DARK PARADISE. Miguel O'Hara

01. The Vulture

THE VULTURE - Chapter one
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⇢ ˗ˏˋ Present Day ࿐ྂ

JADE — rubbed her tired eyes, leaning mindlessly on the counter as she stared out the window. The sun was bright on her face, her eyes barely open to see the light flood across the buildings before her.

Beside her, James sat on a bar stool at the island, a plate of food before him. Sliced bananas and pieces of toast were sat on the dish, the boy poking at it with his fork. As his sister took a sip of the warm liquid she clutched on to, he would send her occasional looks as if to beg not to need to eat his breakfast.

Feeling his gaze, Jade shifts her eyes from outside to James, glancing between him and the food. "Eat up kiddo." She says, grabbing a piece of banana to help him out. "Breakfast is the most important part of the day."

James looks at her, skeptical. He scrunches his nose and shakes his head, eyes narrowing as he fixes his eyes on the toast. "But I don't wanna eat it."

"Well if you want to get big and strong like me, you're gonna have to." She smiles widely at the boy, flexing as if to prove a point.

"I'm already big and strong." He counters, trying to hide the smile forming on his lips.

Jade smiles and moves over to the empty seat beside him. She ruffles his hair and places a soft kiss on his temple, the boy squirming and letting out a laugh as he shoves her away.

"I know you are kiddo, but breakfast is still important." She taps lightly in his head. "Especially if you want your brain to grow big too."

She looks at the plate in front of James and takes another banana "whatever you don't eat I'll send with you for lunch." She warns. She felt bad, knowing she used to complain when her mother would make the same proposal. But she understood it now.

Her jobs wasn't exactly the best paying and they simply couldn't afford to waste food.

"And you don't wanna eat that later. It'll be all yucky by then." She says, taking a sip of her coffee. She stares at the bottom of her empty cup, James giving her a solemn look, his lip pouting.

"Why couldn't I have had cereal?" He whines.

"Because we ran out the other day and I can't afford to get more until I get paid."

James sighs and takes a banana, choking it down. He looks at his toast then looks to his sister with tired eyes, pleading.

Jade sighs too, reaching over and grabbing the toast from his plate. She took a bite from it and stood, putting her coffee up in the sink and the empty plate from in front of James.

"Are you sure you won't be hungry before lunch?" She asks.

James nods.

"Okay kiddo." Jade says, shooting him a soft smile. She knew he was likely lying because he didn't want to choke down more food, but didn't want to push him further. "Why don't you go grab your back pack and get your shoes on?" She says softly.

James nods then slides off his stool, making his way to his room. Once he's out of sight, Jade reached in her back pocket and pulls out a wallet, checking to see if she could scrape up enough money to get cereal later so the boy would eat tomorrow.

She frowned at the lack of money, finding only a few stray bills. She then swallows the lump in her throat, tucking the wallet away as her brother emerges.