Aurelia

I stammer, my heart thumping wildly in my chest.

Rune is here. He’s back, here, in this house, standing less than a foot away from me. On either side of him are two blonde haired young women.

Rune grabs my shoulders before I can react, spinning me and walking us back into the dining area.

I haven’t even had time to fix the shell shocked expression on my face.

Dad and Emaine have completely opposite reactions the moment he walks in.

“Runey!” Emaine’s voice carries a cheerful note, thrilled to have her son back home.

Rune lets go of me, pulling out a chair at the long table. He shoves me into the seat, before moving across the room and pressing a brief kiss to his mothers cheek. It softens the bitter expression she was sporting the second I sat on the table.

“You’re back.” Dad states, “Why didn’t you inform us you were coming.”

“Well,” He rounds the table, his eyes locked on his brothers face. It’s like they’re having a silent conversation. Kane’s eyes track his movements, following him as he settles in the seat, while Rune practically beams at his brother, mischief dancing in his narrowed hazel eyes. “I thought it might ruin the surprise.” He cocks his head behind him, raising his eyebrows at the girls he came in with lingering at the entrance to the room, “Come on in, make yourselves at home. These people don’t bite.” As if to prove his point, he pulls out a seat for himself, settling into it. He tilts it backwards, tossing his boot-clad feet onto the dining table.

Dad frowns. His mother only looks slightly taken aback. Kane simply picks up his fork, his attention moving to the meal in front of him.

“I don’t even get a hello? Hmm, brother?” He’s staring at Kane, arms clasped leisurely behind his head. “You must be in a mess of a mood, taking out your aggression on innocent little girls. I bet you’re the reason Cinderella here lost her composure.”

My cheeks heat. He wasn’t. Well, he wasn’t the only reason.

The blonde girls sit down on the table, on the left side of Rune. The one closest to him rests her head on his shoulder. My stomach stirs.

“Who are these girls, Rune?”Emaine questions.

“I’m glad you asked,” Rune’s smile widens, splitting his entire face, the dimples on his cheeks now on full display. He holds his hands out, “These are my bitches.”

His mother gasps.

“No, no, they don’t take offense.” He runs his fingers through the bright platinum strands of hair on the girl now leaning on his chest, “They’re gold digging whores, only good for one thing.” His voice drops to a whisper, like he’s letting us in on a little secret, “And it’s not running their pretty little mouths.”

Dad shakes his head.

In all the years I’ve known Rune, no part of me ever thought someone like him could become even more unhinged. He was never one to succumb to societal rules. It’s values or etiquette. He’s always been the one to live on the wild side, a striking difference from his twin brother.

The polarity between them now is only all the more enhanced. It’s like the years hardened them into who they truly are, what, with Kane now dressed to the nines, sporting his sophisticated persona on more than just the inside. He looked like what you would find in the business section of a GQ magazine. Not a hair or thread out of place. And then there was Rune, dressed in dark clothing that molded to his skin, short sleeves revealing every single one of the intricate designs inked into his arms. You would never catch Rune holding a briefcase, working through a stack of paper work, no. He spent time strumming his electric guitar, a pencil dangling between his fingertips, or tucked into the crux of his ear.

He’s made a name for himself, built a rapid stardom from his music. From what I hear, Rune sells out stadiums these days. My eyes move to the girl idling on the table. A subtle hint of jealousy brewed underneath my skin. Seeing Rune with women is nothing new to me, even when he was younger, he had a bad habit of fucking around, and it wasn’t difficult, considering the kind of aura he had. Women dropped their panties at the sight of him, the attention always went to his head, making Rune such a downright cocky bastard.

The girl looks spaced out, like she’s not here. I watch his hand thread through the strands of her hair, pulling at them gently. It rubs me the wrong way. I clear my throat softly, pushing my chair back to get up and leave.

Instantly, his head jerks in my direction. His hand reaches out, gripping onto the armrest of my chair tightly, “Leaving so soon?” He frowns, it’s intentionally dramatic, “My mother cant be the only one excited to see me. By the way,” his finger circles in the air, “When I came in, Cinderella over here had tears in her eyes. You know, some things really never change. Was it you, brother? You still get off on putting your step sister in her place?”

Kane doesn’t even offer him a response.

Dad sighs, exasperated, “How is that of any relevance right now, Rune?”

“Oh, it’s just curious,” he answers, “I just cant help but wonder why anyone would want to pick on an innocent girl.”

It’s almost comical coming from him. Considering, back in the days, Rune used to be my prime tormentor. It was like he got off on the bullying. Watching my face flare up with he called me names and riled me up to the point of no return.

“I think I need another fix.” The other blonde girl says. She reaches into her purse, pulling out a small clear bag filled with white powder.

The blonde resting on Rune sits up suddenly, “Yay! It’s about time.”

Her friend empties a small amount of the substance onto the table, snorting the baggy of cocaine right there on the dinner table.

“Rune.” Dad’s voice takes on a hard note, “I let you delve into your vices as much as you so desire. I make an effort not to question your choices. But this is taking it too far.”

His mother doesn’t say a word. She was never one to caution her sweet boy.

“Oh, come on.” The blonde next to Rune says after having her own fill, “We’re just having a little fun. It’s not that much of a big deal.”

Kane sets his fork down, his eyes finally lifting to the scene in front of him. “Get out.”

Silence falls over the table.

One of the girls whispers after a prolonged moment, “Is he talking to us?”

“Had I known of your limited cognitive abilities, I would have tailored my words to be more elementary.”

My eyebrows raise.

Kane doesn’t raise his voice, he barely speaks above a whisper, it’s like he’s not even trying to be audible. But every single ear in the room hangs on his last word, “Your desperate transactions with my brother might sustain your existence but I will not tolerate such disgraceful behaviour sullying my dining experience. ”

Rune watches his brother, an amused smirk pulling on the side of his mouth. He doesn’t say anything as the girls gape from him to Kane, watching as his brother goes on, “One way or another, you’re leaving. Left to me, I’ll ensure your departure is far less dignified, preferably having you acquainted with the filth outside. ”

“Kane!” His mother gasps.

He ignores her, continuing on, “I’m about to cut into my stake. I’ll advise you to save yourselves the embarrassment before I take my first bite.” He picks up his knife.

One of the girls lets out a huff, she rises to her feet, an angry pout on her face. Her friend follows her lead. Kane drags his gaze to Rune, who lifts his hands in mock surrender . He doesn’t even look at the girls as he gives them directions to his room upstairs, they trail out of the dining area.

“Kane, that was awfully rude of you.” His mother chides.

“It’s nothing new mother,” Rune says, “He’s always got a stick up his ass.”

“This is a family dinner,” Kane states, “I see no reason why either of them should have been brought to this table. And that includes you.” His green eyes slide to mine.

“What?” I breathe.

From my peripheral, I notice the subtle frown settling onto Rune’s features.

“I can’t quite remember stuttering.”

I swallow, hard. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

“I said this is a family dinner, at what point in that sentence did you get lost?”

“That’s enough, Kane.” Rune says.

“Leave the table.” Kane ignores his brother.

My breaths come out in short pants. Is he insinuating that I’m not part of our family?

“I think-”

“I don’t give a damn what you think.” He interrupts me, “Your presence is grating. You’re no better than a pest. And since the unfortunate truth is that I cant squash you, I’ll settle for the next alternative. I’m telling you to make yourself scarce, while my family shares a meal.”

The way he highlights the word ‘family’ rips the composure right out of me.

I shove my chair backwards, this time, Rune doesn’t try to stop me. “Fine.” I say, rising to my feet, “Like I’d ever willingly choose to participate in your pretenses anyway.” I storm out of the room, a fresh batch of tears already pooling in my eyes. They hadn’t been back even twenty four hours but they’ve already managed to make an entire mess of my emotions.

How dare he? How dare he speak to me like that, treat me like I’m not any better than the maids. This family is as much mine as it is anyone else’s on that table.

I don’t hear her come up behind me before she grabs my upper arm, jerking me to a stop.

“I’ve had about enough of you ruining this night.” Emaine seethes in my face. She pulls me forward, practically dragging me along with her as her nails dig into my flesh painfully. “Since you’ve been entirely useless today, I have something I think would occupy the rest of your evening.

She pulls me into the kitchen, ripping a post it note from the counter. The maids shoot us perplexed glances. She shoves the long paper at my chest.

I frown at the lengthy list of groceries.

“One of the workers will have all the doors locked till you return with every single item on that list.” She tells me, “If you want to sleep on a bed tonight, I’d suggest you get shopping.” She spins me around, shoving on my back before I’ve had time to process anything. She tosses a wad of cash in my general direction, slamming the backdoor slams shut behind me. And then I’m left outside, wearing light clothing that does nothing to ward off the harsh evening weather.

The sun is setting already, most of these stores will be closing down any minute now. Emaine would never pay any mind to that kind of excuse though, she’d be more than happy to keep to her threat regardless, so I don’t stall.

It’s nightfall by the time I get to the last item on the list. Cherry tomatoes. My hands are full, fingers aching as I clutch onto the paper bags, trying my best to grip them evenly so they don’t rip. I pay the man at the cashier, he bags them up and I make my way out of the store.

The bag snags on the metal handle the second i step passed the door.

“Shit!” The items tumble out of the torn bag, rolling onto the dirty floor. Ugh, there are a bunch of papers littered on the concrete, most of them mixing in with the discarded groceries.

Frustrated, I snag them up haphazardly, shoving the spilled items into any of the bags they’ll fit in, along with some of the papers too stubborn or sticky to shake off.

By the time I make it back to the house, my mood is even more sour than when I left. I use the backyard, wanting to wash off some of the grime from the vegetables before Emaine sends me back out to get fresh ones out of spite. I empty the contents of one of the bags, splaying it all out on the back porch. My eyes snag on a piece of paper blown to the side by the night air.

It’s a job advertisement.

Instantly, my interest is piqued. I reach for it, reading the contents.

Looking for extravagant work as service with a hidden identity?

Contact us here…

My eyes rove over the words written on the flyer. The estimated payment makes my eyes budge out of their sockets. That’s… a hell of a lot of money for just waitressing.

The details of the flyer are very vague. The name of the place isn’t even written on the flimsy piece of paper. But there’s contact information, and instructions on how to apply. Suspicion pulls the muscles of my stomach taut, everything looks too good to be true. But I’m more than willing to give it a shot, there’s truly no harm in trying.

And if it is true, if I could actually make that much money in such a short amount of time, this could very much be my ticket out of this hell hole. Maybe I’ll finally be able to leave once and for all.

The hope takes root inside me. I go over the details of the print out again, making sure I’m not missing anything, my eyes lingering on the last line,

Give it your best shot… if you dare.