Oh, now this is absolutely lovely, a large oak door, leading into what seems as if it could be a dolls house. The old fashioned patterns, carved across the walls, the tables and chairs, fitted from the fifties, the long leather lounge, and the humongous mirrors, spread across the walls. A giant, looming spiral of a stair case leading up to the second floor. I had almost forgotten the estate agent was even with me, which unfortunately came to a shock when she tapped me on the shoulder, and I wailed in fright. We laughed it off and moved on to the bedrooms, then to the bathroom. While I was busy inspecting the shower, the agent had decided to head back downstairs, I turn around, about to comment on the house when I realise she had moved on, and out of the corner of my eye I spot something in the mirror. Even though I didn't know what the something was, I was a little shaken up. I head back downstairs and the agent is waiting in the living room, leaning against a beautiful, glossy marble dining table.
"Apart from the slight scare earlier, what do you think of it?" she says in a half serious but half joking manner, which makes me wonder which "slight scare" she may be speaking of.
"Ah ha, yes. Well apart from the slight scare, I absolutely adore the place. I think I should just move in right now."
A couple weeks of sorting out the financials and I have finally moved in. It was a boring week, filled with numbers, paperwork, and people. I myself am not a people person, not that I can't handle them and or easily confabulate with them, they are just often stupid and usually along with that, irritating. Finally, now, I can just sit alone, working in my once office, now studio, with music so loud that whatever neighbours may exist, won't get much sleep. My elbows on my desk, a slight buzzing sensation, I look over at my phone. A text message from... oh, my sister...
"Maybe if you turned your music down, you may have heard the doorbell."
Grudgingly, I raise from my chair, and attempt to walk down the stairs, and in that, missing a step and falling down the last few. My face hits the carpet and I crawl away from the staircase, pull myself up off the floor and open the front door. My younger sister is standing, leaning against the wall, with a look as if she had been waiting there for a decade. However, for all I know, she could have been.
"Certainly took your time getting to the door." She belts out as she barges through the door.
"Damn it Annie, why are you here?!"
"Mum sent me. Why else? Have any dinner made?"
"Dinner?! It's only..." I pause to look at my watch "oh, okay. Never mind. Why haven't you fed yourself already?"
I step into the kitchen, following her, finding her already pouring a packet of chips into a bowl. "I wouldn't exactly call that a dinner..." However that statement doesn't seem to affect her in any way, although I'm not sure if she even heard. She spreads across the lounge, taking up the whole thing, flicking on the TV and skimming through channels.
"Alright well, why did mum send you?" I try again, at least for some form of acknowledgement.
With a mouth full of chips she attempts to answer, I manage, painfully, to make out "Because she doesn't want..." chewing noises "you spending another" more chewing noises "night alone, by yourself, doing whatever you do."
I snap at her, "Well you can tell her I'm fine, I don't need my little sister to babysit me every couple of nights. You know what? I don't even know what you're doing, you come here, eat food, watch TV, and complain about mum. So what's the point?!"
"The point. Ellie. Is that mum and I are both concerned about you just being alone all the time, seriously, you spend all your time in the spare bedroom that you turned into a studio, half of the dinners you have are takeaway, the rest of your food is either delivered, or on a rare occasion when you actually decide to go shopping for yourself. Now I don't want you to say you're completely fine, because mum and I both know that is NOT true!"
"Yeah... well, I think I might just head to bed now, are you staying here?" a muffled grunt and a nod "Okay well you can sleep on the couch, as you said, the spare bedroom is being used. Goodnight."
I turn, slowly taking one step at a time, up to my bedroom, plug my phone in, turn on the radio, get changed into my pyjamas and fall over into bed, rolling around to wrap myself in my sheets to become a cocoon of warmth. Lying there, I can hear the TV from downstairs, and then a slight thrum and a thump. I fall out of bed, trying to unravel myself, and head downstairs to see what the noise was. Half expecting to see a broken half bed half lounge with Annie standing over it, with a look as if it wasn't her fault, I walk into the room. My half expectation was found correct. Annie, standing over a broken half bed half couch, with a look on her face as if trying to blame some unknown and therefore invisible entity.
"I was..." she begins in a defensive tone "I was just trying to make the bed, and it sort of fell apart..."
"Of course it did..." I sigh, the next half an hour, although seeming like an eternity, was me trying to reassemble the lounge, and properly convert it into the bed, hopefully this time without it exploding, all the while Annie is complaining about how it is my house, and she is my guest and how I should've already had this ready, even though, I had no warning of her arrival. I head up to the laundry to get some spare sheets and blankets. As I come back into the room, Annie is sprawled across the lounge, already asleep. I throw the blankets at her, turn off the TV, and slog up the stairs back into my room, and rewrap myself in my sheets.
What must have been a couple of hours later I open my eyes. I look at the clock on the bedside table, 1:43 a.m., once again I am forced to unravel myself from the warm trap of sheets, I rise out of bed, and pause, sit back down feeling dizzy, and I attempt to rise again. I head downstairs to get a drink and on the way check on Annie. I enter the kitchen, having completely forgotten about Annie, get a glass of water and walk back into the living room. Annie is slightly curled up wrapped in the blankets. I head back up the stairs and head into my bedroom, just sitting on the bed, not thinking. A slight thump, another, slowly rising up the stairs, surprisingly loud and heavy steps to sound on a carpeted staircase. More slow and heavy footsteps, now upon the second floor. No more sound, no more thumps, no more heavy footsteps. Frozen in place sitting on my bed, terrified. As no more than five minutes ago, Annie was curled up on the couch. Barely breathing, I try to rise without a sound. I turn slowly and jump, trying not to scream at my own reflection. Dark patterns are spread across the floor, shadows casted by the moon upon the jagged branches outside my window. A dull monotonous humming begins to ring throughout the house, a low and droning tone. I run down the stairs to wake Annie, running through the living room reaching out to grab her, and instead of her, who doesn't appear to be anywhere, I end up running with an armful of blankets. I run out onto the courtyard and turn around to look at the house. Nothing. It looks as if nothing has happened or is happening. The night is silent and still. Not many stars stand above tonight, and the moon is shaded by vast grey clouds. I jump as the front door opens. Annie walks out, tired and frustrated.
"I wake up, cold and without covers..." she yawns "to find you outside with all the blankets?!"
"Um..." I pause, gathering my thoughts "Uh..."
She stomps over, rips the blankets out of my arms, turns and storms back inside. After a couple seconds I follow her back inside. Where, now, everything seems to be once again normal. Assuming I won't get any sleep tonight, and the fact that it is already close to three, I decide to head to the kitchen and make tea. At three a.m., it probably isn't the best time for caffeine, but with the night I have had, I really don't care.
I wake up the next morning, my head on the table and an empty mug next to me. I sit up, looking around, the clock says 10:37, behind me, and standing at the kitchen bench, Annie is attempting to make breakfast.
"Just out of complete curiosity... what the hell happened to you last night?" she sounds in a pompous voice. "And when did you last have a drink?" she continues in her half sarcastic voice. I sit silently, staring out the window, she shrugs my lack of a response off and continues to make a mess of my kitchen. A hot coffee is placed next to me on the table and I manage to mumble a thank you. An hour passes by, and with that breakfast, and now, Annie sitting across the table, staring at me.
"I called mum..." she looks up, expecting some sarcastic whine of a reply, I don't answer "she wants to know what you were on last night." I raise my eyes to meet hers.
"I wasn't on anything." I say in a tone which came out more aggressive then what I intended.
"Well, I'm just quoting her... anyway, what are we going to do with you?"
I shrug, and sigh. I get up from my chair, and head up to the bathroom to shower, half an hour later I come back down, now refreshed and properly dressed. Annie is sitting at the table on her laptop, with music playing out of a portable speaker. I walk over to the bench, pick up my bag and the keys, and walk out the door heading towards the car. Annie jumps up from her chair and hastily follows me out, attempting to act like she knows what is happening, but couldn't help asking where I was going.
"Out." I firmly reply as I open the car door. She opens the passenger side and hops in "You're not coming with me!" I shout as she tries to clip in the seat belt.
"Oh yes I am. I don't care where you're going, I'm staying in this seat." I grunt as she finally succeeds in clipping the belt. We drive off and Annie turns on the radio, as loud as possible, then unfortunately starts to, what I call screaming, she calls singing. We rumble over a rough part in the asphalt, slowing down into the entrance of the shopping centre.
"While we're hear can we at least get some lunch? I'm starving!" Annie proclaims in a whining voice. I slow the car turning, and coming to a halt, parking next to a large blue van. I get out of the car and head into the centre. Handing Annie something around twenty or thirty dollars, I turn and head down to the closest arts and crafts store. While going through the paint racks, attempting to collect a selection of darker, more ominous colours, I look over my shoulder and see a little girl, who must be around five or six, standing and staring, not staring, more glaring at me. She looks as if she could have come out of a children's book, her long brown hair, a light sky blue dress, and her deep blue eyes. Not sure what to make of it, I pay for my collection of blues, greys, greens and dark reds, and head out, to search for the chaos my sister would've caused by now. Unexpectedly, as I arrive at the food court, I am somewhat impressed to see Annie sitting at a table, eating her lunch, and not having made a mess... yet. I sit down opposite her and she spits out a muffled "Hey! Where did you go?" I place the bag of paints on the table, hopefully making it and obvious answer to her. She looks at the paints, looks back up at me. More muffled than last time she manages to ask "Is that all we came here for?" I shrug, she rolls her eyes then decides she is finished, we both rise from the table and head for the car park. I open the door and get in the car, I shut the door and the mirror comes into view, in the reflection is the little girl, still in the same dress, and those deep blue eyes, still glaring. I back out of the parking space, and the little girl is nowhere to be seen. Once again a groan escapes me as the radio is blasted and the "singing" begins. Although, after the, I guess encounters with the little girl, Annie's "singing" comes as a reassuring comfort, no matter how loud or horrible she is. We're about halfway home and apparently out of nowhere, and for no good reason, Annie screaming at the top of her lungs, this being a scream of terror, and not an attempt to hit the high note in one of her favourite songs.
