Colours Of The Dark (Completed)

39

Birthdays come and go. Mine wasn't any different.  I could have sworn it went from 10pm to 6am the next day in just 30 minutes. I opened my eyes and rubbed them hard, yawning as I did so. I was still extremely tired and would have gladly gone back to sleep if I didn't have a test today. We were starting our final exams in two weeks so classes had to be rushed. I yawned again and then tossed my comforter away. A loud crashing sound caused my eyes to widen. My phone!!!

Saying a silent prayer, I got off the bed and crouched down to pick it up. It had a long crack diagonally from top to bottom. It could have been worse so I heaved a sigh of relieve and clutched  the phone to my chest. It vibrated immediately. I pulled it away from my chest and stared at the notification icon. It was a message from aunt Marie. Why will she send me a message when she could have just shouted? Or was she sick? I pushed aside negative thoughts and read the message.

Aunt Marie: first of all, I haven't been kidnapped. I had an urgent meeting so I had to rush to the office. Someone's stealing my designs. Well, I left you breakfast on the kitchen counter. If you don't like it, you have hands. Prepare your own food and leave my pancakes alone. I don't know when I'll be coming back so make sure you lock all doors and windows when leaving the house. Say hi to your new friend for me.

So she wasn't sick and she wasn't kidnapped either. Good relief. I rushed to the bathroom to brush my teeth and as quickly as possible, have my bath. After that, I went to see what she'd prepared as breakfast. She'd left a box of fruit loops and a jar of milk, next to a covered plate with a sticky note on it that read 'do not touch'. I don't know what's with her new obsession with pancakes. Anyways, I still tried my best not to touch them.

____________™__________

"Hey! Barbara! Hey!" I turned my head to the direction of the voice. Hailey. For a second, I felt genuinely happy to see her walking up to me, smiling. Only for a second, for in the next second, I remembered their conversation in the guest room. That smile was fake, along with everything she was going to tell me.

"How are you." She finally reached where I was standing and threw an arm over my shoulders. I tried my best not to push it away.

"Fine. How about you?" I decided to play their game. If they wanted to pretend, then I will too. Tricking the tricksters.

"Oh. I'm alright. Sorry for walking  mid dinner. You know how mum is."

"Yeah." Thank God our thoughts don't show on our faces. She could have seen me laughing inwardly.

"Forget that. There's this party coming up this evening. We'll be glad if you join us."

"Us?"

"Yeah. Laney and I. Plus some of our friends. You'll meet more people. And trust me, only the coolest and hottest people are going to be there" she uses her hand to illustrate what I'll like to call their temperatures.

"Sounds fun. So remind me again, why am I being invited when I clearly don't meet both requirements?"

She took her hand off across my shoulders only to replace them on my arms, shaking me violently. "What are you saying? You're hot okay. And no one's going to say shit about you. Not while I'm there."

If I hadn't overhead them yesterday, I would have said I'd gotten my big sister back but I knew this was all a charade.

"I'm sorry. I have plans for the night already. Some other time?"

"Yeah. Some other time." She tried to smile but I could see disappointment in her eyes. It made me wonder what they'd planned for me tonight. "So, I'll uh, I'll see you later." She turned and walked away. Phew! I don't know how long I could have kept my fake face on.