Picture to Burn (Lany)

[Kailin Bishop]

With the realization that Anthony had cheated on her with some random girl in skimpy clothing, Kailin had felt absolutely distraught and wanted nothing more than to burn everything he ever gave her. Which was what she was going to do, as soon as she could find a box to put all of the material in.

Kales avoided almost all of her siblings like the plague, searching for a box on her own time and smiling when family members asked her what she was looking for. A box, Kales would say. Why, they would ask. Just trying to clean out some old stuff from my room, she would respond.

They left it at that.

But once she had reached upstairs, entirely out of breath and on the verge of tears, Kailin ran into her shared room and locked the door behind her, slamming the box down on the floor, not even realizing Lany was in the room there with her.

She let out her stifled sob.

[Lany Bishop]

Unlike her sister, Lany was placid and calm that day, with nothing special to worry about other than shifting her leg once in a while to shake it awake. She was reading something for school. It wasn’t ideal, but she had nothing better to do at the moment, anyway, and sometimes she almost didn’t mind doing schoolwork. In a way, it relaxed her. And it was private; that was another thing. Lany wouldn’t have minded if Kailin showed up unannounced or not; regularly she would have looked up and smiled briefly in acknowledgement, but not today. Today, she saw tears in her sister’s eyes, before she hid them with her hands. She was startled to hear her sob.

“Kailin,” she said, at first, her hand over her chest.

Lany didn’t consider herself a great counselor. She often had no idea what to say or do, especially with Kailin, who was usually so upbeat. “Are you – are you - ” she stuttered, at first, before pushing aside her school books and standing up. Lany clasped her hands to her front and approached slowly, like Kailin was a wild animal.

“A-are you crying?” she asked.

[Kailin Bishop]

Lany wasn't the best choice to be a counselor, and she wouldn't have broken down if she had known her elder sister was reading peacefully. But she didn't, and now the brunette was approaching her hesitantly, nervously, as if she didn't know how to handle the sight before her, and rightfully so. Kailin had never been the girl to cry in front of anybody. She always felt it was so much better to hide her emotions for the sake of the family, something she had always felt. Now, however, the tears she felt were dangerously close to falling in a steady stream rather than the drops that seemed forced out, if that.

Kailin shook her head then, wiping her face with both hands. "No, I'm fine." The Blonde struggled to say, stepping away from the closed door as well as her sister. Her goal was to just occupy herself until she no longer felt the presence of tears. "I just - my allergies are acting up." She said, even though she didn't have any allergies.

It was the best she could come up with.

[Lany Bishop]

Lany knew immediately that she was lying, of course. It was obvious. Those tears didn’t come from allergies – that sniffling noise might have, but still, it seemed much too red and…leaky. Kailin stepped away from her. Instead of following, Lany dropped her hands to her front, clasping them together and worriedly running her fingers over her knuckles. At first, she struggled with telling her politely that she knew she was, in fact, crying, and not suffering from allergies.

“Are you sure?” was the best thing she could come up with, her cheeks flushing almost promptly afterwards. Lany came closer, hesitantly putting her hand on her sister’s shoulder.

“Come sit down,” she said.

If Kailin paused, Lany was patient, biting her lip to see if she would take her up on her offer. She prepared herself for whatever Kailin would tell her – if she even would. It must have been something big. Lany rarely saw anything but a bright smile on her sister’s face.