It All Started From the Stop(Sign)

Chapter Two-A Stranger

"Darling, I hate to wake you up, but I must tell you something," my favorite voice in the whole world says. I feel Mother stroking my thin brown hair and without complaining, I open my dark blue eyes. Mother sits beside me on my bed, and she's all dressed and ready for work. Her light brown hair is in a perfect pony tail, and her makeup makes her matching brown eyes pop. Not that she really needs makeup though, Mother is gorgeous. I can still remember a time when she never wore it. Anyway, she also has on her classic red lipstick. She's dressed in a modest(and cute) black pencil skirt, with a crisp white blouse tucked under it. She's wearing her usual black high heels, and her black purse hangs over her shoulder. Mother is 45, but she looks to be in her thirties. She has flawless skin, and is still very fit. Her name is Clarabelle, and she has always reminded me of the perfect example of a lady. When I was little, my only wish was to be just like her.

When Mother sees I'm awake, she smiles showing her straight, white, teeth.

"Good morning, dear. I woke you up because I needed to inform you that I will be on a business trip until tomorrow. Alex says he'll watch after you until I return home. I'm sorry darling, for leaving. I will return home around midnight. If you need anything at all call me. I love you Saphira," she says, bending down to kiss my forehead.

"Mother I'll be fine. Even if Alex wasn't here. Don't worry about me, I'm sixteen. Now go sell some beautiful houses," I tell her. Mother chuckles at me, then stands up and smoothes her skirt.

"Sorry, I forgot I was speaking to my independent woman. Just promise you'll call if you need anything." She walks to my bedroom door, then faces me. I would roll my eyes, but I know it's one of her pet peeves.

"I promise," I respond. She gives me one last smile.

"I love you, dear," she says, then gently closes my door behind her. I wait and hear the garage door open and close.

I look at my alarm clock and it shows 9:04am. Beside it on my nightstand, I see Liz's earrings she must have left. Well this is new-she rarely ever forgets her stuff, so unlike me. Liz is a morning person, also very much unlike me, and every Sunday morning she wakes up at seven and heads to her father's bookstore to help out. As my luck would have it, the sun decides to make its new home on my face and I'm done for.

Unfortunately, I know I won't be able to go back to sleep, so I fall out of my bed and walk into my door on my way to get some breakfast. As I walk through the downstairs hallway, I miss-step and crash into the wall. Quickly recovering, I resume my journey to the kitchen. I find Alex sitting at the table in his crisp new clothes. He has a cup of steaming coffee in a hand, and he looks at me with raised eyebrows.

"Saphira, what time did you go to bed last night?" He asks me, the teensiest bit of amusement in his eyes. The most I've seen for quite a while now. He must have heard me.

I yawn, loudly, and very unlady-like. Mother would have my head if she saw that.

"Um... around 6," I reply, before I hear the rare sound of a car coming from my neighbor's house. As I turn to exit the kitchen, I see Alex shake his head disapprovingly with a very, very, small smile on his face.

I head over to the window in our living room that faces the neighbor's house, to see what the commotion was about. The house is humongous, like seven times bigger than mine. Everyone in this neighborhood has big yards, and originally, the house was only a little larger than the rest in the neighborhood. But that was before our neighbors extended it so much, it almost looked like a mansion. There's a sleek black car parked in their driveway, and I watch as a middle aged man gets out of his car. He walks over to the for-sale sign and takes it out of the ground. Then, he takes out a key, unlocks the front door, and enters my neighbor's, well I guess old neighbor's now, house.

"Hey Alex!" I call to my brother. He enters the living room, with his coffee still in hand.

"Remember Mr. and Mrs. Bluffo?" I ask him. He nods.

"Well, you probably don't know this, but about a year and a half ago, their daughter moved them into a nursing home. She kept the house, though. I know that one time she rented it out to some woman for a week, but it looks like their daughter is finally selling it," I explain. He looks at me, preoccupied.

"You should probably start getting ready for work. I'm taking you in a half hour," Alex reminds me. Damn it! I race upstairs to my room, and quickly get ready for work.

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It's about ten in the evening. I don't hate work, I really don't. It can be fun sometimes and Emmi's really nice. I get $9.50 per hour, so I really shouldn't be complaining. It's just that I'm closing tonight again, and I've been here for hours, and I have already run out of the energy that my 3 and a half hours of sleep last night has supplied my with. During my lunch break I had grabbed a chocolate bar then walked over to Liz's father's bookstore to help read stories to some kids. I'm so tired, and if another whiny customer comes through that door, I'm not sure if I will be able to stop myself from murdering them. 30 minutes left, Saphira, I got this.

As if on cue, the door dings open, and some guy walks over to the counter. Mmmmm, he's gorgeous. Suddenly, I feel a strong headache come one, but I shove it down, this is probably gonna be my last customer. And I mean, just look at him. He look a little younger than Alex. He has pitch black hair, and stunning almost golden eyes. Like a strange, wonderful, mix between a light green and brown. He's pretty tall and has a strong, but lean build. He's walking confidently over to the counter and I decide to stop being such a creeper. But, damn, I've never seen a hotter guy in my entire life!

He arrives at the counter, and I'm pretty sure he saw me checking him out. I think this mainly because he's smirking at me. He gives me a once over then leans on the counter. I know I probably look as gorgeous as a model right now, in my work uniform, and my my hair thrown into a tight pony. Let's just get this over with.

"Hello, welcome to Emmi's, what can I get...for...you?" I ask in my sweet working voice, but my sentence falters as I see thick purple dots paint over my vision. How rude. My head starts pounding, but I need to get through with this, then I'll go home. I get a grip on myself and stare at him expectantly, willing him to hurry the heck up.

"I'll just get a decaf, baby," he smirks at me. I'm just about to fire out a response , and tell him off for calling me "baby", when concern covers his face and he opens his mouth to say something, but my knees suddenly go weak and that's the last thing I remember before I'm suddenly surrounded by darkness.