Teaching Manipulation

Part 1

      It was a normal day filled with the occasional yells and fights among siblings Elizabeth and Fabian with their older sister Alicia acting as the mediator.

     "It's no Fair! You Tricked me!" yelled Elizabeth. The young girl of ten years with expressive dark eyes and skin tone of melted brown sugar was upset. Her brother had managed to trick her into claiming that she was stupid.

     "Yeah, it is! You said so," claimed Fabian of fourteen with an arrogant smirk that proclaimed him as the winner. His eyes gleamed with satisfaction at what he considered a success at engaging his sister. He was an expert at manipulating others, except his older sister, and enjoyed it at its full potential to achieve his means.

     Alicia observed silently from her comfortable position on the couch having been previously concentrated on her latest crime novel and watched her siblings bickering in the only way they managed with yells and whines from her sister and silence from her brother. Otra vez. This wasn't anything new. Her brother, Fabian, entertained himself with his youngest sister's reactions of what he knew to be due to his manipulation of words.

     "Elizabeth", said Alicia with a steady stare towards her sister "can't you see that he has manipulated you? He has made you agree to something that you never have and is amused by your reaction. Fabian, stop provoking her"

    Fabian knew what this meant. Fun was over. The only person in the family who the teenage boy actually listened to was his older sister.

    There would be no more pointless arguments if it weren't for Liz's incapability of controlling her exterior reactions. Of course this was the solution that her oldest sister sought. Alicia was considered the perfect daughter with a frightening intuitive mind and a calm demeanor. She understood that this was seemingly impossible to achieve considering her younger sister's personality.

    The extroverted feeler is known to be an individual that shares her thoughts and emotions at a speed of light or at the presence of another being, whether it be their cat Gash or her sister. This was what made Liz such an easy target for her brother.

    "What does manipulated mean?" asked Liz with a puzzled glance towards Alicia with what was well known as her trait of needing to understand the unknown.

    Alicia looked towards her younger sister and in silence tried to come up with a simple yet concise way to explain the concept of manipulation to a young mind. The expression on Liz's face wasn't anything new to her. In most cases, when Alicia talked with Liz, Liz was always confused when hearing vocabulary words she had yet to learn.

    "He made you agree on your own terms about something while hiding what he really wanted" explained Alicia. That sounded simple enough. However she could tell from her expression that this explanation was of no help. Elizabeth required actual examples to fully understand this new word.

    "That doesn't make any sense!" whined Elizabeth. Her eyes tearing up as she tried controlling a need to sob. She knew however that her siblings wouldn't seek her approval. They weren't her papi or mami ready to appease the youngest wishes if only not to be bothered. Her siblings were entirely used to this, both detached feelers that could easily ignore their sister's cries. Her brother rolled his eyes and her sister just observed her. This made her feel worse and vulnerable and she reacted the only way she knew how.

    "You both think I'm stupid!"

   Fabian snorted and agreed with her," Yeah."

    "Liz, go to your room and try to calm down a bit. Drawing always makes you feel better. Don't listen to Fabian, we all have our own talents and intelligence only appropriate for what is meant for us and you are in no way stupid." Alicia then directed her eyes towards her brother and managed in the only way that she could to shush him up with a steady glance and a soft murmur of just his name. "Fabian." This meant that he had better stop.

Elizabeth saw a glance of promise and excitement the only display of emotions shown when Alicia had a new idea or plan.

    "Elizabeth, by the end of today you will understand what manipulation is," promised her sister.  With a wary glance towards Alicia, she left towards her room with the intention of pacifying her anger.