The Secret Diary of Emily Carlton

Chapter Three

“Mom!” I yell, hopefully she can hear me above the chaos in this house.

“What Pipe?” She asks me.

“Is it okay if Lisa comes over?” I yell pushing my little sister out of my way to find my mom. “Move Gwen.”

“Be nice to me!” Gwen squeaks in her little three-year-old voice. I can’t help but laugh.

I find my mom in the kitchen trying to feed Fiona, who’s a one-year-old and helping my older brother, Dylan with math homework.

“What Piper? I’m sorry I can’t hear you,” Mom says as Gwen runs through the kitchen with just her underwear on, yelling ‘I’m Captain America’. “Gwen! Get dressed it’s almost time for ballet!”

“Can Lisa come over?” I ask. 

“Yes. Gwen has ballet in fifteen minutes and I’m taking Fiona with me, so Dylan will watch you guys,” she says and Dylan throws down his pencil.

“I’m 16! He’s 18! We don’t need a babysitter mom!” I yell. When will she learn?

“How come it’s always me who watches her?” He says pointing to me.

“Because you’re the oldest, and that’s final mister,” Gwen says running into the kitchen.

“Gwen!” My mom yells chasing after Gwen.

“This family is crazy,” I say and start walking to my room.

<|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|>

“Pipe! Where are you?” I hear from out in the hall.

“In here Li!” I shout. A few seconds later Lisa walks in.

“Hey.”

“Hey. What’s up?” I ask closing my laptop that I have in front of me on my bed.

“Nothing I wanted to talk to you. But I see Dylan’s here,” Lisa says.

“We can go outside. He’s still allergic to the outside world,” I say making air quotes around ‘allergic’. Dylan never goes outside so he claims he has ‘allergies’.

She laughs and says, “Yea.”

<|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|><|>

“It’s so pretty out here,” Lisa says. 

“Yea. Mom worked extra hard on the yard this year.”

“Is that our old tree house?” Lisa asks me. 

“Uhhh yea, I didn’t want to take it down. You know Emily and all.”

“Do you want to go inside and talk there?” 

“Yea.”

As we walk up the ladder into the tree house, memories flood my mind. Our first sleepover and my 8th birthday, stowing Emily and Lisa in here when I didn’t want them to leave, pictures of all three of us are scattered around the house and I can feel tears swell up in my eyes. I notice that Lisa is also starting to cry also. I touch her shoulder and we hug each other. Harder and longer than the day we found out that Emily was dead.

“Wow. It’s so small in here,” I say trying to lighten the mood.

“Well, it seemed big because we were small,” Lisa explains.

“True.” 

“Remember that day in the bathroom when Emily was going to tell us something but didn’t?” Lisa asks me. 

After a few thinking moments I respond, “Yea. What about it?”

“I found a diary entry about us, about the day that that happened.”

“What did it say?” 

“It said that she almost told us.”

“Uh-uh. She was probably making all that stuff in the diary up. There’s no way that all ofthat can be real,” I say pointing to the diary in Lisa’s hand. 

“I know right? Like no one can have powers, it’s idiotic.”

“Exactly,” I say smiling. Lisa smiles back. 

Tap. Tap.

“What was that?” Lisa asks me.

“I have no idea,” I say and go over to the window. Outside the man is standing in my yard, throwing rocks at the window.

“Beware,” he says and walks away.

“Oh my God. Maybe this is real,” I say aloud and Lisa looks at me.

“What if it is?”