I’m already up getting dressed by the time my alarm clock starts ringing. I didn’t sleep the entire night, the thoughts of the murders and June clouding my mind. The bags under my bloodshot eyes seem endless and make me look inhuman. No, I feel inhuman.
I braid my hair before leaving to go downstairs. Since it’s too early to be awake, Lily and the rest of siblings are still sleeping. I always go to university earlier than them because a lot of my classes start at nine. And now, because I have to go with them, I’ll be late. I can’t let that happe—wait. I have class in the afternoon today, not morning.
I sigh. Looks like I have nothing to worry about then. For now.
"Good morning, Layla," I say.
She smiles, setting the plates of food onto the table. I guess my parents are joining us for breakfast today, or Layla wouldn’t go all out with the food.
I take a seat at the table. It’s a shame I can never eat the food in peace though. She’s always checking my mother out when she’s at the table. I don’t understand how no one notices. It’s frustrating.
A full hour passes before my parents come down stairs. They both greet me and—unfortunately—Layla, who’s standing by the steps waiting for them.
"Breakfast looks wonderful, Layla!" My mother beams at her.
Oh, how I would love to kiss those lips.
I scowl. Please, for once, I’d like to eat without hearing your Percy thoughts, Layla.
The bad thing about my ability is if one person is ‘feeling’ a thought strongly, I’ll hear it, even if I don’t want to. Example, because Layla is currently feeling very horny, her thoughts push through my barrier. This ‘barrier’ is what I’ve built to keep sane; to keep my mind from overflowing with other people’s thoughts.
“Thank you, madam. I hope you enjoy the food.”
"Good morning, Ar," father says as he and mother take a seat at the table.
"Morning,” I mumble back. Thank god they’re finally here. There’s a weird rule in the house: on the days my parents are able to eat with us, we should wait until they’re seated at the table and eating, before we touch the meal. I think it’s stupid, but rules are rules, and my stomach won’t stop rumbling now.
When my parents start eating, I do too. The pastry is soft when I bite into it, the cheese warm and melted. It’s delicious, beyond delicious, and I can’t get enough of—
Yes, put it deeper in your mouth.
I choke, chewed pastry flying out and all over my plate. My hands reach for the glass of water beside me, and I gulp it down until the urge to cough is gone. After taking a few more breaths, I look up.
My parents are staring at me with worried expressions. I’d rather they were disgusted because I am, especially when I notice my mother's half-eaten banana in her hand.
I see.
"Are you okay?" father asks.
I clear my throat, massaging it a little. "Yes, just ate my food a little too fast.”
Mother gives me a napkin. "Be careful, honey.”
I nod, but don’t dare to look in her or Layla’s direction. That wicked brat, standing there, thinking those vile thoughts. My mother is nearly fifty. You’re twenty-eight, calm down.
Although, I also can’t completely blame her. My mother’s ability is beauty and charm. Even if she sits here eating that god damned banana, the whole world will fall to their knees in awe.
But it’s not like she’s controlling them. She’s just basically abnormally pretty and charming. This allows her to get on people’s good sides easily. It’s not like she’s making them fall in love with her and think dirty thoughts.
At 7.30, my siblings join us for breakfast.
"Mama," Mivah says, which earns a disapproving look from father. He doesn’t like it when we call them anything other than ‘father’ or ‘mother’. Apparently, it’s not proper. He’s so weird.
"Ar used her mind control on me yesterday!”
"Don’t be stupid, Mivah,” I scold. Is he blind? Layla is right here.
"Don’t start, I have witnesses too!" He gestures to the rest of our siblings.
"Is this true?” father asks me.
"No." I give him a deadpanned expression. “Since when did a human have supernatural abilities, father?”
I stare at him and he stares at me. He’s trying to see whether I’m lying or not, and he’s a little annoyed I can read his thoughts right now, but doesn’t want to say anything. And now, he’s realised Layla’s still in the room.
He huffs. "I was just trying to play along."
That sounds awkward coming out of his mouth, but I don’t reply. Instead, I fill up Mivah’s plate with a variety of pastries.
"Eat up, idiot. Layla took her time making these.”
That seems to straighten him. He purses his lips, glancing from our parents to Layla, who’s still standing by the stairs, and gulps before picking up a pastry. He knows he's going to get an earful from mother. She didn't say or react to anything now, but her thoughts tell me she's irritated at his 'lack of awareness to his surroundings'.
It annoys me when Layla stands there. Of course, she does it in case anyone (mother) needs help with anything, but it’s still annoying because we can’t do anything other than eat. It’s good she’s standing here today though; I really don’t want to deal with father’s lectures.
When breakfast is over, I wait outside with Ben while my siblings get ready for school. Today, like yesterday, is cold. Grey clouds are approaching and the wind is starting to pick up.
"Seems like it’s going to rain today, Miss.”
"I agree, Ben."
Ben is human, but he’s been serving the family way before my birth, so he knows about and accepts our abilities.
"Are you sure you don’t want to bring a jacket with you?"
"I’m sure. It’s not that cold, anyway." I smile.
I like Ben. All he thinks about is taking my siblings to school on time and making sure we’re comfortable. He sees us as the grandchildren he’s never had. I don’t like calling him Ben though. He looks sixty, so I feel it’s really disrespectful to call him by his first name, but he prefers it that way. Nothing I can do about that.
“Miss, you have afternoon class today, am I correct?”
I nod. “Yeah, from twelve to six. But I want to go early today.”
“Any particular reason?”
”I have a test today, and I didn’t study yesterday.” I pout.
I don’t have a test. I just don’t want him to drive twice. It’s his job, I know, but I don’t want to tire him. He’s a nice man and someone his age should be relaxing, not working. Especially when he’s worked hard all those years. It’s the least I can do.
Actually, no. Maybe I can buy him a present to thank him for his hard work. I’ve never done that before, but it seems like a good idea. Yeah, I’ll do that.
When we arrive at my siblings’ school, I hop out the car. Ben usually takes Lily to her class, but I wanted to do it today. We bid the rest of my siblings goodbye before making our way to class.
I don’t know where it is, but Lily does. She drags me by the hand, telling me stories about the playground we pass, the teachers she greets, and the friends she hugs.
“I’m happy you came with me today, Ar!”
“I’m happy I came with you too, Lily!" What an amusing child.
She grins up at me. “I want to show you my friend. He comes here every day." Obviously, because he’s a student.
"Really? What’s his name?"
She drags me to a class where a group of tiny children are standing around a tall man. They’re laughing and yelling, some jumping too.
"There he is.” She lets go of my hand and sprints towards them. “June!”
My feet halt in their steps, eyes widen in shock, as my sister—my beautiful, innocent, baby sister—jumps up into the air with outstretched arms, and the man, who turns around with a blinding smile, accepts her hug with as much affection and love she’s displaying.
I’m not going to say it. I’m really not going to say it. I mean, seriously, how many twisted surprises does a girl need to go through before she runs out of ‘whats’ to say?
A little break would be nice though.
Maybe I can go back to Ben, pretend I never saw this. Lily's at her class now, or I assume she is. But she’s my baby sister. I can’t leave her with such a horrendous being.
As if god wanted to have a laugh, the man looks up and we make eye contact. His eyes widen, and the smile on his face slips off instantly. Can I say time’s stopped? Because it feels like that. Every time I see him, time seems like it’s slowed down or stopped.
He sets Lily down and that’s when my feet decide to move forward. I still can’t read his thoughts, a shame.
When I near him, he asks, "are you following me?"
I scoff. “No? Why would I fol—”
“Ar! This is my friend I was talking about!” Lily holds onto my hand with a bright smile. "His name’s June."
The month-that-shall-not-be-named and I stare at each other.
"How do you know Lily?" we both ask.
Our eyes narrow at each other.
"I asked first," again, we both say. Is he doing this on purpose?
“Stop copying—" we both pause.
“Wow...that was so cool.”
I glance around at the kids. They’re staring at us with wide, sparkly eyes. Little creeps.
“Ar, did you use your mind control to do that?” Lily tugs at my hand. "You know you’re not allowed to—”
I laugh and pat Lily’s head. "Oh Lily, you have such a wild imagination." I love you, but for god’s sake, shut up.
"What do you mean?" she asks. "You're so weird, Ar." She fixes her hair.
I look up at June. This idiot is staring at me with pursed lips and a nonchalant expression.
"Siblings, am I right?" I chuckle, but it sounds awkward, even to my ears.
"Oh, she's your sister?"
"Yeah..."
"What a small world.”
"I agree...”
"I'm here to drop off my brother too."
"Really?" I glance at the children. I don’t really care which one his brother is. “That’s cool.”
I also don’t understand why he’s trying to be civil. He stole my notebook! I haven’t forgotten about that.
"It's this one, Ar!" Lily pulls a petite boy from the group of children. "This is June’s brother!”
"Lily, you don't call people 'it'. You call them ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘them’ or ‘they’," I say, and then kneel down in front of the boy. His thoughts say he’s mad. “Hello.”
He scowls, roughly pushing Lily into me before running to hide behind his brother's legs. I steady her so we both don't fall, and stand up.
Figures, he'd push her; he's June's brother after all. It reminds me of yesterday. I still need that notebook back.
"Are you okay?" I ask Lily.
She nods, pouting.
I send June a heated glare. He's ruffling his brother's hair comfortably, completely ignoring what happened.
"Tell your brother he needs to apologise."
He barely glances at me, but still says, "my brother's a little shy around girls. He didn't mean to push her."
I hate her.
My eyebrows raise in surprise. This thought came from the little boy. I stare at him, roaming his thoughts.
Ugly.
I don't like her.
She's too loud. Should shut up for once.
I don't want to see her ugly face in class.
With every thought I hear and see, my rage, the one that sat silently in the pit of my stomach, begins to boil.
Annoying.
Good thing they tease her.
"June, she's staring at me."
Creepy sister.
Stole her pencils.
I wanna go home.
I hate Lily.
I can feel it rising, the urge to throttle this—this—
"Little shit." How dare he think all that, about my sister too. What'd she do to him, huh? And teasing? What teasing? I'll end anyone who bullies her.
I'm snapped out of his thoughts when all around me, the children gasp.
Lily is pulling at my hand. "Ar, you just said a bad word."
I glance around at the gaping children, Lily included. She tilts her head. “Why are you angry? It was an accident."
My brows furrow. It wasn’t an accident, and she knows this too...but her thoughts...they say she has a crush on him. Goodness, she has a crush on the boy who hates her guts.
I glance at the boy, and he hides further behind June.
"He didn't mean to push her...Ar." It's June who says this. There’s no need to read his thoughts to know he finds my name weird, but that's the least of my problems.
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't call my little brother names. You wouldn't like it if I called Lily that."
Shut up.
But I don't say that. Instead, I drag Lily away from there, away from all the children’s mocking thoughts, till we reach the playground. I sit her on one of the benches and warn her, "no disappearing.”
She shuffles in her seat, eyes cast downwards.
I can't believe this. Teasing? Pushing right in front of my eyes? Having hateful thoughts about her? What the hell?
"Did you read his mind?"
I kneel in front of her. "If I say 'yes', what would you say?"
I like to ask her these questions to see what she thinks. I'm not going to peer in her mind, but I'm expecting her to be honest with me, and she knows this. I'm not going to let this go, especially when there's a big possibility she's being bullied.
She shrugs, then mumbles, "does he hate me?"
"Yes."
The expression she gives me is so heartbreaking, I want to hug her to my chest and make her forget everything about that rude boy. But I can't. I can't use my ability to make her forget and I can't lie to her. If I lie, she'll continue running after him, and he'll continue pushing and hurting her.
"Okay," she says, looking down.
Goodness, why did this need to happen to her? She's only six.
"Lily? Do other kids tease you?" I don't want to ask, especially when she's feeling so down, but I have to. If they are, father needs to know so he can deal with the school. No one bullies my baby sister and gets away with it; I don't care if they're children. They're foul enough to bully others, so they're not innocent.
She looks up at me with wide, teary eyes. "Did you read their minds too?"
What? I'll just agree with her. "Yeah. Do you want to tell me what they say to you?"
She wildly shake her head. "No! You'll hurt them!"
She moves to stand up, but I gently grab her by the arms. "No, Lily, I won't hurt them. I just want to know what they say."
"So you won't do what you do to Mivah all the time?"
I comfort her with a smile. "No. I only use that on Mivah, remember? But father needs to know, so we can tell—”
"No!" she yells, and roughly pulls herself out of my hold. "You can't tell daddy! They'll get in trouble."
My hands reach out to her. "They won't, Lily. They'll be ok—"
She disappears.
An annoyed sigh escapes me. "Lily, what did I say about disappearing?"
"Go away." Her voice comes from behind me.
I turn. "Where are you? Seriously, now's not the time."
"You're lying."
I turn around again. It feels like I'm going in circles. "Lily."
"Go away."
"Lily!"
The bell rings, a sign that class has started.
"Lily, I promise I won't talk to you about it anymore today. You gotta get to class now."
It's quiet, aside from the wind howling and rustling the trees. And then, she appears. But she's not staring at me. She’s staring behind...me?421Please respect copyright.PENANAquRvmlK3vK
"Lily?" I glance back, half expecting her to be faking it so she can disappear again, but am shocked to my soul when I notice where—or who—she's looking at.
June.421Please respect copyright.PENANAphX853v7zS