THE GAMBLER'S PRICE.

CHAPTER 3.

    "A sacrifice done without questions is a sacrifice worth doing."
                                 - Anonymous.

     Mabel woke up earlier the next day which was on a Saturday. She didn't bother going to work. She knew there was no point holding on to her job.  Today was probably the only day she would see her family. She had to call jim and tell him she's quitting.
    The phone rang twice and at the third ring he picked up. "Hello?" "Hey Jim. Good morning." "Good Morning to you too but isn't that something you should be telling me at work?" "Um, I was going to talk to you about that." "What? What's wrong?" "I quit" "why? What happened. Is anything wrong?" "No jim. Something came up and I don't think I will be coming back for a long time. So, um I think you should get a replacement for me." "You know that you are one of my favourite employees right?. I will get a replacement for you but I want you to know that whenever you decide to come back there is always a place for you. And I don't know what's wrong but it's going to be alright."  "Yeah, sure. Thanks Jim for everything."
     She hanged up then turned to her sister who was currently asleep with one leg out the bed. She had already planned the day on what they would do. She turned to the alarm and checked the time. It was 7:05. She was going to taste a little bit of Claudia's anger. She hated when people interrupted her sleep and tended to be grumpy most of the time. "Claudia, Claudia, come on, wake up." Claudia put the pillow across her face and turned to the other side of the bed. Mabel knew Claudia valued her sleep and because of that reason she was not willing to get up from the bed "Claudia,come on. Claudia!" At Mabel's shout Claudia rolled over the bed to the floor. "Argh, what?what happened?" Mabel smiled and shook her head sideways as she stood up from the bed. "Claudia,I was thinking-" Claudia cut her off immediately."Oh my God, Mabel?why do you hate me so much?  
   "Oh,come on. This is the first time am waking you up this early." "No, Mabel it is not the first time and what is so important that you had to wake me up from sleep."  Mabel smiled,"so you know that we haven't had much time together because am always working and your always at your waitressing job or at your pottery lessons. So I decided  today I am going to leave work for you so we can spend time together.how is that?" Claudia stared at her sister with an awestruck expression on her face. "How... how?" Claudia swallowed "sorry,let me try that again.what do you mean you are leaving work for me. You can't. I mean you-you have to work." Mabel smiled at her sister. "I know but I already gave them an excuse for not coming to work today so I don't think they are  expecting me.so,what do you say?" "Yesssss,I mean am not going to work today and am not having pottery lessons today. So yes." Mabel tried smiling but ended up with a grimace. A fact that Claudia also noticed. "Wait, what's going on?" "Um, nothing. I mean I was just thinking about you know what I went through before I could my boss could agree to allow me a free day but it was all worth it." The rate at which she was lying to her sister she was afraid what will happen to her if her sister ever finds out. "Oh,ok. Um, let me have my bath."Claudia turned to give her sister a hug. "Thank you so much for everything." "Your welcome,now go and have your bath before I change my mind." "You won't. Cause I will be back before you know it."

     They went to the park,then went to the tourist centres and museums. By the time they were exhausted it was already late. Mabel bought some snacks and they sat down on the bench to eat. "The view of the sky from here is amazing isn't it?" Mabel asked her sister. "Yeah,it is. Um, Mabel can I ask you a question?" Still staring at the sky and munching on her snack she nodded. "Why today, I mean you could have done it any other day." Mabel turned to her sister and smiled "I have been planning it for a long time now." Claudia smiled and mumbled a thank you. "What's that?" Mabel asked dropping her snack aside and reached for Claudia. She started tickling her and kept repeating the question. "Stopppp,I said hahahaha I said th-th-thank you. I surrender pls I will do any-anything you want." Mabel smiled and decided to prolong the tickling torture. "Really, do you promise?" Still laughing Claudia tried shouting out a yes. Mabel knew that she was getting the attention of the passers-by but she didn't care. She probably wouldn't see her sister again so she would use this opportunity. Mabel released her sister from the torture and sat back. Claudia sat up and looked at her sister. "You are a crazy girl.you know that right?" "Yeah,I know." Claudia looked at her sister and said "but,the funniest part is I love you just like that." They both kept quiet till Mabel spoke up. "I have been given a job offer. But it isn't here. I will have to move and I will rarely see you guys but I will try calling. It brings more money though." What do you mean that you have been given a new job offer?" Mabel looked at her sister in confusion. "I thought you'd be happy. I mean finally more money is going to come in and you guys will take care of yourselves better." Claudia looked at her sister as if she just realized something. "Is that the reason?" "Is that what reason? what are you talking about Claudia." "That's why you brought me to all these places so that you could tell me this at the end?" "No Claudia. I brought you to all these places because I sincerely wanted to spend some sister time with you and the news is something I Know that you needed to know." Claudia still facing her sister had tears pulling up in her eyes. "You will refuse that job Mabel because we need you. I need you and you cannot leave mum especially with the things she is going through right now." "I have already accepted it Claudia." "So why did you tell me at all." "I told you because you are family and you need to know." "Mabel, this is bullshit.there are a thousand jobs that you can find here and am sure that you don't fucking need that job. Just leave the job. I...I can help you look for another. Just leave the job offer." At that moment,tears were already pulling up in Mabel's eyes but she blinked them away. "I told you I can't. I have already accepted it for you and Mom." Claudia exhaled a breath. "Did mom ever tell you that we needed more or did I ever tell you that." "No you didn't but I am willing to sacrifice that and more and I don't even care if I sacrifice my life for you guys. So you can't change my mind. no one can." Claudia cleaned up her tears with her two hands. "Wow, does mum know about this?" "No, but I plan on telling her soon." "When are you going Mabel?and where is the place." "I don't know. I mean am yet to find out and am going tomorrow." "Wow,and you chose to tell me a day before you travel. you didn't think to tell me when you were given the job offer and chose to tell me now."  "I had to give an answer there  and then.what would you have had me do." Mabel looked at the sky and saw it was already getting dark. "Come on, let's go home."

     Emilia greeted her children with a smile. "So how was your day out?" She noticed that there was a huge tension between the two of them but didn't say anything about it. Claudia mumbled something that sounded like a fine thank you before running to the room she shared with her sister. While Mabel left to go outside. Emilia approached her daughter although deep down she knew that Mabel thought this was something she caused by not telling them about their father. Her family seemed like it was falling apart and she had no idea what to do. "What is going on Mabel?" "I told her that I would be leaving tomorrow because of the new job offer. She doesn't know where  and I don't know either but I will try to call and send some money." "Honey,I don't under-understand." "I gave my self up so that you and Claudia can have normal lives and don't even try to persuade me to not go cause I have made up my mind."  "Honey,is there anything that I can do to help please." "No mum. Good night and thank you for everything." Mabel held her tears back and went to her room.

     As she lay down on her bed, Claudia spoke up and Mabel gave a surprise gasp. She didn't think that Claudia would be awake. "Mabel as much as I don't like and I wish you didn't do it. You've done it and what's done is done. So I have accepted it and I want to thank you for willing to sacrifice for me and mum. We are really grateful." After that there was a long silence. "And I am grateful to have you all. Really grateful." And then she fell into the comfortable arms of sleep.