As Perceived by Crystellen Treasure 2

My cheeks reddened as a tear slipped past my palms.  Oh, great, I thought; now I’m crying.  I’m glad no one’s here to see this.

I grabbed a tissue from the box on top of my desk and wiped my eyes.  I glanced up at the painting of a mermaid above my desk.  Emerys had made it for me when I was little.  I probably wasn’t older than seven then, though she was already a teenager.

We used to be close.  She used to play games with me.  Much more so than Cat ever did.  But, Cat was basically an adult by the time I was born.  It’s all her fault that Em and I drifted apart.  Once Cat married Robert and moved out of our house, Em started playing the role of big sister.  She told me I needed someone besides our parents to look out for me, as Cat had done for her.  Like I really needed someone to look out for me.

 

I walked over to my window and stared out at the water.  Sometimes saving people felt like a curse, a burden that we always must bear.  I glanced down at my watch.  My turn in the water would start in a few hours; I might as well sleep for a bit, since I would be in the water for the next six.

At least it would be a break from the drama downstairs.  Didn't Emerys realize that I was just trying to protect us all?

As Perceived by Crystellen Treasure

“Life just hasn’t been the same for Losten Deforest since someone saved his. Or, for any of the rest of us, for that matter. And that someone wasn’t just anyone, it was my sister Em. It was great that she saved him, as good as it is that no one should die in a car wreck. But, doesn’t she think it’s kind of odd that the guy she saved just happened to wind up in her college class?”

This is stupid, I thought. I shut my diary and placed it at the bottom of my desk drawer. Why am I writing my thoughts down here? This is something that you do when you’re little. I mean, it’s great Mom and Dad gave it to me when I was five, but I’m not sure how it’s going to help me sort through how I feel now. But Mom sent me to my room, so here I sit.

This sucks, I thought, as I leaned my elbows against my desk and pressed my palms against my forehead. I hate being the odd girl out. Emerys and Cat are super close and our mother’s a lot like both of them. Why do I have to be the odd sister out? Nobody seems to understand me? They all claim I’m rebellious because I’m a teenager, as if I haven’t learned how to control my emotions by now. After all, I’ve been a teenager for twenty years.