wrapped around her arm, squeezing it. She didn't attempt to defend herself; Strike three had occurred.

"Why don't you fucking listen? I pay for your fucking bills to keep your useless ass alive every month and this is what you do to me?"

She felt herself being rattled violently, but her brain refused to partake in the event. It went blank, hiding itself from the situation. Even when she felt herself hit the cold tile, her mind didn't register it. The searing, pounding pain that catapulted onto her stomach made her whimper and grind her teeth, but she didn't need to think about it. She didn't need to think about this right now, as the black and blue would remind her later. After all, this was Len's problem. It wasn't her who mistakenly ate the leftovers; It wasn't her getting kicked in the gut; It wasn't her that was being lifted off the floor and shrieked at for being a worthless child; It wasn't her that was choking as her father's hand forced itself down her throat as he attempted to squeeze her tonsils; It wasn't her vomiting up her food as punishment. It definitely wasn't.

But it was her (save for the missing leftovers, perhaps), staring at gunk the color of oatmeal that spread across the yellowed tile floor, gasping for breath for her starved lungs.

"Clean this shit up."

When the sound of heavy feet disappeared, she collapsed onto the floor. She heaved quietly and shut her eyes.

'It's over now. Come on, hurry up and don't cry and just clean up. It'll get better, tonight was just a bad incident. Get up get up get up.'

She did as she was told.

Knock knock

The door opened quickly, with Len's pale face brightening at his sister's presence.

"R-Rin, you made the stir fry!"

"Of course I did." She walked in stiffly, letting Len shut his bedroom door. She noticed him in his comfortable clothes again. She let Len lay down on his bed. She sat on the end of the mattress.

"Did he say anything to you?" Rin asked.

"He told me- well, tell 'you', that don't let me touch his food ever again," He sighed, "because I'm a fuck-up."

"Sorry, Len. I tried."

"I heard him screaming earlier. Did he...hit you?" Len asked quietly.

"A little bit. I'm fine."

(Concealer did wonders for her bruised face.)

He looked at Rin and frowned as he looked as the red mark on her left arm. "That had to hurt."

"It would have hurt you more."

"It would have." Len began to eat his food, chewing loudly. Even though her hunger was stolen from her, his obnoxious, loud chewing crushed her lingering appetite.

"Is it good?" Rin stared at a picture of Len and their mother on his dresser.

"Good, but not as good as mom use to make. Some of the vegetables aren't cooked thoroughly either."

She clenched her teeth again but smiled.

'There's no point in yelling at him.'

"I tried my best."

"Did you get to eat?" Len took a small sip of his tea.

"Of course I did!" She chirped. The pulsing pain around her abdomen objected. She watched Len cringe and his lips pucker. "What's wrong?"

"The tea! It's too bitter. How many sugar cubes did you put in?"

"Two."

"I told you that I take three now." Len pouted. He noticed Rin's empty expression. "You don't have to get me a sugar cube. I-I'm sorry, Rin, I just wanted a little more sugar, please don't be mad."

'He's my baby...'

Rin unconsciously let her eye twitch.

'He's so weak...'

She cleared her throat to swallow up the pain and push it back into her stomach.

'Protect him...'

"I'm not mad." Rin leaned out towards her brother and ruffled his hair, grinning enthusiastically to hide the grinding pain in her chest.

"I'm too old for that!" Len complained. He pushed Rin's hand away and sighed, annoyed. "Stop trying to be like mom, Rin, it never works."

"Right. My bad." Rin giggled and hugged him. "That doesn't mean I can't love you, though."

"If you loved me, you'd get me more sugar." He grumbled while pushing her away with the strength of a moth.

"Right on it! I have to take the recycling out, and then I'll get it for you."

"Fine." Len groaned. He laid his bowl on his bedside drawer and huffed as he lay down again. "Just be quick this time. It took you, like, ten minutes to get me ice cream the other day."

"I'll be just a minute!"

"Oh, hey, was the leftover sandwich in the fridge yours? I ate it earlier, and it didn't have a name on it, so I figured..."

Rin stopped at the door, facing the stairway. She sighed. "No. It was dad's."

"...oops," Was all Len had to say before sinking into his mattress again and playing his video games.

Rin walked out of the room. With a calm smile on her face, a smile too calm for her current predicament, she picked up the recycling bin with the same eerily pleasant expression planted on her face. She gripped the bin with her right hand while she had her left balled up intensely. She put the bin outside and planted it on the curb. She went to rub the dirt off of her and brushed in onto her skirt. Her palm suddenly stung; she quivered at the smear of blood on her skirt.

'Well, that's going to be a pain in the ass to get out with detergent, wont it?'

She lifted up her left palm and stared at the four bloody marks in her palm, her yellow painted fingernails smeared with red. She slapped her hands against her thighs and stared up at the black sky.

'What am I doing with my life?'

She moved her fingers around slightly as the blood dried on her hand. She shut her yes and let her eyelids face the stars.

'I can just run away now, run away, and that would be the end of it. Don't you care about me, mom? Don't you?'

But what could she do? She was just a weak girl who could barely defend herself from her father, and who else was going to protect Len? What would she do if he died? That would be on her. She wasn't cruel enough to commit something so malicious as abandoning her ill-hearted brother. She knew deep down that he loved her, even if he couldn't understand, even if his words pierced into her heart more often that her father's. He just didn't understand because of his illness, that was all. The medicine made his brain funky sometimes. This wasn't him at all. She'd have to ask the doctor if she could find better medicine for him, even if she had to spend this week's paycheck to do so.

This was her promise to her mother, to keep Len safe from harm, and she couldn't break a promise, even if her mother never seemed to have enough love to give to her. No, she loved her. Rin vowed to keep Len safe for her. She would be free someday.

A car blaring music at an obnoxiously high volume sped down the road, plucking Rin away from her thoughts. She stared at the sky again, gazing at it tiredly, wondering when it was her and her brother's turn to enjoy paradise. With a great heave of reluctance, she obediently followed the concrete path to the front door.

Guys I have a sore throat sobsobsob

I debated posting this but since everyone likes to see the twins suffer I was like 'why the FUCK not?' Even though I kinda took care of that with Len in Scorned (My other fanfic which I need to start writing part 2 for, hahaha…), Rin gets to be slapped around now! I'll never understand why the hell everyone hates Rin here on , you guys are jerks to her. Jeez. And Len gets to be a raging asshole in this story even though he's sick because fuck not all sick people are kind/compassionate/thankful. I would fucking know bc I've taken care of sick family members in the past and some were complete douchnozzles even while they were bedridden and helpless so yeah.

The next chapter gets intense yo so get your fucking reading glasses on and I'm drowsy because of Spanish cold medicine.

I'm going to regret this btw no twincest you disgusting teenaged perverts. Enjoy your weekend, kiddies. BYE.