“ 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