Wings of The Universe

Chapter four: I'm Not Legally Required to do This

A/N: This took me a few months to write, I have writer's block, so it might not be great. Also, I'm writing a new story called In a Magical World, please check it out!

A loud thud sounded from downstairs. 

I tensed. Lisa's head perked up and Lulu was immediately standing a short stride away from the door. Lulu and I looked at Lisa, and she nodded her head towards it to indicate for us to go downstairs.

"Let's go," Lisa said in a tight voice, and we heard another, louder crash.

Lulu and I followed her down the stairs, where we saw... Well, I don't even know how to describe it. One of the couches was on its side, which must have been the thud. The carpet and a bit of dust under it were revealed. A small tree-like plant was turned over, and dirt was spilling around it. As for the crash, well, my mom really wanted to find that book. The bookshelf was turned over, and there were books everywhere.

Yet my mom was nowhere in sight.

"Where is she?" Lulu's head swiveled around, looking for her.

"I don't know." Replied Lisa.

I cursed. This all made perfect sense. She looks for something, destroys two rooms in the process, and then flees when she finds it.

"That book she was looking for must have been really important," Came Lisa's small voice. "If she took it and ran."

"Yeah," There was nothing else I could think to say. What was I supposed to say? Nothing. The twins would understand my silence, right? I mean, we didn't know each other well, and we'd only grown even a little close yesterday. 

In hindsight, I really should've cared less about other people's perspectives on me, especially my family, and learned to control my anger more.

"Hold on. We don't know for sure it was a book, right? When you asked what she was looking for, Dani, she didn't reply." Lulu said quietly. At the sound of her voice, and my name, I snapped up.

"What?" I was still barely in the present. "Oh. Well, it had to be a book! What else would she be looking for?"

I turned my attention to my chipped purple nails. I needed to focus on something else. I walked to the bathroom, took out the rubbing alcohol and the red nail polish then headed back to the twins.

"Hi." I gave Lulu a small wave as she stared dumbfounded at me walking past them over the fallen bookshelf into the kitchen. 

I took some paper towels and rubbing alcohol, jumped over the books again to go to the living room, and started to clean the colour off my nails. Lisa sat down next to me on the upright couch and, blinking back tears, started painting her bare nails scarlet.

Lulu gave us an odd look before coming and joining us. 

We sat there in silence. 

It was sort of calming, painting stroke after stroke. After a couple of coats, I turned up to see Lisa. Instead, a girl sadder than any I'd ever seen was sitting there, with silent tears pouring down her face. They were dripping off her nose and chin onto her hands and legs as she was looking down, soaking the thighs of her pyjama pants. She didn't attempt to stop them.

I looked back down to see my result and saw that I'd gone over the edge and had brushed the side of my thumb. The paper towel wiped most of it off easily, but the colour had already dyed my skin.

I sprawled my hands out on my legs and stared at them. The wait for them to dry was long and tedious, as the twins were silent. I pushed down the urge to look at the girls.