Somebody

The Shopping Date

Chapter 10

Tiptoeing out of my door, I could feel the panic and dread rising higher and higher in my throat.

As I tried her door handle, I found it locked. I didn't dare knock in case she made a fuss - I knew Veronica wouldn't appreciate it if our parents found us screaming at each other at 1am, the very morning after Christmas.

I leaned against the thin wooden door and strained my ears to hear what Veronica was mumbling.

"Why won't you see me again? Please."

A brief silence ensued.

"But it's an emergency Vincent. I really need you right now."

It was clear to see that she was on the phone, considering the random pauses and replies.

And the mention of a boy named Vincent did not go unnoticed.

I could hear more muffled sobs and resisted the urge to knock the door down. It physically hurt me to hear my sister in such emotional pain.

Maybe it was a twin kind of thing.

"I... I don't know. This is all so confusing Vincent. I have no idea what I want right now. You can't ask that from me."

Another long pause as Veronica listened to what the mysterious Vincent had to say.

"Vincent. I can't do this without you."

The raw emotion in her hoarse whispers almost made my heart rip itself apart.

Who was this jerk? And what had he done to my sister?

I felt a tug of guilt in my chest. I should've been there for my sister in her time of need. I was the older twin after all. It was an automatically appointed duty of mine to look after her.

But instead of nursing her heavy hangovers on Saturday mornings, I had been too busy acting as an alien princess in The Intergalactic Battle 3 and singing in sold-out concerts in Belgium.

Suddenly, I heard a whoosh of air rush into her room as cool air seeped from underneath the door.

The window was open.

"I'm leaving right now. See you in ten, Vincent."

And with that, she was gone.

***

I crawled back into my rumpled sheep-skin sheets and revelled in the woolly warmth.

My mind was racing with thoughts from the conversation I had eavesdropped on between my sister and a mystery man called Vincent.

All the cogs and wheels were turning; desperately trying to find an explanation for all of this.

But I could feel my consciousness slip away as the blackness descended upon my brain. My vision turned blurry from my drooping eyelids and I could sense my mouth going slack.

I wanted to stay up, wait for her return, interrogate her like I used to do when she came home drunk and disoriented.

The pit of worry in the bottom of stomach was going to swallow me whole if I didn't do something. And I'd feel eternally guilty if something happened to her.

The answer was simple. I had to either wait for her to come back or go after her.

But the drowning feeling of exhaustion was winning. My body was numb and blissfully disconnected from my mind.

I tried to fight the numbness threatening to take over but my resistance was futile.

And soon I was gone too.