It was lunchtime, and James closed his laptop and left for the sitting room. He arrived at the dining section, and saw the family, except for John, who was still at work. The family seemed to be oblivious of his presence as he sat down.
"Uhm, pass me the pepper" James asked Esther, but she ignored him. She acted like she did not hear what he said, so James did not probe further. He then proceeded to stretch his arm to take the pepper container, but Nicolas grabbed it the moment his hands grazed on it and added pepper to his food. He acted like he did not see him reach for it.
'Not you Nicolas' James sighed in his mind, but he did not care. He continued eating his food silently as he watched Martha interact with Esther and the kids and laughed heartily, pretending that James does not exist.
James went ahead and took his plate to the kitchen to wash his plates. He washed the plates and his hands, before heading to his room, and continuing studying on his laptop.
Martha walked to his room without knocking and glared at James like she saw a disgusting animal. "I want to see you in the sitting room right now!" she said before leaving without James reacting. James nodded and left his laptop still running and headed for the sitting room again.
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"From now on, all of us here will have responsibilities as far as we are living in this house. We are living in a perilous situation right now, so I will no longer carry the weight of household responsibilities. Your father is under distress because of his lateness to work, who knows how long before daddy loses his job, so until we get out of these trying times, you will be sharing some of the responsibilities."
After James made the speech, Esther, Nicolas, and Anthony started groaning. Martha sighed and ignored them. She stared dead at James before continuing,
"James Smith, you will be taking care of the porch and the backyard, Esther, you will be vacuuming the sitting room, and Nicolas, you will be washing the dishes from now on," Martha said, while subconsciously staring at James.
Martha sighed in relief. She had wanted to do this for a long time. She could not take it anymore, to be going to work, coming back and cleaning the house, it was very tiring to her, but most importantly, she could bear to see James doing nothing. He would wake up, eat, go to school, come back, eat, go to his room, eat, and sleep. It was vexing her so much.
'At least have a taste of what you have caused me. By the time you are done cleaning the porch, you will be so exhausted, running away would be a more attractive option to you, trust me' Martha could not help but smile lightly.
James nodded and smiled, much to Martha's disappointment. She had hoped that James face would change to frustration and anger, but the only expression on James' face was absolutely nothing, just a poker face.
James did not waste any more time, as he picked up the gardening tools he needed and headed for the porch. From the weed to the overgrown flowers, he ceaselessly dug them out and trim the flowers neatly. These flowers are way too many, it would take a long time for me to finish these, he thought, but he was not frustrated. The ability of non-tiredness enabled him to keep trimming the flowers without resting.
By the time he was done, it was already 10:22 pm. He stared at the sky and breathed the cool fresh air that brushed his skin. It felt pleasurable. He then packed up the tools and headed for the door. He pushed the door open, but the door did not budge. He pushed the doorknob, but the knob refused to turn.
"These people did not just lock me out, did they?" James was slightly alarmed, but he wasn't afraid. He went to the other door that went to the kitchen, but the door was also locked.
There was no activity in the house either. Normally Martha does not sleep till twelve at the midnight, but this time, for some reason, she decided to sleep early. Was this a ruse to send him out of the house, by sending him to clean the porch?
James did not think of it that much. Instead, he searched for a place to lie down and think. He desperately needed his emotions back. Although these seemed like a blessing, such that he felt no pain from being disliked or ignored, he still wanted to feel some emotions.
The image of Sophia flashed in his mind. James closed his eye and maintained that image. He wanted to see if that feeling of friendship would come back to him. Unfortunately, no matter how he thought of it, he still could not feel anything.
James then thought of another thing. The flash drive Martha gave him as a Christmas gift. He touched his pocket, and sure enough, he felt it, which made him slightly satisfied. This flash drive meant a lot to him, not only because it contained a couple of hundreds of his family's photos, but as a form of a connection to his late parent.
He had recently uploaded the pictures to Drive two months ago, but he still decided to take the flash drive anywhere. The night air was cool to his skin, which made him comfortable.
James could not feel any exhaustion, so there was no need to sleep. Sometimes he wondered how his brain was able to keep up with the constant processing without even resting. 'When last have I dreamt?' James thought.
He stood up and dusted his clothes. Before taking out his smartphone, and remotely connected his smartphone to his laptop in his room. He hasn't shut it down yet, so he was able to connect it easily, and continued what he was doing earlier, studying for his upcoming exam.
James does not need to study, so he briefed the possible questions they might probably set on the exam, before ignoring it and proceeded and continued learning to code.
Time passed, and he was still learning and practising what he learned, suddenly he heard a noise coming from a distance. James immediately looked over at what was causing it, but the poorly lit street prevented him from seeing the figure correctly.
The figure was steadily approaching him, causing him to be slightly alarmed. "Who's there?" James spoke but received no response. He stepped back slowly and asked again, this time, breaking a branch from a shrub and pointing it to the figure. James then turned on his telepathy to hear the figure's thought, but what he heard surprised him.