December 24, 2065
My father received a call about two weeks ago about the upcoming plans for a family reunion. Knowing that, he took 2 weeks off saying that it would take a while to get there, but I knew he just wanted an extra week to spend some family time with us. Since it was also our Christmas break he decided to make it into a road trip, he made time to make a couple of stops to take photos here and there, and since it's such a long drive he and mom decided to take turns driving.
He would always groan and shiver whenever mom mentioned her relatives at home but now when she mentions them during our drive he would just shrug and laugh it off. I don't know whether he's nervous or excited. I'm not naive, I did notice that we had money so I knew that whoever we were going to meet was gonna be as equally wealthy or even more so, at least enough to make him act all jittery like that.
The last time they went to the reunion was a couple of months before Layla and I were born, and when they went, something disastrous must have happened. I figured it had to be bad because whenever I asked if we had any relatives she would also avoid the question like dad.
That wasn't the only thing that has been on my mind lately, Layla, my sister - apparently she's a genius. About 3 years back I was planning on making my entrance into favorite child status by taking my first steps before my sister, but oh boy was I wrong. After our 2nd birthday she had the nerve to start walking and talking within 2 weeks! But not only that, when we went to kindergarten she absorbed everything like a sponge, so much so that the teachers had to make an emergency parent meeting about having her move up 3 grades. I wanted to strangle her so bad at that moment, I guess she read my expression because she decided to give me the most innocent smile possible. My parents might not have seen it but I sure saw the evil giddiness in her eyes. She did that to spite me, I'm sure of it, I can read what she's saying through her eyes, saying that I'm inferior. It isn't my fault though, in my past life I was homeschooled, I didn't learn anything but sports so I knew nothing about what I was learning. At least It made me a little better that she decided to stick with me through school, so at least she had a heart.
I saw some movement from the corner of my eyes. looking from the window to the driver's seat I saw dad waving to get my attention through the rearview mirror. He placed his pointer finger on his lips then pointed at mom who was sleeping, I looked over at my left and saw Layla also sleeping with a bit of drool slipping down her mouth.
"I thought you were asleep" he whispered
"Nah, I'm not tired"
"What were you thinking about? Your friends at school?" he asked
I did make some friends at school but none of them had the same hobbies as me, all of them were interested in dolls, dresses, and when there going to get their ears pierced. They were mostly Layla's friends, I did talk to them but I would rather play with the boys in their games. It was much more fun and interesting running around and kicking the ball, relishing the expressions of envy on how fast I am when playing tag. "You can say that" I shrugged "but I'm still kinda thinking about who we'll be seeing tomorrow"
"Oh… well" he had a complicated expression "so I've been noticing that you like watching and playing soccer at school," he said.
Trying to change the subject, huh? Fine, I'll bite. "Yea I do, I love playing soccer"
He smiled "I can put you in a soccer club if you want, but you have to promise me to practice ok"
"Really dad?! Thank you so much! It's a promise" I yelled
He cringed from my loud voice while shushing me since I was so loud, but the damage had been done and the dragon slowly woke up. "Kiara" mom said, it was the calm before the storm.
"Yes," I said quietly
"your grounded, the next time we stop your going to be punished"
She sounded scaringly cold, I just hope dad could hear my silent pleas and not stop until we get to our destination. I don't want to be at the end of her fumes, including her 30-minute lecture for waking her up. He looked at me through the mirror understanding my plan with a slight nod, for he also was at risk of getting in trouble himself.
Mom saw through what we were trying to do so she immediately told dad to stop at the nearest gas station so she could buy some snacks, but we all knew that she just wanted to punish me. Conveniently for her there was one coming up in 5 minutes, and those minutes were the longest and most dreadful 5 minutes in my life. With no way out dad dropped mom and I at the entrance of the gas station store, but not before giving me a 'thank you for your sacrifice, it shall not be in vain' face. She started dragging me through the store to the front counter asking the cashier for the restroom, apparently he was also too scared to say anything. I don't know what he saw on my mom's face to make him shiver like that but all he could do was hand mom some keys with shaky hands while pointing towards the back of the store. I tried to plead through my eyes to save me but all I got in return was an expression full of pity.
Mom dragged me to the back of the store towards the restroom pulling my arm in sharp turns around the aisles until standing in front of a door. While trying to reattach my arm back to my body she finished unlocking the door, she then grabbed my ear and threw me inside. What transpired afterward scarred me for life, no type of shame or injury can compare to what I experienced in the next 10 minutes that felt like an eternity.
She wasted no time to strip me of everything I had on from the waist down, and before I could even comprehend what was happening a searing pain landed on my ass. I jumped forward so hard my nose hit the wall in front of me, I yelped in pain and looked back at her in confusion. All she gave me was a smile that didn't fit with her emotionless eyes as she sat down on the toilet seat and began patting her lap.
"Kiara come here and lie down," she said sweetly
A demon… she is no longer my mother, she's been possessed
"Mom, I'm sorry, please can we just go" I pleaded
"Kiara! Please come lay down. Now." she said, a bit louder this time
Oh what did I do in my last life to deserve this I thought as I slowly trudged toward her. I shakily lied down with my chest on her lap, I flinched when she held my arms down while pulling me further on herself. I closed my eyes to accept my fate as her hand slowly raised and fell on my ass for the second time.
"Ok Kiara that's one, now tell me what you did wrong hmmm" she mused
"I woke you up" I whispered
"Wrong answer," she said with an accompanied slap
Oh gosh, what do you mean woman! what do you want me to say
This time it was starting to hurt, bringing me close to tears. It continued like this 8 more times until she was satisfied with my pleas and a promise of good behavior, but by then I had cried buckets. She changed me back into my clothes without any mercy for my red bottom and started walking me back outside into the car. When we got to the car mom placed me on top of the booster seat and buckled me in, I looked away from her in rebellion after the torcher she put me through and ended up seeing Layla in the opposite direction. She gave me a look of 'why is your face so red and why were you crying, but I was too much in pain to respond.
The destination was only an hour away and it was driven in silence with my occasional sniffling, the tension from what had transpired was still in the air. Dad wanted to break the mood so he asked mom a question that was kinda dumb.
"so… did you get any snacks at the gas station?"
A long silence followed. "Your sleeping on the couch tonight," she said
"Wait, hold on, it was a harmless question Sarah"
"Elliot, I know what you're trying to do. so. do. Not. question. Me"
.
—(scene break)---
.
I was shaken awake by mom who was telling us to tidy ourselves up since we'll be arriving in 5 minutes. I looked over at Layla to see if she was awake and saw her unruffling her dress and smoothing out her hair making sure her red ribbon was firmly tied to her hair. We were both wearing the same red dress that would match our red hair, the only difference between our appearance was that Layla had a red ribbon and I had a green one. Since Layla and I were Identical mom had us wear different colored clothes or ribbons so they can pick out who's who. I reached behind my head to also check if the ribbon was tied on correctly in a bow with my hair in a ponytail, after I was done I decided to look outside to see where we were.
We were in front of a large gate, larger than the car we were in with walls on either side going out far into the distance. Once the gate doors opened I saw green grass with flowers littered everywhere, there were trees in neat rows on either side of a stone road leading towards a two-story mansion in the distance. As we drove closer to the mansion I was able to see a beautiful lake behind the house with a playground right next to it. The mansion itself was also beautiful, it had an elegant homely feeling with its soft beige colors and porch to relax on, I was also able to see a hammock there too.
After dad parked the car at the entrance of the home, he and mom got out and opened our doors to remove Layla and me from our booster seats. They placed us on the ground and while dad fixed his clothes and posture mom gave us a look over, fixing anything that was out of place. She then had us stand side by side on her left facing the wall with me on the far left while dad stood on her right. We stood there facing the house in the heat until the door finally opened revealing two men in suites heading towards our direction. The younger of the two bowed and extended his hand towards father who gave him the car keys, he then walked to the car behind us and drove away with it. Once he left the older gentleman gave us a small smile and bowed towards mom and dad. "I welcome Mr and Mrs. Cracker to the Arthur family home" he then stood straight and again bowed in Laylas and my direction, "I also welcome the new additions to the Cracker family"
"My name is Stewart and I am the head butler of this humble home, Now with the formalities out of the way, please follow me, I will lead you to your rooms"
We followed Stewart through the door into the large lobby beyond where we saw a pair of spiraling stairs going up on opposite sides towards the second floor, a grand chandelier dangled with sparkling lights at the center of the lobby dazzling everything in its light. Steward led us to the right staircase walking further to the right side of the home, where we saw two rooms prepared with everything we needed for our stay. One of the rooms was decked out in bright colors of red, pink and green with two beds side by side, at the foot of the bed layed an open chest filled with all sorts of toys. Layla and I immediately ran to the room exploring every inch of the place while our parents left to theirs to see if everything was in order.
I was so preoccupied with the toys that I failed to notice a woman standing at the door, only noticing her when she coughed to catch our attention. "Hello dears, I suspect you are Kiara and Layla hmmm?"
"Do we know you?" Layla asked cautiously
"Well no, you were still in your mothers stomach the last time you were here" she laughed, she walked forward with her cane and reached down to grab my cheek. "I knew you both were gunna be adorable but you both have past all my imaginary expectations, your the spitting image of your mother"
The elderly woman had a noble aura around her, giving off a powerful vibe. She had pale blond hair that was all frizzled out in all directions with white wrinkly skin, she wore a loose white dress with golden lining and carried a walking stick that was also goldily engraved with extravagant designs. Her eyes were the most captivating thing in her appearance, she had jade like eyes like mine and Laylas, and even with her age it couldnt mask the wisdom and power that swirled in its depths. I was gonna ask her what she meant by that when I heard someone rush into the room and hug theold lady.
"Mom! It's been so long, how has your health been"
Mom? Wait, she's our grandmother? I thought. "Umm mom, who is she?" I asked, tilting my head in the process.
"She's grandma, she's my mo-"
"You can call me granny Liz Layla" she said, interrupting mom.
"My name isn't Layla, Its Kiara"
She blinked in surprise "oh im sorry, you both look so identical I just couldn't differentiate you from the other"
"Oh mom" mom giggled "look at what there wearing next time, Kiara always wears green and Layla wears red" she said pointing at each of us in turn.
Grandma Liz gave a husky laugh "all right i'll keep it in mind next time, now where is that husband of yours?"
"Elliot is on a business call right now, he should probably be done before dinner"
"Well from what Stewart has told me dinner should be ready within an hour, just enough time for the rest of the family to show up" Grandma Liz said
"Oh! Ben is coming too, great, it's been so long"
As they continued to talk about what had transpired over the past 5 years they started to walk out of the room. Once they were gone Layla and I started to play around, we found many buttons on the side of the walls that were at a height that even a toddler would be able to reach. Each button had a picture giving a description on what it would do, it would do some extravagant thing or pop up a new interesting toy to play with, one would lower a set of swings from the roof and another would flip the rug into a dancing floor. We were about to press a button with a picture of a slide when we heard the front door open, out of curiosity we ran out of the room towards the handrails overlooking the front lobby.
Stewart entered the home followed by a family of four, they followed Stewart up the left staircase into the rooms on the opposite side of the house. "Let's follow and see who they are" Layla whispered and began to run towards the room that the strangers were in, with no other choice I sighed and followed.
-------
Author:
So I decided to just name the sport soccer and football, football. Its going be much easier for me that way. -_-
I made this chap extra long... to be honest it was supposed to be another 1k words longer but decided to leave it for the next chap
The hardest part, well for me that is, is the conversations between the characters. Each conversation is difficult and somewhat awkward(might be just me) but I feel like I improved on this chap but you never know *shrug
Until next time...
p.s its 2.8k words