No More

9• Monsters

It is still too early to sleep yet I am still tired. As I pick up one side of my blanket and put it over me, my phone rings. I look at the time; it's seven p.m. There is a message from Aidan.

Aidan: "Hey. Are you alone?"

Verhan: "Why are you going to try to sneak up on me again?"

Aidan: "Beware of the monsters..."

I am beginning to type "What monsters?" when the door slowly creaks open. I look down at my phone to find another text.

Aidan: "Look behind you and you will see what I am talking about."

My credulity is more sky-towering than anyone I have ever met. I believe everything a person says. I jump when my younger sister hops into my room. She yells out the word, "BOO!" This small act almost makes me scream. I am saddened by my inability to comprehend the differences between true and false.

Verhan: "I already hate you. I believed that and it made me jump. You may not ever joke with me like that ever again."

Aidan: "Who said I was joking around? Everything is true. See look behind you."

I do exactly that, but my sister starts to talk making me jump off my bed as if there was actually a monster behind me.

Aidan: I fooled you didn't I? You looked over your shoulder and got scared. Your welcome."

Verhan: "That's officially it. I will never speak to you again Mr. Furtive."

As I wait for him to beg for my forgiveness. I ask of my sister the things that she needs. As a ten year old, I doubt she has many necessities. What more could she need? There are
enough dolls which I am terribly afraid of and this as been used against me many times in the past. A girl her age only cares for food as in chips and drink as in soda. Those are basically the only two items she eats everyday.

On the verge of adolescence, she is now only five inches shorter than me. I am the average height for woman all around the world while she is relatively tall for her age. I know the exact words that will come out of her mouth in a squeaky, irritating voice.

"Verna, I want you to do my hair before I go to bed and pick an outfit for me. Tomorrow there is a play and I am in it." This was very much expected like it has become a routine.

Everyone asks of me things including myself. I'd rather question myself than question others since I am very independent. I take both legs off my bed and stretch. I yawn making my sister do the same.

I take her to stand in front of my mirror and I braid her dark brown hair all the way up to her shoulders. I am now reconsidering choosing an outfit for her, but she stares at me with her big brown eyes and I am unable to decline. We walk across my room to her's when I receive a message.

Aidan: "I am terribly sorry for ever disappointing you. I swear I will never do it again. How will you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?"

I smirk at my next message that I am typing now.

Verhan: "I cannot find it in my heart because I do not forgive you."

Aidan: "Please, forgive me. I cannot live a life with one human soul disappointed in me."

Verhan: "I really enjoyed watching you beg. I may make you do it again to please me."

Aidan: "You were kidding me?"

Verhan: "Two can play that game. You are not the only one that knows how to joke around."

I know he is smiling right now because even the smallest of a joke from me surprises him. I look through my sisters rack of clothes; most of which were passed down from me. I pick her out one of my favorite shirts when I was her age. She doesn't appreciate anything and only complains.

"Tomorrow, the weather channel said it was going to be hot and those sleeves are too long." I put down that choice of clothing and pick out one more suitable for the weather.

She complains again. "That shirt makes my stomach look bigger." I go through multiple selections and she abjures to all of them until she takes a shirt from the pink, carpeted floor. How could have I not known? She already had an outfit in mind, but she only wanted to see if I would choose the same one. Another sibling that only deceives and wastes time.

" Chelsea, you are insane! If you had an outfit ready, why did you ask me? You could have easily showed me the outfit and I could have said my opinion. But no, sisters are only there to waste your time," I scream right into her ear. This way she will learn her lesson never to ask me for such absurd requests.

The rage is building in me which can only lead to the saltiness of tears. I turn off my lights and contemplate on what my life has become.