It's a Service, Really (On Hold)

2. Homebody

Chapter 2

Homebody

***

Being twenty-two was nice. I enjoyed it. It was good to be able to go out of course, but the main reason was being allowed to have primary custody of my younger sister.

"Danielle, I'm home," I called out, opening the small door to our apartment. This was habitual; it was the same phrase that I called out every night when I returned home.

Nothing.

She was asleep early... again.

I sighed as I shut the door, standing there for a moment to mull this over. It was getting worse. It was only seven O'clock. The girl was thirteen and should be up - texting her friends, reading books or magazines... even watching television would please me. But as per usual, she was knocked out.

Before retiring in the living room, I walked by her open bedroom. She was sound asleep as expected. I went to continue on moving, but something held me there.

I pushed my lips into a deep, unsatisfied frown and entered silently, being careful so that my footfalls wouldn't make a sound on the pink carpet. I stood in the middle of her room, avoiding looking at her.

The room had all the makings of a teenager. Photo frames of friends and family. Music and movie posters. Tiny trinkets and decorations. Piles of schoolwork and clothing-

I doubled my eyes back... to the picture frames. She still had the one of our parents displayed proudly in the front. God bless that child.

I tried not to think too much about the photo and tore my eyes away. Not tonight. I had work to do, still. There was no time for thinking when there was business to be conducted.

Finally, my eyes settled on the girl that meant so much to me. She was getting skinnier I noticed, looking at her hollowed face. Her long lashes fell just right onto her freckled cheeks and I smiled to myself. As she grew, she was going to become such a pretty young woman, just like her mother I hoped.

I pushed a tassel of her brown, waved her out from in front of her eyes. Although I was being so quiet, I knew she would not wake, regardless of what I did to her. She'd been such a heavy sleeper of late.

Again, don't think about it.

I turned around and exited the room, not letting any emotion spill out. I always kept my mask on, even when there was nobody to see it.

I sat down, exhausted, on the couch in our modest apartment, in front of our only television set, but I didn't turn it on. There was business, tonight. I slipped my sleek laptop out from under the cushion, where I kept it in secret in case we were to ever be robbed (it was cheesy, but a necessary security for me).

It was nice. I remembered back to the day that I bought it, a few years ago. My service had started six months prior and I'd made so much money in the month before that I felt a good business investment would be a real laptop. I'd had a dopey, old one before, which is what I'd used to start myself up, but it was getting too slow to handle my website traffic.

This new laptop was the first really "nice" thing I'd bought for myself in a while. It was symbolic for me. That's why I made sure to hide it. The rest of the home did not resemble the money it took to buy this laptop.