The Oneshots

Judge the situation. (AprilXMurphy)

Pale fingers hesitated over the sleek ringing phone as they contemplated answering the incoming call. It had been an unknown number. She'd been receiving a lot of those recently. Panic and anxiety washed over her as she tried to think of who could have been calling her. Did she get doxxed again? Were rabid fans going to throw eggs at her door? Were furious followers with inflamed faces calling to demand compensation? Was it the paparazzi again? April didn't know.

She felt lost and frustrated at her lack of control of the situation. Since the cryptocurrency scam she hadn't had a moment of peace. April cursed at her brother who was responsible for her losing millions. March had insisted that it had been a good idea to invest, which led to her greedily investing two million dollars in the hopes to turn it into 50. She stared at the screen as the determined caller tried to reach her again.

'What if someone has information on March?' April thought to herself as she watched the person call for the tenth time. He'd gone missing the day she found out that her money was stolen. Instead of facing his sister's wrath, March ran away without warning. All he had left behind was a scrap of paper with terrible rushed penmanship saying 'srry sis. Cya. Don't strez it's not Joe.' None of her other siblings knew where he was.

'What if it's January again?'
She felt herself tire at the thought. Her youngest sister had been begging to come live with April in Los Santos for years. The innocent girl idolized her and April never had the heart to tell her about her terrible financial situation. Whenever April mentioned the cost of living, the young 18 year old would respond by cheerfully saying that everyone in the city was facing a recession and financial difficulties. She didn't understand how the world worked, much less a city like los Santos. Allowing the young girl to live with her meant that April would need to fill a sort of parental role for the troublesome teen. She was neither interested nor financially capable of taking in someone. Especially someone who was as picky as her sister.

Having grown up with their father's wealth, Jan had gotten accustomed to living like a nepo baby. The young girl loved traveling and had grown up with too much money at her disposal to stick to one hobby or career. From cello to pottery to yacht racing. Her second bedroom filled with once used equipment and instruments was a testament to all her fleeting whims. Her lifestyle was currently too expensive for April to maintain. April could hardly fault her younger sister. They had all grown up that way. April sighed as she stared at the ringing phone. She couldn't even go back home. Her father had lost a lot of his wealth during the war. There was enough money to live comfortably but not enough for her to swallow her pride and face her mother's judgmental stares and comments.

'You won't know if you don't answer.'
April repeated the words to herself as she paced through her room with the phone in hand. Whoever was on the other end was persistent. "Come on April. You can do it." She said lowly to herself. The temptation to ignore it was strong, but a nagging sense of urgency compelled her to finally accept the call.

"Hello?" Her voice was tentative as she waited to hear who was reaching out to her so late in the night.

"April." Daniel. The familiar skittish voice belonged to her lawyer. Her first question to the lawyer was "what's wrong?" Her second was "why are you calling so late?" The young lawyer had a habit of calling outside businesses hours. There had been multiple attempts to gently explain that it wasn't acceptable but they'd fallen on deaf ears.

April sighed to herself in contemplation. Not like anyone was being disturbed by the 11:45pm calls since she lived by herself, but it was the principle. Her lawyer was naive and fresh out of college so she needed to nip it at the bud, especially since he'd confessed to being a fan of hers. She was grateful that he'd offered to represent her free of charge but she still needed her boundaries.