Broken Bonds

Chapter 2

Avery Romano

After the nightmare, I refused to go back to sleep since I would have woken up in the same way again. I glanced at the clock on my nightstand which showed that it was only 4.45am in the morning. 3 hours of peaceful sleep. Good enough for me. My eyes then went to the calendar placed beside the clock and I focused on the small red asterisk which I had marked on the 20th of July.

A day that none of us wish to celebrate.

It's our birthday. The day in which both Bea and I were born.

All of us stopped celebrating this day after that night. It was not of any special for us to remember anyways. But I wanted to celebrate it, for having a twin, a younger sister to dote on. Even though there was no meaning of celebrating when she's not with me now.

Straightening the blanket on my bed, I headed to the bathroom to wash up and dressed in a dry fit black t-shirt and black jogging tights. Looking at myself in the mirror, I pulled my hair up in the simple ponytail.

I walked down the stairs quietly since it was in the middle of the night. Opening the door slowly, I slot myself in the between the small opening and closed it quietly again.

I started slow jogging which then turned into a vigorous running till I finally felt the burning sensation in my lungs. It strangely felt relieving. Changing my pace to a slow walk, I took in a sharp inhale of air.

It did not make me feel alive or anything. In fact, it was just another reminder to me that I was still alive. In a brand new day.

Turning my wrist to check the time, it was around 6.20am now. Running in the early morning always makes time go by faster. And that was how I cope with my mornings. Taking one last glance at the sky, I turned my way back to the house.

As I took off my running shoes, the house was still in a complete silent, as though no one lived here. I then headed straight towards the kitchen and spotted Missus Dai, our housekeeper for decades. She had been even before I was born and she was like a second mother to me. In fact, she had been a mother to to all of us.

She came from a Chinese family who then migrated to Italy when she was 10. Her family was rather wealthy as her father was a CEO of a company back in some days. Unfortunately, their family faced bankruptcy as her father was scammed by a close friend of his. They lost their house overnight and her mother committed suicide as she was unable to take the news. She then lived with her father ever since and she started working for our family at the age of 22.

"Good Morning, Missus Dai." I greeted her the moment I stepped into the kitchen. She was busy preparing breakfast and turned around with a big smile on her face when she heard me. But she frowned when she saw my clothes.

"Morning, Avery. You couldn't fall asleep again?" She asked me with concern laced in her voice. She knew I would always go for a morning run whenever I couldn't go back to sleep but I had not mentioned about the nightmares to her since I'm sure she would be worried over that.

I said nothing but gave a small smile which did not reach my eyes. There was nothing I could say. I was glad that she dropped the topic and changed the attention to the breakfast that she was making.

"I have made your favourite hashbrown and chocolate muffin for breakfast. Wash your hands and dig in." She ushered me over to the dining table after I washed my hands at the sink.

I thanked her for the breakfast before digging in and I smiled at the scrumptious taste. After my first bite, I put down the fork in my hands and looked up. None of them came down for breakfast as usual, and I was sitting all alone at the large dining table.