WARNING: TRIGGERING CONTENT TOWARDS THE END 

It was a choice made at the moment, when his sister, Avery, sent a video of their younger sister Eleanor to him.

He knew he had to spend that weekend with his family. For Eleanor's sake.

So there he was, driving in the speed limit, all the windows of his car rolled down. The music blaring from the speakers as Theodor tapped his fingers on the stirring wheel matching with the tune, and even sometimes humming with the songs.

Four hours before he reaches home.

He checked his watch as he noticed the dark clouds starting to gather signaling a downpour, it showed 3:01 pm. His sisters must be back home from school.

Eventually, he unwrapped his sandwich and started eating it, a bite into it and his phone starts to ring.

With annoyance he leaned forward, one hand on the steering wheel and the other holding his sandwich, he glanced at the screen of his phone to see the caller ID.

Eleanor.

He declines the call so his music would continue playing. After all, he is going to see her in three maximum of four hours. Whatever she wants to say can wait.

He finished his sandwich, as he raced through the somewhat empty highway connecting Massachusetts to New York. Only rain making him slow down his car.

His mind has started wandering back to the videotape Avery had sent him five days ago. Although it had surprised him why on earth would she record something like that instead of supporting Eleanor, but he hardly ever understood any of Avery's choices.

In the video, Eleanor was standing in the corner of their joint library containing mostly Eleanor and Theodor's books, since their parents had a different study room and Avery wasn't the reading type. As their mother was going on and on about how big of a mistake it was for her to join the Astronomy competition or whatever it was called. He couldn't recall the exact name, not that he cared what it was called.

In the middle of the video however, their mother serves the final blow. It has been two weeks since they've found out that she's been rejected. He knew she wasn't handling the situation that well, but hasn't talked to her either. He didn't know what to say.

As for the final blow, their mother had decided to give away Eleanor's beloved telescope.

Even thinking about the tape broke his heart, he had never seen his sister like that.

She held back her tears and begged, but their mother kept on saying that she knew better, and giving it away was the best move, that it'll make her move on and focus on her school.

He was expecting to see Eleanor weep but she didn't. She stood there in silence as the man came and took away her telescope.

The look in her grey eyes had been haunting him since the second he loaded and watched the video.

It scared him, to say the least.

Theodor could swear that he saw the shine in her stormy grey eyes disappear, and slowly her eyes dulled. Each time he watched the video it became clearer to him.

In the end, Eleanor stood there, blankly staring into the distance, her hollow eyes fixed on the door frame. It was like a huge part of her soul was chucked out in a matter of minutes.

Her dull grey eyes had landed on Avery's phone and that's when the video ended.

He couldn't sleep that night, and the following day he found himself in the physics department asking for advice from his friends in there to get her something that would cheer her up.

They had suggested a very unique yet valuable book. It took him three days to find and purchase it. Now it laid in his bag pack, in the back seat.

He was sure it'll cheer her up, it had to!

After hours of driving, he finally reached his destination. Home.

He hadn't told Eleanor he was visiting, he wanted to surprise her.

He parked his car, noticing his parents' car still missing.

He shook his head, trying to push away the small disappointing feeling starting to bubble up as he wiggled into his bag pack.

On the bright side, he'll have some alone time with his sister first. He reminded himself and walked inside of the house.

He made his way towards the living room, only to see Avery sprawled on the sofa scrolling through her phone.

"Hey Avery," he greeted her.

She looked up from her phone, surprised. Then her face shifted into annoyance or maybe jealousy.

"I thought you'd be earlier," she said as a way of greeting.

No, his sister had not changed a bit in the past two years that he had spent in college.

With a shrug, he replied, "Traffic," then leaned on the wall nearby him and asked, "Where's El?"

"Oh, she's out getting drunk with her friends," Avery sarcastically answered.

Theodor rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"In her room, duh," Avery added after a moment.

He nodded his head and walked up the stairs, towards her room. He lightly knocked on the door and waited for an answer but none came.

He frowned and knocked again, a little harder this time but still no answer.

Maybe she's taking a shower? He thought to himself.

But curiosity and a little anxiousness took the best of him and against his better judgments he slowly opened the door.

The room was dark and it took him a few seconds to spot her on her bed.

He smiled to himself, thinking how silly he must've been for getting worried.

He further opened the door and walked into her room. Quietly, Theodor placed his bag pack on the ground and unzipped it. He took out the book he had got for her.

He couldn't wait to see her reaction when she sees the book.

Theodor stood up but before he could take a step, the sound of their door opening and closing followed by his parents' voice made him turn around.

He glanced back at her briefly, then balanced the book on top of his bag pack, and closed the door as he walked out of her room. He made his way down the staircase to greet his parents.

"Theodor!" His mother gushed just as he reached the bottom of the staircase.

He hugged her. "Hey mom," he softly said and stepped away from her.

The bright smile on his mother's face made him smile too, then he side hugged his dad.

"How you've been?" His father asked.

"I'm great, Harvard's great, classes are great," he said with a wide smile.

His father nodded his head as a proud smile crawled to his face.

"You must be really hungry; shall we eat dinner?" His mom asked, making her way towards the kitchen. She abruptly stopped and turned around, a frown on her face. "Where's El?" She asked.

"She's asleep," Theo answered, making his mother's frown deepen.

"Now?" She asked with dismay and disappointment as their father checked his watch with a frown and then he shrugged out of annoyance.

"Sarah, wake Eleanor up," their mother said with stern and clipped voice, her eyebrow arched in annoyance.

"I'll wake her," Theo interjected, drawing his mother's gaze to himself.

She silently nodded and made her way to her bedroom and their father followed her.

Avery scoffed, "She's in for another talk," air quoting the word talk.

Theodor shook his head and sighed. He walked back up the stairs and went to Eleanor's room.

Quietly picked up the book and bent next to Eleanor's bed. He held the book in front of himself, a playful yet excited smile on his face as he called out his sister's name softly.

After a moment of silence, he moved the book away from his face, frowning. She didn't even stir.

"Eleanor," he firmly said.

He knew his sister was a light sleeper, the slightest sounds always woke her up.

"Eleanor," he said, this louder. His heart starting to race.

He put the book on the nightstand next to her bed and turned on the lights of her room.

"Eleanor," he repeated, his voice quivering in the end.

He sat at the edge of her bed and gently shook her, his breaths falling short as he noticed she didn't stir the slightest. His hand brushed her ice-cold arm.

Panic took hold of Theodor instantly as he started shaking her with more force calling her name repeatedly, but still nothing.

With uneven voice, he shouted, "Mom!"

His mouth went dry and he called louder, "Mom! Dad!"

His whole body starting to shake.

"What Theo?" His mother asked with annoyance as she walked up the stairs.

His voice gets caught in his throat as he stared at his sister's unmoving body.

"What's wrong Theodor?" His mother asked stronger this time as she stepped into Eleanor's room.

He looked up from Eleanor, his wide green eyes landing on his mother and she frowned in confusion.

"S-she's n-not waking up mom," his voice barely above a whisper.

She blinked two times, comprehending what she just heard and then ran to Eleanor.

"Eleanor baby," she cooed as she gently shook her but still nothing.

Her hands started trembling as she started fumbling, looking for a pulse, and then her eyes widen.

Theodor and his mother didn't even notice when his father entered Eleanor's room, followed by Avery.

He took in Theodor's pale features, his wife's wide eyes, then slowly took a step towards the bed.

"Michael," she whispered with a trembling voice, holding Eleanor closer to herself.

"She's fine, she probably has missed a meal or something," He said to his wife.

That made her snap, "Oh, so you're telling me I don't know the difference between the pulse of a fatigued person and a completely unconscious one with the bare minimum of a pulse for no reason!"

She pulled Eleanor closer to herself and shrieked, "Sarah," as she started rocking back and forth.

Everything was happening too fast for Theodor. He looked between his mother, cradling his sister and his father who was standing at the edge of the bed, rubbing his temples.

He noticed Avery standing in front of Eleanor's desk, a paper in her hand.

Sarah rushed into the room, breathing heavily, indicating that she had run all the way up to this room.

"When was the last time she came out of this room?" His father asked, in a surprisingly calm tone.

Sarah stared at his mother and sister and then looked back to their father, "When she got home, she went into her room straight away and didn't come out."

"Call 911! Call the ambulance!" Their mother shrieked again with a quivering voice, tears threatening to fall.

The girl nodded her head and rushed out.

"She's fine!" Their father said stubbornly, "She doesn't have any fatal illnesses, it's just been a rough couple of days for her," he tried to explain and reason.

"Bring my medical kit," their mother sternly said ignoring his words.

He sighed but left without an objection.

Soon their father was back in the room with the medical kit.

She started shuffling around it, looking for something.

Theodor looked away and his gaze landed on Avery who had put down the paper and was walking towards the bed.

She wordlessly knelt down next to Theodor and pulled open the nightstand's drawer.

Theo looked at her skeptically, not understanding what or why she was doing that.

She started taking out bottle after bottle of pills. She placed them on top of the nightstand and started opening them.

"It's empty," she announced, drawing everyone's attention to herself.

Air knocked out of Theodor's lungs, he swallowed hard and stared at the empty bottles and strips of pills.

"Those have nothing to do with this, they could've been there for a long time," Their father reasoned.

Avery scoffed as she pointed at the empty glass of water and then started picking up the seals of the same bottles from the bottom of the drawer. "And you can check their dates, they're all new," she said and stood up.

Their father rushed to the nightstand, starting to go through the pills, with each passing second getting paler.

He finally looked up with wide eyes, locking eyes with his wife, "She's-" the words caught in his throat.

"Overdosed," Avery completed for him.

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((So this is my official first attempt in third POV and I don't know if it's good or bad so feel free to tell me what you think about it. Plus what do you think about Theo? And this chapter? Hope you've enjoyed reading it, if so, don't forget to vote! Thanks for reading it.))