Jason’s P. O. V:
“I’m home,” I announced. It was rather quiet.
“Mom? Dad? Hello? You there?”
Still not a single sound. I looked around and found a note from dad saying that he had left for work. But then where was aunt? She’d always leave a note if she left the apartment even if it was to the neighbour’s.
“Mom, if this is some prank, it’s not funny at all,” I said slightly panicked and started looking for her.
There, in the kitchen awaited a horrific scene. There was a blood stained knife on the floor with a poorly wiped trail of blood leading to the balcony.
"Mom..." I called out with quivering lips.
The bloody trail ended at the edge of the balcony. I looked over but there was nothing outside other than the sunset half-hidden by the neighbouring apartment building.
Suddenly someone smacked my head. In a swift move, I turned around and tackled the person onto the floor. “Ugh! Get off me, dork!” yelled aunt. “Oh, I’m so sorry. Thank God you’re alright. Don’t play tricks like these, I was scared to death!” I said hugging her tightly.
"What trick are you talking about?"
"Oh you really don't know anything about the knife and the blood," I retorted.
"Oh, that. I started preparing the meat for tonight. Jacob had forgotten to close the front door when he left for work so that stupid dog from next door came here and snatched the meat pack and ran toward the balcony. I shooed it away, wiped the spilled blood and went to the washroom to wash my hands. When I came back, you were frantically searching for me so I smacked your head," she replied smiling.
"You're smiling? You would've obviously heard me calling you. What were you thinking, scaring me like that? I was worried to death!" I snapped.
“Okay I’m sorry about that,” she said laughing. But the smile left her face as soon as it came.
“I heard that you’re fighting in the streets,” she said in a flat tone that she only used when she was angry.
Janet…Even after telling her not to…
“Yes.”
“You know I hate that.”
“Yes”. I gave her a bored look. She hugged me and said, “Look, it’s pretty cool that you can win people in a fight but please keep that to the boxing ring. I won’t be able to bear if some punk beats you up with a weapon, okay?”
“Alright, I won’t street-fight anymore.”
“Don’t say that just to shut me up for now. I don’t want you going out at night to fight from now on, got it?”
“Okay, I promise,” I said raising my hands in the air.
“Okay, now that it’s settled, how’s your crush doing?” she asked with a sly smile.
“What the?! Can you stop pestering me about her? It’s not like she’s my girlfriend or anything,” I said with a glowing-red face.
Seeing how much that topic was making me squirm, she kept asking me about it and I finally ended up telling that I had made a challenge.
“In that case, you’ve got lots of work to do,” she said and took a paper from her work desk. It was my two-out-of-hundred math exam paper. “Starting with this,” she finished waving the paper in the air.
“You kept that paper? What if dad sees?” I asked in a mild state of panic because if dad happened to see it, I was done.
“Oh don’t you try changing the subject boy. Emily actually came here a few days ago. She’s pretty upset that you’re scoring low in her subject. If you respect her, let alone love her, study at least for her sake,” she said, completely in parent mode.
I knew there was no talking my way out of it so I just nodded sincerely and went to my room with a new found resolve and took out my textbook.
The inevitable happened.
I fell asleep over my book.
The next morning, a scary thought woke me up. What if Ms Emily was angry at what I had said the previous day? I went to school reluctantly. We had some extra classes even though it was a Saturday.
Ten minutes had already gone by and Ms Emily still had not come to the classroom. I was worried. Did it have something to do with what I said to her yesterday?
The worries flew out of the window when I saw her come in with a new teacher and I had a rather eerie feeling of déjà vu. The new teacher walked in just like how Ms Emily walked in on the first day. She turned to face us just like how Ms Emily did and voila! I almost peed my pants. She looked like the mirrored image of Ms Emily except for the blonde hair...
Wait a minute...
` It was the foreigner I helped. It was Ms Caroline.
“Everyone, this here is Ms Caroline. She’ll be handling your English classes for the rest of this semester because your current teacher, Mrs Michelle is on maternity leave,” said Ms Emily as Ms Caroline gave a small bow in our direction.
Just as class ended, Ms Caroline came up to me with a warm smile on her face. “Hi Jason. How are you?” she asked, beaming.
“You remember my name?” I asked, smiling back.
“Eh? Of course I do. You did something for me that no guy would do to someone who fought with them,” she replied.
She then showed me an address. “Hey, do you know this place? I’ll be living there,” she said. I looked at it and... WHAT THE...?! It was Ms Emily’s apartment. Oh joy...
Emily’s P.O.V:
I was surprised to find a few big bags outside my apartment. The door was open too which was a rarity unless there was a visitor. “Sis, why is the door ope...” I asked as I entered the house and stopped mid-sentence when I saw Caroline sitting on the couch. What is she doing here? How did she find my address?
“This is our half-sister. She’s been living with our dad till now in Los Angeles,” said Kate, beaming with happiness.
“Hello. You already know my name but now please call me Carrie,” said Caroline.
She thinks that I have accepted her as my half-sister. Big mistake girl.
Alright, time to explode.
“WHO THE HECK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? HUH? Did you think I would just welcome you and hug you and say, ‘long time no see’? Your mother stole our father from us and now you shamelessly shove your face in front of us? GET OUT OF OUR HOUSE. Go back to your own country,” I shouted.
Even from where I was standing, I could see tears in her eyes and her lips quivering. Nope I wasn’t gonna fall for that. Father deserted us for her mother, Grace Pendleton, ruining our family and right inside our house she was, expecting hospitality!
“And I’m not gonna fall for those tears if that’s what you’re expec-” “ENOUGH!” yelled Kate slapping me hard across the face. That was completely new. Kate was never the violent one. I had no intention of arguing so I just left. Carrie followed me for a short while but then she stopped.
Now, who would be kind enough to let me spend the night in their house? I thought as I went down the stairs and sat down on a small bench near the car park. Only one face popped up into my mind, Jason.
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