red velvet room (m.j.)

Chapter XIII

A/N: HELLO MY LOVELIES. Welcome back to a new chapter. It's been a while, I know, so we'll just get right into the chapter. Enjoy. - Alex xoxo

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"There are some things that you simply don't understand, my dear."

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Michael and his siblings, Marlon and La Toya, stepped off from the yellow school bus and turned around and waved their fellow classmates goodbye, whose faces were pressed against the glass of the hand printed window as the bus whisked away from 2300 Jackson Street, already on its way to the next afternoon stop.

Marlon and La Toya were already on their way to the front porch of their small house, but Michael kept waving until the bus disappeared in the distance before he followed his older siblings ahead. He pulled down on the brown leather straps of his bag full of homework as he skipped past the healthy green grass that his mother had carefully watered this morning.

Stepping up on the white porch before their front door Marlon tested the lock. Hmph, Michael pondered mysteriously to himself. The three Jacksons looked at each other in question.

"Did Mother say that she was gone to get groceries today?" asked La Toya.

"I don't think so. Did Mother say anything to you Mike?" Marlon passed the question on to his younger brother.

"It ain't Thursday today," Michael replied whilst chewing on his gum and shrugged his shoulders, "she must be running errands."

"Maybe she's taking a nap," La Toya assumed. Both brothers shrugged their shoulders at the same time and Michael walked up to the doorbell and rang the house. He added, "This should wake her up."

After ringing the bell, the three waited for a minute in silence. All ears were opened to listen closely for any tiny sound that could mean someone was home, but after a minute, there was still nothing. Michael rang the doorbell again and waited for a short time before he could suggest alternatives to try.

"The back door!" La Toya exclaimed and Marlon and Michael agreed, nodding their heads before they ran for the wooden back gate at the side, right next to the garage. Michael yanked on the door, inconvenient that it was also locked.

"Damn!"

"Marlon! Language!"

"What? Jerms says it too!"

"Because he's older than us."

Marlon scoffed, "By a year!"

"Hey!" Michael called from the porch again. The bickering siblings turned their heads at their brother, who was knelt down before the brown door mat that had the word 'WELCOME' in black bold text writing. "Mother told us about a spare key under here, remember?"

La Toya and Marlon went back over to the porch where Michael was and lifted the door mat. Underneath the door mat was indeed the spare key that was only used in case none of the Jackson siblings remembered to bring their own.

Michael picked up the key with a relieved sigh and stood back up only to insert it in the keyhole, twisting it to the right until he heard a click, and the door swung open willingly. His brother and sister praised him with his quick thinking.

"Wow, good going Mike!" Marlon shook his shoulders. "Thank you Michael," La Toya patted his head as she entered the house ready to pamper herself. Obviously, she would be that student who would be the least expected to do her homework. She said that homework wasn't fun. Michael didn't think so otherwise. He loved to attend lessons to learn something new everyday, get his homework done, and study extra hard for that straight A report card. At times when Michael liked to outsmart his older siblings, he would tease about getting himself into college before the both of them could even start high school.