A Girl has her Secrets

Vipers v.s. the Blood Crucifixes

I woke up the next morning lying next to my still sleeping brother. Last night he had suggested a sleep over like we had done when we were younger and I had been only too happy to comply, still unwilling to be away from him unless this all turned out to be a dream. I smirked at his sleeping form and then gave him a wet willy. Hunter immediately let out a girlish squeal and jerked upright.

"That was sick, Tessie! You are a disturbed person!" he complained, wiping his ear out furiously with a disgusted look on his face.

"If I have to be up this early then so do you!"

"Hey, I served my time in that prison. Now itâs your turn." he said, trying to pull the covers over his head. I just grabbed them and yanked them off of him.

"I'll make you pancakes!" I tried to persuade him.

"No you won't." Hunter said immediately, still with his eyes closed.

I scowled at him. "Fine I won't, but Ms. Erickson will."

He popped his head up and turned to look at me. "Ms. Erickson?"

"She also really missed you." I pouted at him.

He groaned and got out of the bed. "Stupid guilt trips. Stupid little sister."

"Oh stop bitching like the drama queen you are and come downstairs."

"And sailor mouthed Tessie makes a return!"

I rolled my eyes at him and turned to leave, but I heard him following after me. When we headed downstairs, sure enough Ms. Erickson was just putting two plates of pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon on the table. When she heard us she stopped what she was doing and looked over. Her lip trembled slightly and she ran over to Hunter and threw her arms around him, pulling him down to her level so she could repeatedly kiss him on the cheek.

"Oh my dear boy, I'm so glad you're safe and finally awake." she cried. "When your mother told me this morning that you had woken up..." she trailed off and squeezed him again.

"I'm glad someone besides Tessie's happy I made it." Hunter grinned at her.

Ms. Erickson frowned slightly. "You're parents mean well." she said, but even she sounded unconvinced.

She knew as well as we did that they didn't give a damn about us. If anyone was a true parent to us in this house it was Ms. Erickson, she practically raised us herself and if it wasn't for the fact that our mother had forced us to call her by "Ms. Erickson" as it was "inappropriate" to call a cook by any other name, I probably would have started calling her mom. She had gone and visited Hunter in the hospital more then both my parents combined, not that this was a particularly difficult feat.

"No they don't." I snorted as I went to sit down and began to eat.

"Do you need anything, is your side okay?" she demanded, indicating Hunter's gun shot wound as she ignored my words.

"Nothing a few of your amazing pancakes won't fix." he grinned at her in his charismatic way.

"You're so sweet." she beamed and patted his cheek. "Go eat, then."

She placed a few pain medicines for Hunter on the table and he looked relieved at that.

"Is it still bothering you?" I asked him warily.

"Don't worry about it, it'll go away soon." he said soothingly before he gulped down the pills.

I bit my lip worriedly but didn't say anything and he changed the subject to our new apartment, effectively distracting me for the rest of breakfast. Ms. Erickson was worried about us moving out, but my birthday was in a week and she understood that we didn't want to live in this oppressive house any longer.