“ Good morning honey,” My mum said, wrapping her arm around Dad's torso. She buried her head in the crook of his neck, giggling.
“ Child under eighteen here” I reminded them, burying my head in my bowl of cereal. Sometimes they seem to forget to keep it PG18 around me. Not minding my comment, Dad turned around, to quickly peck her lips before getting back to flipping his precious pancakes. Today Dad woke up super early to make breakfast for the entire household. I was greeted with the lovely smell of pancakes and bacon along with my Dad dancing in the kitchen with an apron tied around his manly waist. He is currently in the lead for making the best pancakes in the family. Which was why I loved wiping the cocky smirk off his face by turning down pancakes in place of cereal. Daddy and his awesomeness replaced his pout with a satisfied grin knowing the little ones would devour it very soon.
“ You're not taking pancakes?” Mom arched her eyebrows, sitting across me at the dining table.
“ Nope” I popped the P and filled my mouth with delicious goodness. Worry etched her face for a sec, I smiled reassuringly. Yeah, so pancakes were my favorite things in the world. But...... I woke up feeling a bit queasy. I don't think I can manage to take them without regurgitating. There's no need for worry, pancakes can never go to waste in the house of the Kingstons. Little stomachs have to get filled up.
On cue, my siblings ran into the kitchen excitedly. Trying to shove each other out of the way.
“ Don't do that to your brother Jeremy” Mom cautioned my seven-year-old brother for smacking his twin upside the head. Jason stuck his tongue out at Jeremy, elated that his dear mother stood up for him. I rolled my eyes at their antics, catching a glimpse of Dad showering kisses on Nattie's five years old face.
“ Daddy” she chuckled and wrapped her arms around his neck, as he crouched down to lick her up. You know how parents are not supposed to have favorites.....? I'm a hundred percent certain that Nattie is Dad's favorite but he'll never admit to loving her more, although he treats us all equally.
“ Ssshhhh, everyone stop talking.” Silence filled the air, as the laughter and voices stopped immediately.
“ Can you hear any noise?” I studied the faces of everyone as they nodded in negative. “ My point exactly”
My parents widened their eyes before dashing up the stairs as though they were on fire. The rest of us enjoyed breakfast and made small talk. We learned a long time ago that whenever Joey makes no noise then he's up to some mischief. It's not always funny, sometimes we have heart attacks, and other times we laugh and take pictures. Little Jojo is not going to be two forever. A few minutes later, Joey walked in looking as white as ever.
“ White looks good on you” I whistled. He gave me his charming grin, showing his adorable teeth of four. Trotting over with his little legs, I placed him on my lap.
“ Don't encourage him!” Mom warned while Dad stood beside her stuffing his mouth with his fist to stop himself from laughing.
“ What? Jojo needs to know his elder sister will be supportive regardless of what he looks like.” This time, my brother covered himself with baby powder. His blonde hair was white. He looked like the miniature version of ghosts in a horror movie, an incredibly adorable ghost.
“ Haha very funny, I'll smack you but I can count on your best friend to do that for me. She'll get here anytime soon and you'll be late as usual”
My eyes widened in horror as I dashed up the stairs as my parents had done earlier. How am I supposed to shower and get dressed in 10 minutes? I'm definitely going to be six feet under before the end of today. Get ready for my funeral y'all.
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I pulled my hair into a ponytail and stared at the mirror frantically. Out of 10 minutes, I used 6 minutes to figure out what to wear, 2 minutes to debate whether wearing makeup is worth it, and the remaining 1 minute well...... I needed to arrange my backpack. So, all in all, I spent 20 minutes getting ready {. Including having a shower} and ignored my phone ringing. My ring tone was “ Good life” by Kehlani and G-Eazy. My taste in music was interesting.... Listening to it all over and over was fun. So what if Stacey would kill me? I gotta look good too.
I grabbed my backpack from the dresser, after making sure I had everything arranged before heading downstairs. The living room was quiet as the rest of them were preparing for school before the bus gets here. The parental had this moment of free time to themselves if I don't interrupt. I barely do, I'll rather not be scarred for life.
“ Stacey's waiting for you outside. I think I saw a pocket knife with her” My mother feigned confusion as Dad snickered. I narrowed my eyes at them before running outside to catch up with Stacey. Did she have a pocket knife? It's not beyond her, she really threatened to kill me in her car and wash it with my blood if I was late today. I might be her best friend but if I die, she'll have me replaced in a matter of days. I was still the world's best friend and so was she. Stacey would hold auditions to figure how who would for the role of “ Zoa”. She might take it over the top and try to find my look alike. That wouldn't work, I'm irreplaceable. No other person existing has the same unique personality as I do. Even though I'm an egomaniac who massages her ego sometimes. We worked well together, I'm a tidbit crazy but Stacey is a lot crazy. We have a lot in common and complement each other. When I'm about to make stupid decisions, she pulls my ear and draws me back ignoring me sticking out my tongue.
"Calm down and stop getting your nerves all twisted” I teased my friend as I hopped into the car, slamming the door a liitle too loudly behind me.“Whoa whoa, be careful. Are you trying to break the door or something? Do you even know how much it costs to get a car these days? It's no wonder you weren't able to keep yours,” she said as she flipped me off, starting the engine. Stacey is literally in love with her car and gets all “Mama bear” when she thinks that you might damage it.I rolled my eyes and scoffed. “Breaking the door would be an improvement. I mean, look at it! It already gives off that ‘ I'm struggling to live, handle me wth care vibes’. Plus, I lost my car because mother nature is out to get me! IT WASN'T EVEN MY FAULT IT GOT TOTALED! ” I said, whisper-yelling the last part for emphasis.She snickered in response and whistled away while I sat beside her, grimacing at the thought of how my
“ I can't believe I got detention for standing up to that bitch. Since when did standing up for myself become a problem?” I muttered to myself, playing with the hem of my shirt. So our principal thought it would be nice if I stayed back to serve my time { in detention of course} for emptying a cup of yogurt on Melissa's head. Do I feel bad? Nope. She deserved it for speaking to me ever so rudely. Plus she had it coming anyway, I've always wanted to get back at her for stealing my pencil when we were five. Nanna gifted me that pencil and she stole it from me. Sadly, I'm not that stupid. She wanted to get back at me for standing up to her when she bullied a transferred student last week. Melissa thought it would be a bright idea if she treated the girl badly because of her beautiful ebony skin. Discrimination is an absolute no and I won't let a girl suffer because of her skin color. Defending that girl meant walking with a target at my back. So when she had the opportunity
Sirens blared loudly outside the building I was held captives. The two jerks moved over to the window to discuss their current situation, leaving me to think. I noticed the trail of cigarette butts, leading from the door over to the window. Empty bottles of beer were piled up at one corner of the room. No wonder it reeked in here. Filthy pigs! A little harsh? Of course! It wasn't like I was to give hugs and kisses after they released me. Holding a 16-year-old girl just to steal kisses and carress her face. One of this fucking beer-drinking bastards had his tongue in my mouth. My first kiss! Blinking rapidly, I prevented the tears that welled up in my eyes threatening to fall. That's exactly what they wanted from me, to hurt me and break my spirit. The room was empty, aside from me tied up to the chair by the door and the two morons. Why they kidnapped me, I had no idea. Perhaps they were someone my parents had offended, but why kidnap me just to get back at them. I doubted they want
“Where am I?” I asked in a hoarse voice as I rubbed my eyes, the way my brother Noël did whenever he was sleepy. Trying to get up on my feet I asked again, irritated that I wasn't getting an answer.“ RUN!” Someone bursted in, trying to catch his breath.“ RUN!” he repeated and left as quickly as he had come.His words triggered emotions and everyone dispersed. Not having time to think anything through, I followed suit. A stab of pain, from my lower abdomen, caused me to falter in my steps. Nobody seemed to care, so I held on to my side and used up the strength in me. It seemed like we were on our heels for hours, passing through turns and corners as swiftly as possible. My weak self, was behind the rest of the crew, trying to catch up to them. This is ridiculous, running with some bunch of strangers. Away from or towards heavens knows what. Where am I? What I am doing here? Why does my body hurt so much? And what the hell are we running from? I
“ Didn't I tell you to stay in the tent?” An angry voice yelled, as his figure hollered over me.“ Leave me alone mom, the bed is hard” I muttered sleepily. The bed or rather the floor was really hard and uncomfortable.“ I'm not your mother you idiot!” He shouted.“ Ahhh” I panicked and landed a kick in the middle of his legs. I stood up immediately, trying to figure out who the person was. It was the jerk from yesterday, I guess I'm not only a sack of potatoes.“ Ouch” He jumped, greatly pissed at my actions. Okay, so I panicked. I thought a strange guy was in my bedroom. They weren't any bedroom because I cried myself to sleep last night. Heavens knows how he managed to find me under my tree of depression. I quickly apologized. It was really my intention to.... hurt him. “ What was that for? Are you out to commit murder?” He asked as he groaned in pain, ho
“ Is everyone ready?” The informant asked, quickly glancing around. I suppose I should stop calling him “ The informant” but I didn't know his name. I don't know any of them's names. So for now, that's how I will address him. In my mind at least. He quickly took a roll call, which I found hilarious. His older siblings rolled their eyes at him but mumbled their yeses regardless. I could pick up their names from his check.Aghan was the oldest and the one I've spoken to since I got here. Lafeya was a teenager but not as old as Aghan. Adrian and Alhadera looked alike so I assumed they were twins.. The thought of my twin siblings caused a sinking feeling in my heart but I casually pushed it aside. The one person whose name I wasn't able to hear was the informant's, he was the one calling everyone's name and didn't bother to call his. They led the way and I followed. It wasn't like I had a choice, I didn't know the way around. And I wasn't interested in sta
“ We are here” The deep voice informed, I stirred in my sleep and yawned loudly. “ Wake up!” The person said again, a little bit deeper.“ Yes?” My eyes fluttered and I immediately shut it. Too bright. I covered my eyes with one hand, using the other to hang on to Aghan's back. So I fell asleep. The short naps I was having had me worried but I haven't really slept properly recently so I guess it should be expected.“ We are here. I want to put you down now” How gentlemanly. I felt sorry for his back though, but he said I didn't weigh much so that made me less guilty.“ Ok” Releasing my hold around his neck, I swung my feet over his body and let it drop to the ground. He led the way and I followed. Discreetly, I wiped the trail of saliva on my face away. I wanted to crawl inside a hole. I drooled on him, even though he didn't seem to notice. I tried har
My eyes were puffy, but my face was free from tears by the time we left. I'm not sure if we'll be returning here tomorrow. They always wanted to come to the old building, even though it was more stressful. Staying at the cliff will guarantee safety for a longer period rather than walking to and fro. Balmoh led the way, as usual, the twins behind him and Aghan gliding by my side. I took slow steps, enjoying the peace while trying to keep calm inside. “ Your pendant is cool” “ Yeah. It was a present from my Dad. He dragged me along with him to the store and I was forced to see him pick out the one he deemed perfect. I felt it was perfect and it has never left my neck since then, up until now” I explained simply. It was a promise I made to myself. Never to take it off, but know I didn't want to put it back on so I stored it safely in my Jean pocket.Nobody said anything after that. We just kept walking, this time I walked on my o
“ I think there's some flour at the back. Can you go check the storage room?” Adrian asked of Balmoh.“ Sure, there's a key there right?” He nodded answering himself, heading to do as his brother had requested.“ So, who owns this bakery?” I muttered my question aloud. I woke up earlier than I usually did, thanks to Dera's shrieks of excitement. Dragging me along with them, we came to a locked bakery. They had the keys and got in without any problems. When I tried asking what we were doing here, Aghan responded rather cryptically. For all I know, our presence here involved what our donations towards the food bank will be. Nothing more, nothing less. How helpful.“ It belonged to our parents and now we own it,” Dera answered cheerfully, still excited.Meanwhile, I was rooted to the spot, frozen in shock. This was the first time I heard any of them talk about their parents. I was starting to think they didn't
“ WHO ARE YOU?” Balmoh demanded, shouting on top of his lungs.“ Calm down Balmoh. I mean no harm, see?” The person raised both hands above his head.“ You even know my name. Who sent you? You can't kill me, stay away from me!” Picking up some stones, he attempted to throw them.“ Don't harm me”“ Come any closer and I'll be forced to kill you. I have a knife and I'm not afraid to use it” Intending to show his seriousness, he pulled out a pocket knife from his back pocket. Pointing the blades to the supposed threat.Just as he was about to plunge forward, I walked in on his crazy idea of defense.“ What do you think you are trying to do Balmoh? Are you crazy? Put that down this Instant!” I commanded, crossing my arms in exasperation. Can't anything be normal around here? Now it's an eight-year-old wielding a knife, threatening to kill someone. An absolute str
I watched from a distance as Adrian was comfortable in his position while I suffered from exhaustion. It should be me being given a piggyback ride. In all fairness, he is the one who might need medical attention not me. Probably, the reason his brother chose to carry him while the rest of us walked. I was losing the few pounds I didn't even have enough of.We were on our way to a hospital for Adrian. Somehow, it felt like the nearest one was miles and miles and miles away. It was forever to get there. We walked past a lot of junkyards, which I was told wasn't originally a junkyard. Sadly, it had been reduced to pieces of metal, scraps of steel, bits of wood. “ Aren't we there yet?” I asked wearily, pausing in my tracks. “ Nope we'll get there soon” “ You said that about 30 minutes ago” I reminded Aghan, crossing my arms. Surely our definitions of soon must be extremely diffe
Sitting under my favorite tree, the sky gloomed in darkness. The moon was not in sight, with just a few stars providing light. Resting on the stump of the tree, my hands were balled into a fist. How efficient can a tree be when used as a punching bag? It would be a really helpful way of venting out. Sadly, I don't think my hands are strong enough.“ Hey Zoa” Another figure joined me to sit under the sky.“ Leave or I'll leave for you,” I said in a stern voice, still greatly pissed.“ I don't know what came over me. Please forgive me.”“ You don't know what came over you when you were beating up your brother! Your 13-year-old baby brother. Honestly, your presence irritates me” There was no strength left inside of me to yell or even rage.He didn't say anything, only sat by my side and leaning on the tree. I didn't either. Why this bothers me so greatly I have no idea. It's just
“ I sent Sloane to deliver this letter to you. Some supplies will be sent to you soon, that way you wouldn't have to leave where you are. It has come to my attention that you still make regular visits to that building and I want it to stop immediately. There is no reason for you to risk your life just to behold a house -”“ That's easy for him to say” Adrian mumbled, interrupting his sister's reading. She shot him a look to stop talking but he ignored and continued speaking.“ He just sends supplies and occasional letters and expects us to stay here forever. All we do around here is to remain locked up in a tent. That is way too depressing. Not everyone is like Zoa, some of us want to know that people are alive. That is not just an ordinary building but our home, it's not fair.” He broke down into gentle sobs, sniffling. Dera tossed the letter aside and flung her arms around him pulling him into a forceful hug. I glanced around
“ Is anyone in here?” Aghan called out talking to me. I poked my head out of my sleeping bag, slightly irritated that my peace and quiet had been interrupted. Honestly, this felt like déjà vu. Oh yeah, Layefa did the same thing a few days ago demanding answers. Talk about siblings...“ I'm coming” I mumbling incoherently, not bothering if he heard me or not. Crawling out of the bag, I unzipped my tent with a frown fully plastered on my face. I have gotten accustomed to staying here now, my tent is almost like my bedroom at home. Rather sadly, I would NEVER be a fan of sleeping bags!“ Geez, quit glaring at me. You look like you want me to be dead.” He teased, upon seeing my unamused expression. Why bother to hide how pissed I was? I was greatly pissed and he needed to know that. Nobody, absolutely nobody interrupts my ‘ Zoa time ’. Such precious time. “ That's because I want you to
“ Isn't your governor doing anything about the incidents? I'm guessing a lot of things have been destroyed. From the way, you people basically abandoned your home to live on the top of a cliff I'm guessing it's pretty serious. Having one governor should rather be an advantage for you guys. He should have done something but instead of you guys rallying around to save yourselves. And the whole war thingy is still confusing, nothing has happened since I arrived here. Just running and no casualties.” I said, rubbing my throat. Suddenly, I wished I hadn't drank all the water at one go. I get uneasy when I'm parched.“ Governor Roan? We have reasons to believe so”Rolling my eyes, I face-palmed at his response. The amount of faith they had in that guy was a little too much.“ What exactly has he done? His people can't be suffering and he's watching from wherever he is. Shouldn't you guys{The northerners} have the upper hand because
“ How can Charlaedon not exist? That's utterly ridiculous. We have school but even Balmoh is done. It's just for children between 1-7, he is 8. But detention sounds exhausting, it must be impossible to sit still for more than an hour.”“ Yes, detention sucks but now I will like to have detention for the rest of my senior year if it means that I can go back home. I'm pretty sure that Charlaedon didn't exist before. It wasn't even on the map of the world.” It must be semi-formal education, they will be sent off to learn a trade or acquire a skill. I guess school is for basic everyday knowledge. Poor guy, it's almost impossible to understand that your home only exists for you. If a month ago, someone had walked up to me and told me that New York doesn't exist, I would have laughed so hard in the person's face that I will be arrested for disturbance. “ Charlaedon is not a map? It has always been on the map.” He scratch
I laid down in my very uncomfortable sleeping bag. You would think after a month of sleeping here I would be used to it by now. That was the opposite of what I was feeling this sleeping bag was just as uncomfortable as the tent. Some find this padded bag warm but it shouldn't be consistently used in place of a bed in my opinion. Oh, the things I would trade to be able to sleep on my comfy bed at home. I have been thinking about home a lot. Not like I had anything better to do. I was stuck in a tent, given three square meals daily and I only step out when I want to shower. I haven't even been to the old building since the first time and I don't intend on making such long trips to see a house. Being left on my own has given me enough time to think. I still haven't figured out how I got here or what I would to get back. I am as clueless as I was one the first day I got to Charlaedon. Nobody had answers for me, I didn't have answers for myself. We were all sailing the boat of cluelessne