Monsters and mundanes 5

5.3 Dead sister

Hazel, Amanda and V are sitting in Amanda's room on the floor across from each other.
"How come you can see V?" Amanda asks and V looks at Hazel.
"I'm a snake too. I can see him because my visionary trained me. I became so independent I haven't seen him in months" Hazel explains.
"A snake is a female monster" Amanda protests.
"I was twelve when I transitioned." Hazel looks down a little, sadness coming to his eyes.
"You're trans?" V asks.
"What can I say? Dad wanted a boy" Hazel explains.
"Amanda!!! Your dinner is ready!!" Esther shouts from downstairs. Amanda stands up.
"I'll be right back. It'll only be a minute" she says before she walks out.

She comes downstairs and sits by the table. Her parents set up a meatloaf and potatoes. She looks at it a little disgusted. Esther places a bowl of yogurt in front of Amanda and she eats it easily. Dustin looks at her and smiles but Amanda doesn't notice because she's looking down into the bowl. Dustin turns to Esther, still smiling and she smiles back at him.

Upstairs in Amanda's room, V turns to Hazel and tilts his head to the side.
"I'm not your visionary. I can't see through you. But something tells me..." he pauses. "How can you see me?" he asks again, emphasizing the 'can'.
"I was gonna ask you the same" Hazel answers as he puts his hands in the carpet and leans back, looking at V.
"What are you?" V asks and strains his eyes on him.
"It's a terrible disease ain't it?" Hazel smiles at him a little and hints toward the door for Amanda. "Anorexia" he says and looks back at V. "Some would even say Famine. You better watch her" he says with a sinister smirk.
"I'm gonna tell her" V threatens him.
"No, you won't. Because I'm her best friend"
"Nellie is her best friend" V cuts him off. Hazel chuckles a little maintaining his grin.
"And what do you think happens when you tell her that I'm Famine? She's gonna tell Elvis. And believe me, none of us wants to see what he does after that. You'll be completely set aside. Not even Amanda will listen to you, not that she will have anything to say to Elvis about it." Hazel stands up and turns toward the window. He opens the window and stands still before he turns to V again. "The horsemen are coming, V. And there is nothing you can do to stop it" he gives him a last smile and then he melts into a brown gue and slips out through the window. V walks down the stairs to the rest of the family and sits across from Amanda. Amanda points at him and Esther gives him a bowl of yogurt too. V smiles at Esther even though she can't see him and Amanda smiles back at him.

Chris pulls up on the porch and Bonnie comes out through the front door. Chris helps Leo get his stuff out of the car and then they walk up to the house. Chris kisses Bonnie before he walks into the house and Bonnie turns to Leo.
"Welcome home, Leo" she says with a smile and holds out her hand to him. He greets her with a smile.
"Thank you mrs. Faist" he says and she holds the door for him into the house.
"Well, this is our house. Nuestra casa, tu casa. Do you want to see your room?" Chris says with a smile.
"I get my own room?" Leo asks excited.
"Of course! It's right upstairs beside our daughter's room" Bonnie explains and leads them up the stairs. She opens the door to a room with a single bed, a desk, a closet and a bedside table.
"Since you'll be here for four years, I guess we'll get some more for the room eventually. We want you to feel at home" Bonnie smiles at him as Chris and Leo set down Leo's bags in the room.

A corpse walks up to Elvis' door and knocks on it carefully. Elvis comes down the stairs and opens the door. Outside on the stairs he sees his sister.
"Who are you?" he asks not believeing it's her since she's been dead for six years.
"You don't recognize me? It wasn't that long ago, Elvis" she says and smiles at him.
"Sarah?" he asks startled. She nods. "But you're dead" he takes a step back.
"No. They never killed me. I escaped. I've been in hiding" she explains.
"Come in. Tell me what happened. Who were they? What happened to you?" he asks and lets her into the house.
"Can I take a bath?" she asks and he goes to the bathroom.
"Of course."

A little later she's sitting in the bathtub and he's sitting on a chair beside her as she's telling him the story.
"They caught me 2016. Mom thought they killed me right away so that's what she told you. Well, they didn't. They wanted to keep one of us alive to find the remaining. They tortured me to the brink of dying but they made sure I stayed alive. And then someone killed their leader so I managed to escape." she explains with a sad look on her face and tears in her eyes.
"Ray" Elvis mumbles to himself.
"Yes. How did you know?" she asks and looks up at him.
"I knew him. He was my friends father. And I know who killed him" Elvis assures her.
"Then please thank him for me. He saved my life" she places her hand on his and looks into his eyes with a serious grateful look.
"How did you find me?" he asks.
"It wasn't easy. But I figured a guy like my brother would want revenge. So I looked for the biggest luxury house in the middle of the woods in a little town like this where Ray came from. You're quite predictable" she says with a smile.
"Lucky guess" Elvis smiles back at her. Spencer walks by outside the bathroom and sees Elvis with someone. She walks back to them and looks at them. Sarah sees her and takes her hand away from Elvis'.
"Honey, who is this?" Spencer asks and turns to Elvis.
"This is my sister Sarah. Sarah, this is my girlfriend Spencer" Elvis introduces them.
"Hello. Nice to meet you" Spencer says with a smile and a Texas accent.
"It's nice to meet you too" Sarah smiles back at her. Spencer walks out again and Sarah turns to Elvis with a smile.
"It's good to see you got your life together, El"

Jack pulls up in his shitty old Volvo outside Aiden's house. Aiden's hears the cracking of the shitty engine and knows it's Jack. He walks down the stairs and out to Jack. Jack is just sitting still in his car knowing Aiden will come out. Aiden gets in the car beside Jack and Jack slowly turns to him and raises his eyebrows.
"What do you want?" Aiden asks and sighs, looking straight forward.
"I've heard a little something. Amanda told me that Nellie still has a thing for you" Jack says with a smirk. Aiden sighs and rolls his eyes.
"Jack, I don't have time for this. I need to move on"
"Exactly! And therefore, you have to talk to her. Neither of you can possibly move on if you can't talk things through. You're constantly going to stay in a phase of not being able to talk to each other and only exchange awkward looks. Talk to her, please? For me?" Jack begs him with puppy eyes. Aiden looks at him and thinks for a while.
"Fine". Jack starts the car and drives away.

They pull up outside Nellie's house. Jack gets out of the car and Aiden sits still watching Jack climb up the same way Aiden used to climb up to her window. He knocks on it and Nellie turns to him confused, from her desk. She goes to the window and opens it to talk to him.
"Amanda has told me you still have feelings for Aiden" he says quite seriously.
"Jack, no, please. Why would she tell you that? It's none of your business"
"Because she's my girlfriend, she tells me everything" Jack explains innocently.
"Do you still love him?" Jack asks and tilts his head to the side. Nellie looks extremely offended and chuckles at him before she puts her hand to his forehead and pushes him down to he falls backwards onto the lawn.
"OW! I felt that!" Aiden looks at him struggling on the grass to get up. Jack looks at Aiden and winks at him before he climbs up again.
"I got you, Aiden" he says to himself as he reaches her window. Nellie pushes down the window onto his fingers and he pulls them out but manages to hold onto the flag pole beside her window. He knocks on the window again.
"Open up, Nellie!" he yells through the window. "I'm not gonna leave until you open. Your father will have to shoot me down for me to leave!" Jack calls through the window. Nellie walks back and opens the window.
"I got a solution to your problem" Jack smirks at her. Nellie furrows her eyebrows and walks up to him again.
"Are your parents home?" he asks flirtishly and Nellie gasps at him and widens her eyes.
"You HAVE a girlfriend, Jack!!!!" Nellie punches him right in the face this time and he falls down.
"No, no, no that's not what I meant!!" She closes her window and he turns back to Aiden with a sigh. He walks back and gets in the car beside him.
"She doesn't want to talk to you, man" Jack turns to him. Aiden sighs and looks up toward her window.