That other woman...

Chapter I

Another day had passed, now it was exactly four years since Hope's grandfather sadly passed away. Hope was laying in the couch of that house in the coast of Ritzzy Riviera, doing nothing but staring to the roof, she wasn't alone, her elder sister Valeria was in her room, doing all that research that Hope had never understood. Hope felt bored and unhappy, usually her grandfather would take her on a walk throughout all the beach, but now the house felt empty and grey. Her grandfather would always tell her stories of his adventures when he was younger, but now those stories were nothing else than memories. Hope yawned stretching her body, realizing it was time to sleep. She stood up from her comfortable place and approached the door of Valeria's dorm, she wanted to give her the everyday goodnight hug, so she opened the door. Since that awful day her grandfather left, this was her favorite part of the day, because she felt like in home again. Hope entered the room smiling, but her smile disappeared in disappointment. There was Valeria, but she was sitting in her chair sleeping on the desk, Hope played with her fingers, thinking of waking her up or no, she just sighted and walked to the desk to hug her, she closed her eyes feeling the warmness of her sister, she felt safe and loved, although Valeria was deeply asleep. Hope released Valeria and walked to the door again while taking a look to Valeria's room, its walls were fully decorated with images and drawings of a train, something Valeria dreamed about since she was Hope's age. Valeria was already 18 years old, so to maintain Hope and herself she had to work selling little sea coins and shells her grandfather gifted her, she felt tired of walking for almost one hour and a half just to get to the trading center. All she ever desired was to have wealth and knowledge, she believed both of those elements would get her and her little sister out of misery, but for now, the plan of a train was just a dream for her, which had her frustrated and stressed everyday.

Hope felt bad for Valeria, she had to work a shift of 8 hours, barely winning 20$ dollars per day, on top of that she had to clean, cook, and pay for Hope's education, she felt bad because having only 6 years old there was not much she could do, so she always tried to raise Valeria's mood everytime she could, but that didn't help either.

Hope layed in her bed getting ready to sleep, tomorrow she would help Valeria on doing the home tasks, it was the least she could do for her.

...

Hope opened her eyes when hearing a sound, she turned around to see the clock, it was 6 am, at this time Valeria left home. Hope fought against sleepiness to stand up and get out of her room, Valeria was already in front the door to leave.

-Uhm, Val, you... Don't want breakfast?- Hope said playing with her fingers, although both of them were Spanish, Hope felt better talking in English.

"Why aren't you asleep?" Valeria grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, asking in an interrogative tone, without even looking to her, she walked to the door to leave, when she felt something in her hand, she looked down to see how Hope gave her a granola bar. Hope felt tears in her eyes, she felt Valeria was too cold with her.

-I love you... I hope you have a good day...- Hope looked down when Valeria gave her an annoyed look.

"Hope, don't start crying... I..." Valeria sighted closing her eyes "me too, thank you..." She said after leaving the house, leaving Hope alone once more.

Hope rolled her eyes, turning around, she didn't felt tired or sleepy, so she was going to try and do the home tasks, how hard could it be?

...

Valeria was halfway to her destination, she got that water bottle out to take another big sip, she really hated doing the same walk everyday, besides getting tired she lost a lot of time she could use selling more products, but having a car was a privilege only rich people could have. She stopped in a nearby store to buy an apple, but then she realized she had no money in her wallet. Valeria sighted in anger, seeing the man asides her, he seemed like a wealthy person, he bought a box filled with apples just like that. Valeria clenched her fists, she hated rich people,  all their life was already solved, without having to worry about bills or necessities, then an idea came to her mind, it was obvious that none of the powerful persons in the island had obtained their success by a completely legal way, she knew some even had to kill many people to get where they are now, so, why couldn't she do the same?. Valeria knew her capacities, she was fast and strong, she was sure that no one would even notice if she grabbed an apple for free... She shook her head strating to walk again, "What am I thinking? I would... Never steal..." She thought, it wasn't an option... Or maybe it was...

...

Several hours passed, now in home, Hope was almost falling asleep in the floor, she cleaned every part of the house she could, now the only thing left was her sister's dorm. Hope grabbed a wet rag and went to stand up in front of that door, she opened, immediately feeling that scent Valeria always used. She took a second to look at every detail, she could see the big progress of the train plans. Valeria started drawing since she turned 15, and every drawing was much detailed than the last one. Hope smiled, she had no doubt that Valeria would achieve her big dream.

After cleaning the floor and making the bed, the only thing left was the desk, usually Valeria would have paper and many pencils on her desk, but those were now replaced by thick books one on top of the other. The little girl raised her eyebrow, supposing they were all architecture and engineering manuals, but she saw an open book in the center, which had a picture of a red stone.

"What could this be?" The girl thought being defeated by curiosity, she dragged the chair close to the table to read the pages, it was an ancient myth, of a Ruby whose supposedly related to fire, Hope laughed, she knew Valeria was smart, but she couldn't imagine her sister believing all this fictional stuff. Hope closed the heavy book and cleaned the rest, she stood in the entrance to see the full room, she was excited for Valeria's reaction, hoping she would be proud of her, Hope was just about to leave when she heard the door open and being shut strongly. The girl concerned went to the lobby, where she saw Valeria breathing heavily, and with some sweat in her forehead, she looked like she would've ran all the way here, Hope noticed Valeria had something in her hand.

- Oh Hope, uh... I... - Valeria interrupted herself when seeing the kitchen, it was clean and had a very likeable lavender scent, she had to change the subject quicky. -You... You cleaned?-

-Uhmm, yeah, did you like it...?- Hope said staring at Valeria, trying to figure out what she had in her hands, it was something tiny with the shape of a square.

Valeria turned to Hope smiling, putting that object in her pocket. "You didn't... Have to, Hope..." Valeria left her backpack in the floor, walking to the kitchen "I'll make dinn-"

-No, I'll do it, sit down please...- Hope smiled excited, she didn't know much about cooking, but at least she knew how to prepare sandwiches, so she took out ham, cheese, mayonnaise, and four slices of bread.

Valeria frowned, wondering what "inspired" Hope to make all of this, she didn't like the idea of Hope using a knife, but now she was more concerned about the object in her backpack. She took it out in silence while Hope was turned around, it was actually a wallet, and it wasn't hers, it was from a man she found on the way here, and yes, it was stolen. Valeria felt guilt, thinking what she did of course was bad, but that poor man didn't even noticed. Valeria cleared all her regret when seeing the amount of bills that the wallet had, it could've been easily $1500, which could not seem much, but for Valeria that was something awesome. Besides from the money, it had an identification, it was some french guy called Montague. Valeria had never heard of him, but whoever he was, he had a lot of money. Valeria put all the money back inside, her mind was being attacked by many ideas, it wasn't hard to just steal a simple wallet, so... Why not doing it again?

Valeria smiled, but then she suddenly heard a tiny scream from her sister. Valeria quickly stood up and walked towards her sister, looking down to see, Hope had accidentally cut her middle finger with the knife. Although it wasn't something really deep, Hope was crying in silence, feeling now disappointed, she was supposed to help her sister, not to worry her...

- Valy, I'm... I'm sorry... I just wanted to help... - Hope but her lip, her elder sister just sighted from relief when noticing it wasn't a serious wound.

"I knew this wasn't a good idea... Sit down, I'll cook now" Valeria frowned grabbing the knife and continuing to cut the cheese and ham.

Hope sighted, going to a drawer to take out a little pony themed band aid, she carefully placed it around her bleeding finger, then she sat down, noticing the credential in the table. Hope approached to it, trying to read, Montague? Who was that? Hope quickly sat down again when hearing Valeria steps towards the table. Valeria sat down, quickly putting all the cards inside the wallet, then she started to eat in silence, as well as Hope, she knew Valeria would get angry if she even dared to ask...