Family Matters!

[SammyTheNotAPanda]

It was a cold winter's night, with snow falling outside and dusting the area surrounding the care home, and indeed the home it's self, in a lovely, thick white blanket.

Inside one of the room stood 18 year old James Harrison, his big brown eyes watching the snow with awe and curiousity as he stood at the window, dressed in his favourite pyjamas, a set of "Batman" ones. Upon his bed sat his blankets, a "Thomas The Tank Engine" set, with a well-loved teddy bear on the foot of it. His matteress crinkled slightly, as it was covered in a protective sheet to soak up any accidentsa he might have had, s he suffered with a tiny bladder. He rarely wet the bed now, but sometimes still suffered with the rare accident.

Despite his many "issues", he was quite well behaved, with the only real issue being his eating problems. He didn't like the textures of certain foods, so would point blank refuse them. But, his diet was good, and though a little underweight, he was healthy as far as that was concerned. He never spoke a word, and it was even known if h could actually communicate without pointing to what he wanted, or using "Makaton" to express his wants or needs.

The only thing left to do that night was to get his teeth brushed, something he really struggled to do, and always needed his twin's help with. Most bathroom things were an issue, really, but he was well-behaved and never made a fuss about her washing him, and if anything, liked having his hair washed, as the massaging of the shampoo soothed him a hell of a lot.

 

[Shelby]

As she laid in bed and stared up at the ceiling, Julia Harrison couldn't help but breath out a sigh as her eyes soon started to slip close, not into a complete rest that would bring her into sleep, but just enough to relax her mind a bit to calm herself down. It was almost the end of the day, night had fallen and the snow was coming down at a steady right, a rate that she could see had she opened her eyes and turned her head to look in the direction of the window that snow continued to flit down. Her room was dim, only the lamp on the nightstand illuminating the room. No sounds were going off, though her ears continued to pick up on any noise that would persist through the house, one that was empty save for the other body that lived with her; her twin brother, one that needed to much of her attention, one that always needed so much help with everything...

But she knew that he couldn't help it. For what ever reason he had been born the way he was and he was the one who had to deal with it, as well as herself. She was only thankful that she did not have the same issues as he did, because she doubted if she would be in the same spirits that he continued to keep himself with. But still... She wondered why it was him and not her? Her mother and father used to tell her that she was the lucky one, and that she had been born right along side her brother so that she could be his protector, so that she could make sure that nothing would happen to him; after all, why would they have had twins, one that had problems and one that did not, if there was no other reason? Luck, she liked to think, but that sort of reasoning never worked with their parents, nor did her reasoning that there having been two of them had not been for a specific purpose like that. It just happened. Just like their death 'just happened'.

When a consistent buzz started to appear in her ears, Julia opened her eyes back up and breathed out another sigh before she reached over and shut the alarm clock off. Time to help James brush his teeth and make sure that he went to the bathroom and had everything else taken care of before he went to bed. It was a consistent schedule that they stayed on; one that Julia had made just so that things would stay consistent with them, so that they wouldn't fall out of a rhythm. She liked to think that if they kept a schedule that they did everyday then eventually James would get the hang of it and start to do things on his own, but, as time continued to tell her, things were not changing. Patience... That was something her father used to tell her. You have so much patience.

She walked out of her room and headed down the hallway to James' room, knocking on the open door lightly so as not to startle him in any sort of way. "Come on James," she started, walking into the room and gently resting a hand against his lower arm, her eyes flicking up to the window that stood right in front of them. Despite herself, she smiled a bit before she looked at her twin, beginning to pull back a little to lead him to the bathroom. "It's time to brush your teeth so that you can go to bed. And you know what mom and dad always used to say; never go to bed without brushing your teeth, otherwise you'll get cavities, and those hurt and they are not fun."