When I woke Monday morning it was the same as every Monday since sixth grade. I was tired and cranky and my alarm clock had been ringing for 20 minutes. I was also late which made me that much more angry, so when I woke my sister, five minutes before school was going to start, I hadn’t the slightest clue that my attitude with her would lead her to a life or death situation.
My sister had always been the more glamorous type, always taking hours in the morning just doing her makeup, so you can imagine her attitude when I told her she had five minutes to be out the door. I probably wasn’t to helpful when I jerked the blankets off her bed and drug her out by her feet, but what do you expect we’re siblings we were made to annoy each other.
I don't remember much about that morning, but I do remember the complete anger that struck me when I walked up stairs five minutes later to see Phoenix still sound asleep in bed. I let out a scream of exasperation and chucked the first thing I could get my hands on, what it was, I don’t recall.
“GET UP!” I screamed. “NOW!” with that said, I turned and with a slam of the door, marched down the stairs into the kitchen, heaved my bag over my shoulder, and started for the door, I was out the door and half way down the front steps when I remembered that Phoenix couldn't walk to school alone, which meant I was going to be late. “PHOENIX! YOU HAVE ONE MINUTE TO BE DOWN HERE!” I screamed up the stairs. Obviously it was pointless, Phoenix would take her sweet time just to anger me. So I dropped my bag in a chair and began peeling a banana, I was dreaming off when I looked at my bag all slouched and hopeless looking, as if it had lost hope with life. I frowned and checked my watch, 8:15a.m. yup I was already fifteen minutes late … “might as well eat some breakfast” I thought. I set to work making some cream of wheat (which I hate, by the way) when Phoenix stomped her way down the stairs. I caught a quick glance of her and thought to myself “twenty minutes and the girl looks like a super model, not fair, not fair at all. ” As I began scooping clumps of overly thick, poorly made, cream of wheat, into bowls, out of the corner on my eye I caught a glimpse of Phoenix shoving something in her bag. I grabbed the bowls and turned to Phoenix, I thrust the bowl down and in one quick motion made a grab for her bag. Phoenix, was obviously not prepared for this because her reaction was very delayed but never the less, delayed or not, it still hurt when she, to my surprise, threw herself across the table at me.
We crashed to the floor with a loud thud, she was trying to rip the bag from my hands but it was no use, with one movment of my arm I had thrown her off of me and a few feet to the right, she hit the wall with a loud thud, but I couldn't care less. I quickly the front pocket and yanked out a box, a box of diet pills! “PHOENIX! these are my diet pills! Please tell me your not back on the Anorexic lifestyle?!” I said with anger rising in my voice.
“I’ll make my own choices” she growled. Then she grabbed her bag and said “I'll walk myself to school today.” and hastened out the door without a single backwards glance.
(transition to Pheonix’s point of view“)
She’s so dumb, she doesn't even know what shes talking about ” I mumbled aloud. I drug my feet and looked at the ground for a few minutes but when I looked at my watch it was 8:30, were had the time gone? “I need to get to school, fast.” I thought. When I looked up I realized I had gone in the entirely wrong way, getting to school now would take up to thirty minutes. I looked around but only found one short cut, it was a long dark alley that I could barely see the end of. I knew I was forbidden to go through it but I needed to get to school, fast. So I turned and slowly made my way down the alley, it was dark, cold and very uninviting. Sonum had always taken care of me, we had always lived in nice neighborhoods, so I had never experienced anything like this. I inched farther down the alley, with every step, I felt more and more like I was being watched. I shook it off, “it’s just the rats watching.” I told myself. I was a little less than half way through at the darkest part of the alley when I saw a movement to my right. Fear consumed me as I turned, slowly, to meet the smiling face of a very dark looking man.
