21 Days To Live

Day 9

Monday
6:30 am

"Dad!" Gemma shouted excitedly, running into the kitchen, only for her excitement to vanish. "Oh I thought he was the one cooking breakfast."

"He has an interview today, remember? How could he be back so fast?" I pointed out.

She nodded in agreement. "Yea right, I forgot for a moment there."

Gemma walked around the kitchen for a moment, her eyes dancing between the waffles I was placing on the plate and then me.

"What are you up to?" She questioned, a skeptical look crossing her features.

I shook my head, "Nothing. I'm just trying to make breakfast for you. You've been having take-out for two days now, I thought it would be nice to have something different."

She rolled her eyes, "Heating up pre made waffles is not called cooking. This doesn't change anything Mrs. Wisconsin. Has Dad's decision to move away flickered a damn light in your brain? Have you finally realized all the wrong you have done?"

I stared at her with a blank expression, unable to form any words.

"Well let me tell you, you caused more damage than you thought you did, and standing up for me to some rich snob or even toasting waffles for me, won't be able to change anything," she snapped, then stormed out of the kitchen and back up the stairs.

I let out a sigh, something I had been doing very often nowadays.

"But I can die trying," I whispered to myself, knowing that I had no other choice.

2:36 pm

"I wish nothing had to be the way it is right now," I told Aneway, as we sat at a nature park staring at a pond ahead.

She seemed to be the only person I could really share what I was thinking with. Years after high school I had seemed to make my first new friend. She appeared without having me to call her, as though she had some connection with me. Whenever I was distressed or in need of advice, she would be there for me.

However, maybe if I hadn't met her, then none of this would have really happened, I thought to myself.

Her emotions were masked behind an invisible veil, leaving me to wonder what she could possibly be thinking or even if she was in actual listening.

"It's what you once wanted, and on numerous occasions you had wished for it," she told me, making me realize how much of it really was my fault. "And now when you have gotten what you want, you're asking for it to not have happened. Humans can be so ungrateful and confusing, I must say."

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, then turned towards her. "Why are you referring to humans as if you are not one of them?"

She shot me a sly smile, "That's because I'm not, and I told you a few days ago what I do. Do you think that would be a normal mundane job?"

Right. She was from the world above.

I pressed my lips into a thin line when silence took over between Aneway and I once again.

I was hoping she would tell me there was a way out of this all. That I had another chance. That if I righted my wrongs then there would be a chance for me to live with my family for longer than I had right now.

But, that didn't seem to be the case, and deep down I was aware of it.

"You've been making progress with Gemma at least that's a good thing," she said.

I shook my head in disagreement, my thoughts going back to this morning.

"Actually, no," I stated. "She hates me more than I expected. She didn't want me to take her school this morning, and so this morning she ended up walking there. I feel as though I haven't got enough time to change it all. I mean I already know it isn't enough. What will I be able to change in twelve days anyways?"

She gave me a warm smile, then stood up from her spot on the bench.

"Trust me if you try hard enough, you won't only change something between you and Gemma, but also your siblings, parents and Rome. Sadly, this is where our time ends for today," she explained. "I'll see you again in a day. And until then keep trying. You think these small things won't make a difference, but you're wrong. These small things will be what really makes a difference in the long run."

And with that she literally disappeared into thin air, leaving no trace behind of her existence.

Till today I hadn't been able to understand how she did it, yet all I could understand about it all was that no one ever noticed her.

5:30 pm

I waited outside of Gemma's school for more than thirty minutes after school. Kids ran out, laughing and chatting amongst themselves, however none of those faces belonged to Gemma.

It wasn't hard to understand why.

She was already home by the time I got back to the house. Apparently she had gotten a ride from her friend, and she would do so until Rome returned. She didn't try sugar coating the fact that she did not want me giving her a ride to or back from school.

However, Aneway's words had given me courage. They made me keep going with the hope that the small things I tried doing would make a difference soon enough.

And that was why I suddenly had an idea of how to possibly get to Gemma. It was when I was passing by her room, about to tell her to come have dinner when I heard her conversation with her friend on Skype.

"I don't have a dress though," Gemma said to her friend, letting out a sigh at the end. She laid down on the bed on her stomach, her chin placed on top of her crossed hands. "He wouldn't want to go with me, if he finds out that's the case."

"I would go shopping with you but I'm all the way in California," her friend responded, sounding sincerely sad.

"And there's no one else who I could take," Gemma mumbled. "Whatever, I'm just going to tell him to get lost and find another girl to take to the dance."

I was beginning to think Gemma seriously needed to learn what kind of comments were appropriate and when.

That was when it had hit me. Maybe Gemma and I could connect over this topic.

Maybe I really did have a chance to change it all.