End of All Things

Chapter 2

Nate was a fucking liar.

Or maybe not. Neither I nor anyone else in this school has even seen these supposed "new kids," but everyone has heard about them. Everywhere I go it's "have you heard?" and "you'll never guess what..."

Honestly I was just excited to be home.

"Ma, I'm home!" I shouted through the house.

"Yeah. Me too, if anyone cares," Morgan said and looked around. Morgan was my older sister- me being a junior and her being a senior. We didn't hang out a lot at school seeing as she is actually really popular and nice and I was what her friends liked to call "rude" and "boring" and "the cause of tears to everyone." That last one is totally untrue. Miriam has never cried because of me, but I can't say the same for Nate.

My mom walked down the stairs a few minutes later. "Was it a good day?" she asked while she ran around the kitchen, prepping food for dinner.

"Yeah, I guess," Morgan said and I gave a noncommittal shrug. We both sat down at the dining room table to do our homework, and it may seem weird that we both started our homework so soon, but Mom was always adamant that we did our homework- and no one argues with her.

"Wait, where's Belle?" I finished scrawling down a sentence on my English homework and looked towards my mom.

"Oh, you know her. She's probably outside eating bugs or something," she said this offhandedly.

"Huh," Morgan said. Belle was my 8 year old sister, and honestly, she was the weirdest of all of us. That's why when my suggested that she was eating bugs, no one really thought it was all that strange.

"Guys, guys, guys, guys! Guess what?" Belle came running into the house, her pixie cut blonde hair falling in her eyes, which she wiped back with muddy hands. In fact, all of her was muddy.

"The bugs finally bit back?" Morgan mumbled and I snorted.

"No," Belle scowled, "you know that old house across the street?" she was jumping in anticipation.

"Isabelle Cameron Collins!" Mom yelled. She threw her dishtowel on the counter and ran over to Belle. "How many times have I told you? It's still breaking and entering if nobody lives there!"

"No, Mom-" she protested.

"I can't believe you! Wait until your father-"

"Mom, just lis-"

"Straight to your room. Right now!"

"Mom!"

"No arguments, missy. You just wait-"

"Hey Mom, why are there moving trucks at that house across the street?" I interject, just noticing what Belle was trying to say. Morgan looked and Mom slowly turned around, releasing Belle's arm.

"See, Mom! That's what I was trying to tell you!" Belle whined and Mom shot her a look. You know, one of those Mom looks.

"Morgan, Em- when you're done with your homework please go welcome them and see if you can help. Belle, for God's sake please go take a shower." Mom sighed and walked away. Belle made a face and exited the room with a sullen look.

"I don't know about you," Morgan smiled.

"But I'm feeling 22?" I answer automatically.

Morgan frowned. "First of all, you're 16. Second of all, don't quote Taylor Swift around me ever again. Third of all, I was going to say that I suddenly miraculously finished my homework. What about you, dear sister?" she had a dangerous look in her eyes and I knew I was going to regret this. I closed my books shut.

"When are we going?" I groaned

"I'm glad you asked. Now!" she stood up and was to the door before I could even move to stand up.

"Mom! We're going!" Morgan yelled when I got to the door.

"Have fun! Be nice!" she shouted through the house, but I barely heard her because Morgan was already pulling my arm and running across the street. We arrived to the front door, Morgan smiling brightly while I was very out of breath and disheveled.

"Hi! I'm Morgan and this is my sister Emmeline (you can just call her Em) and we're your across the street neighbors." Morgan announced as soon as the lady opened the door. She looked to be in her later thirties to early forties and had long light brown hair and a kind smile. "We just wanted to introduce ourselves and see if you need any help."

"That's so nice of you! I'm Eve Brooks, but just call me Eve." the woman answered, smiling up at Morgan and down at me. Now would probably be a great time to mention that while my mom and Morgan were 5'9", I sat at a lowly 5'3"- about the same height as Belle, who seemed to be following after Mom and Morgan. Eve was about average height- 5'6"- and it kind of made me feel a little bit better to not be getting a neck injury looking at her.

"Do you need any help with anything?" Morgan asked.

"No, I think I'm good for now." she said and I was ready to get out of here, when she gasped. "Actually, I forgot my sons were busy this evening. Do you mind helping me move some stuff?"

"Of course!" Morgan said and made her way into the house following Eve. "Now tell me about these sons of yours." I didn't hear Eve's response as I started to wander around the house. I know wandering around people's houses was rude and weird, but hey. I didn't want to be here anyways.

"Hey, Em?" Morgan called out so I walked over to her. She shoved a box in my hands. "Second door on the left, top floor."

"Jesus, what's in this box? Rocks?" I ask, weighed down by the box. Morgan just shrugged and I only cussed a little bit while carrying it up the stairs,

"One, two..." I walked into the correct room and found it to be a bathroom. "This doesn't seem right." I backtracked into the hallway. Classic Em mistake, forgetting right from left. I counted the doors again and walked into the correct room. I set the box on the floor next to the others and look around.

The walls were a navy blue, and two wide windows shed light into the room, highlighting all the dust floating around. A bed frame was already in the room along with a simple desk, dresser and nightstand. The true beauty in this room was the wall of floor to ceiling bookshelves. "Holy shit." I muttered before getting an idea. I sat on the desk chair and pulled the box I carried up the stairs towards me.

I slowly tore the box open, and I swear I almost died at the sight before me. The names Tolkein, Rowling, King, Nix, Shakespeare, Conan Doyle and many more stared back at me. I sifted through the books in excitement, thinking that I'll have to compliment Eve's book collection later. I don't know how long I sat there, just looking and admiring every book, anthology, and play that she had.

"Who are you?"

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Kind of leaving a cliffhanger here because I wrote a lot more then I expected. See, when I planned this book out, all of this happened in Chapter 1. Obviously I underestimated my own writing capacity.

I hope you like it, if not that's cool too I guess.

Sorry I use terrible grammar in these notes i just get tired and i end up with run-on sentences and lack of puncuation and misspealled words.

Ha

I'm funny.

-Jac