Bright Side

Chapter 4

I fell asleep around 5 am this morning and am woken up at 6:30ish by a very awake and energetic Catnia.

"Stella! Stella! Stella! Wake up! Wake up!" She says while jumping on my bed.
I bolt upright in bed remembering The Culling today. In a few hours, I'll probably be on my way to Dependency 1 to prepare for the Clash. Shoot! I'll need to talk to Zath before I leave in 25 minutes to meet my friends.

"Hey, Catnia," I say. "Is Zathie up yet?" She giggles at our brother's nickname and nods her head. He only lets us call him that when we are at home and no one's around. I don't usually follow that rule though.

"He's getting ready and seems pretty mad at you." I raise my eyebrows at her, but I have a pretty good idea as to why he's mad at me.

"Ok. You run along and get ready while I talk some sense into our little Zathie," I say exaggerating our little Zathie extra loud so he can hear from wherever he is, which will probably only make him angrier-not a good move on my part.

Catnia giggles and runs off to get ready for school. She is in year one. We have eleven years of school. You start at six and finish at 16. I'm in year 9 and Zath is in 6. Catnia is in year 1 and always ecstatic about school, hence the wake-up.

I roll out of bed and change into some clothes before brushing my hair and leaving it down like always. I brush and braid Catnia's hair and check the sun seeing that I have about ten minutes before I have to leave.

Having no more excuses, I hesitantly make my way out back where Zath is fiddling with some sticks. At the sound of the door opening, he whips his head around, and at the sight of me stands up.

"Well look who finally decided she needed to tell her brother the importance of today." Zath angrily says to me.

"Look-," I begin, but am rudely and justly cut off.

"No! You look, Stella," he lashes out at me. He also only uses my real name when he is really serious. "I don't know what went through your head to not tell me about the stupid Culling today, but we both know I deserve to know." The date of the Culling changes each year, so unless he heard it from someone else then he wouldn't even know it was this month. Most likely he heard it from a neighbor while doing his 'rounds' as he likes to call them. Its really just bringing leftover meat to other families.

"Ok," I say, starting to get angry because this is a really sore subject for me. "You listen here, Zath. I was trying to protect you and Catnia from getting hurt because we both know if you had known then you would have definitely done something stupid to protect me from the inevitable!"

"Oh Yeah!" He retorts back. "And what makes that inevitable? The fact that we are literally the poorest in 15. The fact that our family is so different because we don't have a mother? The fact that you and I break the law every stupid day to feed ourselves? The fact that Dependency 1 could-and probably does-have your death warrant written off. I could have done something to help us!" he is really angry now and I raise my eyebrows at him.

"Look," he says in a quieter, but still angry voice, we don't want neighbors to know too much about us beaking the law. "I don't know what I could have done, but if you had told me last night then I could have helped you in some way. I could have helped Catnia. How do I explain tonight when we have to walk home from school alone that her sister won't be coming back? Huh, how do I do that Stella?"
I'm getting mad now. "Oh yeah? And who's fault is it that you didn't know. It's been the buzz around town for the past day and a half I've heard. As far as I was concerned, you knew but decided not to mention it! I wanted to protect you and Catnia as I said. I have a plan I was gonna talk though with the girls this morning." I retort.

"Oh ok, Miss. I have a plan. When were you gonna tell the people the plan effects about the plan?" He is yelling now.

"Well I was going to this morning before I left, but it doesn't seem like that will be happening!" I'm yelling now.

"And why is that?" Zath questions his voice rising again.

"Uh, because I have to leave in like one minute, and you decided to have a fight on my last day with you!" This shuts him up and he looks almost sorry.

"Well then," He says in a sad tone, but picks up the next part like we were having a normal conversation. "How are we gonna discuss this in our very thin-walled house with neighbors watching and listening to us now." He's obviously sorry but hasn't said so yet so I'm gonna keep being mad.

"Looks as if you are going to pay a visit to the girls this morning." Normally Catnia comes with me anyways and Zath meets us in time to walk to the train station and ride to school. The train ride is mandatory and free so we can afford it.

Zath moans, he hates hanging out with the girls. Apparently, we are too girly. He really can't stand my friend, Aya. Her real name is Vanya, but everyone calls her Aya.

"Please anything but that." He groans. I raise my eyebrows at him and he seems to deflate.

"Ugggg, fine! I'm sorry! Happy now? Can I just go back inside and we can talk on our way to the station?" He actually seems scared. Aww, so cute! I'm so telling the girls!

"Very," I say, but continue on with, "And no, you cannot just meet me at the station. You are coming to see the girls no matter what."

He groans in defeat and I laugh and stick out my tongue at him while he walks inside to the kitchen.

"Hey Catnia," I call. "We're going to see the girls."

"I know!" She calls back excitedly. She must have heard Zath and my little argument.

"Oh and guess what," I don't wait for her to answer because she probably already knows it. "Zathie's coming too!"

I hear Zath groan annoyed as I walk into the kitchen to grab my books. He is mumbling things about stupid girls, glitter, coffee shops, plans, how he always gets dragged into things, and for some reason stupid cows.
I laugh, lift Catnia onto my back, and literally drag Zath down the street to the coffee shop.

🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡(ง'̀-'́)ง🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡

Thank you so much for reading. I'm sorry if there are mistakes in this chapter, I had to edit it on my phone...so...yeah... Thanks for all you patience!

Remember God loves you!!!!

1168 words

Happy_hoosier