Cheated

Chapter 3 - Blank Hearts

Mom wasn't home until late so I had to go to Lui's place. So we trundled down the murky streets until we came across a fancy network of houses and one of the cleanest streets i had seen, untouched by grafitti and litter. Their house was a beautiful one. It was quite large too. A woman from across the street waved. "That's Barbara." Liu pointed. As we entered the house I realised how simplistic mine looked. I sat comfortably next to Jeff on the floral patterned sofa while Liu prepared our dinner. The bubbling of water in the pans made my mouth water. The sweet aroma of freshly baked cakes. The bacon sizzled and the eggs boiled. I knew I had to break it to them, them, but how? "I wonder what it's like in Cincinnati." I pondered. Jeff was just staring at me like I was a dead fly in his cup. I shrugged and gave him the "what" look. He didn't reply and was starting to creep me out. So naturally I poked his cheek. He snapped out of his trance and rubbed the sore area of his cheek that I had repeatedly bombarded. "I see your having fun." Liu chuckled playfully. "Jeff is so cute and little, reminds me of Toby." I giggled. "I am NOT cute and I am NOT little and I definetly DO NOT remind you of that 'thing'." Jeff groaned. There was a small, awkward moment of silence but I suddenly burst out laughing, so did Liu and Jeff. The noise level crept higher until the whole neighbourhood could probably hear us. I even had a few watery drops springing from my eyes. Toby Rogers, my younger brother. He was 17 and had a few... issues. He was completely numb to any physical pain and had Tourette Syndrome, which caused him to tic and twitch uncontrollably.. My father was hardly around and when he was.. he wasn't the kind of father I wanted Toby to have. He was an abusive alcoholic and a lazy fatass. That reminded me, Toby's birthday was in a few days time. I checked the calender next to Liu's TV. Today was the 25th of April. "Three more days..." I sighed. Jeff looked slightly confused. "Till what." He questioned. "We leave." I sighed. We were moving away so Toby could have a better life. It was on his birthday too. "Wait, your leaving?" Liu asked. "Yes." I replied solemnly.