The Preparation

Sarah 

“I'm really happy for you, Sarah." Sam said, as she held up one of my favorite tops.

As soon as I got out of the hospital, I called her to tell her the good news and she promised to come to my house, so we could celebrate and pick out clothes for my first day of work. 

“Hey, pass me that top. It's one of my favorites." I said, stretching my hand out to her.

The look of disgust that suddenly appeared on her face, got me thinking.

“Even my grandma, doesn't have a top that ugly." Sam was always this blunt. 

“Well, I like it. So I'm wearing it." I finalized. “I'm so happy I'll be able to work and pay for Simon's bills." 

She gave me a wide smile and continued judging my clothes.

“Imagine if you run into that hot stuff, you bumped into the other day." She said that purposely, and the guilty look she had, let me know she wanted a reaction out of me.

“If I'll do, I'll make sure to give him a piece of my mind and let him know he's nothing but a piece of shit." He really annoyed the heck out of me.

“Go get me something to eat, while I pick out your clothes." she commanded.

“Yes mommy." I said and smiled.

The way she looked at me in disgust got me laughing and as I left the room, I heard her mutter a low “hoe", which made me laugh even harder.

Sam left a while later, after basically raining down curses on my wardrobe, saying that even the Queen dressed more fashionable than I did. 

She promised to go shopping for me and come back later, with ‘proper clothes, suitable for public eyes'.

After some time, I took out my laptop to do some research on the company I'll be working with now.

Apparently, Kings enterprises had been around for a while and the founder is now old. His son has taken over now, though.

It seemed like I would now be working for his son. As I typed in the search for pictures of his son, there was a knock on my door.

I stood up to open the door, to see my landlady standing there, looking very, very mad. I should have looked through the peephole before opening the door. 

“Hey, Mrs Ross." I said, awkwardly. My rent was way overdue, and she had been coming to look for me, but luckily she never found me. I even avoided her calls, because I knew I didn't have a way to pay up.

“I've been coming to look for you and I've been calling! You never pick up! Where's my rent?" She was obviously so angry, and I didn't know how to handle this situation.

“Mrs Ross, I had no idea you've been meaning to see me. I apologize for not taking your calls. I'm barely with my phone, because of work. I'm so busy, I promise I'll have your pay by the end of the month." 

The way the scowl on her face didn't sooth out, let me know she has had enough of my bullshit already, and wasn't going to listen to anything I had to say.

“Sarah, you've been telling me that same story for the past year! I need my money!" She was beginning to raise her voice and that was one thing I was trying to avoid.

“Okay Mrs Ross, I'll have your money by next weekend. Just give me till then." The certainty in my voice calmed her down a bit, and let out a deep sigh.

“Next weekend, if you don't have my rent, I'm throwing you out, for sure. No more chances." She gave me one last disapproving look and walked away.

I closed my door, and slid down to the ground, getting lost in my thoughts. I wasn't sure how I was going to pay her, it wasn't like I had a dime in my account, I would probably have to borrow the money from Sam. 

Tiredness overwhelmed me and I didn't even know when I fell asleep, only to be woken up by my phone's buzzing.

I slowly opened my eyes, to see an email. Opening it, I saw it was an email from Kings Enterprises.

They were reminding me that I was to resume work tomorrow.

As I stared down at the email, I got this strange feeling that I was being watched. At first, I ignored it, but when It got stronger and I looked up towards the window and saw a shadow, I knew that my sixth sense hadn't failed me.

My heart started beating faster and I dropped my phone walking slowly towards the window. As I got closer, I could still see the shadow, but when I opened it, there was no one there.

I was left looking around for something that wasn't there, and I breathed a sigh of relief. However, the feeling still lingered, and I was sure I was being watched.

I pushed it aside though, so I could have a good night's rest against tomorrow. Waking up early was very essential, and I needed to be there very early, looking very formal and ready to work. 

At the end of the day, everything I did was for my brother. If he hadn't gone out that night... if he hadn't gone back to get my lipgloss that had fallen on the road as we ran past, he won't be in this state. 

Ever since he fell into the coma, I had blamed myself everyday for his situation. I had been left to take care of him, as payment for my carelessness as his older sister. 

Our parents had died in a car accident, and we weren't exactly connected to our extended family, so after their demise, it was just my brother and I. 

Every day of my life, I have lived with regret, so I could take care of him, and also try to live up to expectations.

I would do everything in my power to make sure, my brother lives.