Stormz on the Horizon

Questions & Answers

Wednesday

Atlanta, Georgia

    Amber comfortably sat on her plush sofa that she begged Topaz to buy for the girls' apartment. They already implored him for the off-campus apartment, but he folded, like usual. She'd just finished her school day and had no clients, so she made herself an evening coffee and chose to relax. It seemed she was the only one of the sisters whose daily routine hadn't faltered since the night of that gut-wrenching phone call with the monster on the other end of the line. That night has consumed her thoughts and feelings every day. It put in perspective her life, her family's life, and Ivory's especially. To drive the sword deeper into the situation, Percy's missing status has recently swept the streets back home. Another young black boy in Arabia gone just like that. The bodies will have to pile up at some point. His crying, fraught mother and compassionate comrades have headlined the Arabia Banner Herald and the local radio station. Amber can't listen to more than five seconds of the news without shutting it off. She so badly wanted to anonymously give the source to the horrifying absence of Percy, but she wouldn't dare. Her life is at risk enough and she's not looking to enrage the fire that is already slow burning, for now. After Amber had gotten her sister home that night, they'd been on mute for a couple of days. Eventually, she was so anxious to find out what the hell would make Dorian Slaughter want to murder their father in cold blood. It was so bizarrely egregious, she wanted to choke Ivory for verbalizing such a decree. Their father is a family man, a business man, a big scary man—who was really just a huge teddy bear to his children, when he wasn't disciplining them. Amber couldn't form a shred of conclusion that would warrant her father's murder, God forbid.

Ivory hadn't been to class at all. Most of them were online, but it was highly unlikely she opened her MacBook even once. The last time she missed that many lectures, she was dealing with a violent menstrual cycle. It seemed her period had gone away when she was being forced by her—hopefully soon to be—maniac ex to take birth control like clockwork. Once he'd gone away, of course she stopped taking it, but now that time of the month for her made death sound better. She had good reasons to be such a bitch. Amber only gave her so long to sulk and let herself go, before she bombarded her for answers about what kind of trouble she's in. She's been laying in her sheets sniffling, sleeping the day away, binge eating, and in dire need of a lash fill in. Her long natural hair was out, which was extremely rare, and looked worse than a mess. Amber wasn't too sure she'd seen her come out of that room more than four times. Passing her door every day only amplified her urge to pick her brain. Eventually she couldn't take it anymore and decided to end the suspension a couple days ago. Ivory was slow of tongue, but sure enough she started spilling, in a state of vulnerability that had Amber floored.

*flashback*

Last Weekend

Ivory exited her room with caution. She'd been getting her meals by waiting until Amber was asleep, trying to avoid being ambushed with questions. She knew her sister would burst soon. After giving up that information, Ivory has been in deep regret, but she couldn't help that her emotions overshadowed her better judgement. What's done is done now and eventually she will have to do something. She quietly strode down the hallway and into their pinterest-like kitchen, rummaging to make her dinner of champions. She felt like a burglar in her own home as she shuffled around the space, in the dark at that. She nearly had all of her ingredients when suddenly a lamp flicked on in her peripheral, only bright enough to make that corner of the apartment visible. It wasn't much of a fright considering the state she was in, so she simply turned to the only other person who could've been there. She hoped.

"Bitch...you look terrible," said Amber. She sat in the cushioned hammock chair next to the lamp. If no one would keep it more real with her, she would.