The Red Pendant

Chapter 6

Aaron woke himself up and got up to do his usual morning routine. He went and got dressed, and then realized something unusual, an error in his usual morning. It was late, almost nine o'clock, which meant that he slept for almost three hours past the time he should have been up, and he silently cursed himself for this failure. He walked over to the sink and quickly washed his hands and face. He then looked into the fridge, and pulled out a carton of eggs, hurriedly cracking them onto a pan and starting the process of making scrambled eggs. It was relatively quiet in the house, which meant that Maryanne must not have been up yet, to his luck.

As he finished the eggs, he set them onto a sizable plate and made the table, plopping the completed breakfast meal in the center. Once he was satisfied with his work, he silently made his way over to Maryanne's room, opening up the door. To his confounding surprise, she wasn't there, where she should have been, sleeping peacefully on her bed.

Upon her dresser was a little handwritten note, balanced precariously on the edge between a mess of pens and a dog-eared storybook. When he walked up to observe this handiwork, he found it to be a rushed scribble of words, reading:

Dear Aaron,

I left to go into town to talk to some friends. I know that they were worried about me because of my going missing, so I went to explain that I am ok and that nothing bad happened. I didn't want to wake you, because you looked very tired last night and you deserve a good rest. I bet you haven't had proper sleep in a good few days. Don't worry if I'm not home by the time you wake up.

Your sister,

Maryanne

When Aaron finished reading over the note another few times, he carefully set it back down onto the grubby dresser and stared off out of the nearby window, astounded by that new predicament. That was the first time Maryanne had ever gotten up before him, and he wasn't ready for the rushing shock of the possibility that she was becoming more mature. He finally understood that his sister was starting to become more responsible, and wasn't the immature little child that he had always been used to caring for. Even though he was only a year older than her, he had to grow up fast, because of their situation in life. He wanted to make sure she could cling to her childhood as long as humanly possible.

Aaron, finally having cleared his mind, walked back out of his sister's room and sat down at the table to eat his breakfast. As he ate, he soundlessly wondered why it felt so strange to eat by himself. When he finished, he cleared the table and meticulously washed the dishes and scoured the house to be sure of its cleanliness.

He then made his way to his room, pulling out the book he was currently reading. With Maryanne always around to worry about, he had never gotten to finishing it. Now, since he was alone in the house, with what he was assuming at least a few hours of spare time, he got himself adequately cozy in his bed, continuing the engaging story he was reading.

...

Maryanne shuffled along the sidewalk leading the way to the park. She knew that she would find her friends there, for that was where they always were. She saw a group of her friends clustered around a table, so she ran over and sat down next to them. Everyone instantly quieted down and looked at her.

Tiffany stood up, slamming her hands on the table. "Do you have any idea how worried we were?" she cried out.

"We were scared out of our minds!" Macie declared, waving her arms around as if she was to strangle someone.

"What happened, Maryanne?" Stephanie asked. "What really happened to you on Saturday?"

"Well, uh, I'll start with your question, Tiffany," Maryanne started, trying her best to show how genuine she was. "I know that you all were worried, and I am very sorry for scaring you guys. I hope you all can forgive me."