Chapter 10

Steve's POV

"I'm home" I announced to whoever was home. Just as I was about to go upstairs to my room, a maid appeared from a corner. "Welcome, sir" she greeted and I nodded. I seem to have gotten used to the fact that they all call me 'sir'. Most especially Vivian, the housemaid, who was just two years older than me.

I've always tried to convince her not to call me 'sir' but I guess she's just following her job ethics....to respect her bosses. 

"Where's Jessie?" I asked her. "She's not back yet." "Alright. You can go back to do your work." I dismissed her and walked on to my room. I entered my room after unlocking the room door. Yeah, right...I know you guys might be wondering why I had to lock my room in my father's house.

Well Mom had strictly warned everyone, including the maid, Vivian and other male workers we have, to always lock the room doors to prevent future conflicts of intrusions and I simply agreed with her 'cause Jessie can be so annoying sometimes. You might come back home tiredly and on entering your room, you find a ghost, who in actual sense is not a ghost but Jessie, trying to scare the hell outta you and I've gotten used to her pranks already. 

I smiled as I remembered some of the funny pranks Jessie played on me. I entered the bathroom, had my bath and then dressed up again. I brought out some books to read and when I couldn't even picture what I was reading, I packed up the books. I brought out my phone from my bedside draw to play games and while away time but something else got my attention as I saw Melanie's picture which I used as my wallpaper. Actually my pictures alongside Janet's and Melanie's was cropped and the three of us used it as our wallpapers. 

As my mind drifted off to Melanie, I remembered her incessant questioning concerning my gloomy look recently. I can't really point out the main reason for my change in behavior recently but I'm sure it's because of the strange dreams I've been having that surprisingly I can't remember the next day. I sighed and just then my door flung open and Jessie entered. She threw herself at me, hugging me wildly in the process. I frowned while pulling her away from me..

"You've got to stop doing that."  "Why?" She pouted. "Cause you're no more a baby." "But I'm still your baby sister" she whined.

"Okay, okay, just let me be for the moment." I said.

"Alright. So how was your day?" She asked.

"Not bad and yours?" I inquired and watched as Jessie began to fill me in on her events for the day. Though most of it weren't new to me anymore because her days mostly revolved around her getting to school on time, helping out girls that are being bullied, sometimes getting punished for being a chatterbox in class, having to drool on her crush and so on. 

I stared interestingly at her as she narrated how her day went as though I haven't been hearing the same thing for a couple of weeks now. I looked at her from her dark brown hair, to her ocean blue eyes that always held some sparks, to her perfectly sculpted nose down to her cute lips. I smiled unconsciously at her.

"Hey, what are you thinking about? I've been talking to you for some minutes now but you do not seem to hear me 'cause you've zoned out." She rolled her eyes.

"Hmmn....nothing"

"Okay, can we move to the game room? I'd love to play games with you for now to while away time" she said. "And what happened to your books?" I asked sarcastically. 

"Nothing. Come on, don't be that brother now. I'd love to play games now and you know you're my game partner." She pulled my hands, urging me to stand up from my bed and I eventually did. 

We stepped out of my room and moved to the game room. We settled down and minutes later we started the game with me being the winner after three successive rounds. That's the issue, no matter how much Jessie practiced, she's never been able to win. I usually mock her with this whenever I need to get on her nerves. "Should we move on to the next level, sis? Do you still need to be beaten again or you're ready to accept me as your boss?" I asked with an hint of mockery.

"Don't worry, we are coming for you." I looked up, somehow shocked. Okay now don't get me wrong, it wasn't the words that shocked me but the voice. It didn't seems like Jessie's voice. It sounds kinda scary and more like what I felt during numerous nightmares I've been having recently.

"Hmmmn, did you say something?" I asked scratching the back of my neck nervously.

"Yeah sure. I said I'm coming for you." She answered. Maybe I was wrong and it was actually Jessie's voice I heard.

"Jessie...let's do this some other time. I'm tired." I stood up and exited the game room with Jessie staring at me confusedly.

**

"We'll help you with the dishes." I heard Jessie telling Vivian.

"Okay, though I insist you don't need to." I heard Vivian reply.

"We need to" I insisted, joining them in the kitchen and placing my hands on Jessie's shoulders. 

"Okay then, let's get to work." Jessie yelped and I gave her a smile. We assisted Vivian by helping her to rinse, drain and arrange the plates while she washes it. Minutes later, we were done and we went to the living room to join dad and mom. Dad was busy reading business newspapers and mom was watching some entertainment show. 

I sat down on a couch and Jessie joined me. She snuggled up in my arms, while I stroke her hair gently and we joined Mom in watching the show. 

Few hours later, I noticed Jessie was dozing off so I suggested she go back to her room to sleep. Few minutes after she left, I stood up to go back to my room as well.

"Good night Dad. Good night Mom." I said and they responded.

Getting to my room,I laid on the bed and had a silent prayer before sleeping off. I also prayed that I shouldn't have the terrifying dream and even if I'm having that, I should at least remember what the dream's content is. If I had known, I wouldn't have prayed for the latter...I wouldn't have wished for the latter. I should have just maintained the first prayer. All because what I saw...was going to be the end of me, what I saw was terrifying. It was death!!!

TBC...