"We are going to be late for school, Raphael," Ashira rushed down the stairs, humming her favorite part of Tyla's trending song "Water." She had always kept a clean attendance record and was not about to taint it...not even at the end of the school week.
"Can you blow my minn...d?"The sight in front of her was already mind-blowing; the sitting room was packed with luggage, and her two brothers appeared to be having an intense conversation.
"What is going on here?" she asked in hushed tones. Ashira had a vague sense of what was going on, but she hoped it was just her mind playing tricks on her.
"Erm...e..rm ashy," Raphael was running his eyes over me and Jayden, "after much deliberation we decided to you know," he was bulging his eyes at Jayden and avoiding my gaze.
"Decided to do what, Raphael?" I asked, placing my arms on my waist as if I were about to beat someone up.
"Ashira, we are moving; you should start packing," Jayden said, straight-faced.He was always like this, saying things without caring whether they were received well by the listener.
"MOVING!!!When did this happen? And why am I only finding out now?"
"The point remains that we are leaving," Jayden said with a blank expression...was he kidding me right now?
"Raphael, I do not want to move." I simply told Raphael to save my limbs; the message was intended for Jayden. I locked my gaze on him and folded my arms, pretending to sulk.
"Ashy dear, it is all for the best. With an anxious expression on his face, Raphael said to me, "We do not want you to experience such emotional trauma and you hardly sleep these days."
Unlike Jayden, who was like a man on his period, Raphael was the more understanding and approachable of the two. He could be incredibly sweet for a few minutes, then return in an instant to his strict moment. Needless to say, I was not paying any attention to this today.
"I still do not want to move, guys," Ashira's watery eyes remained fixed on Jayden.
"Get the hell upstairs and pack up," Jayden yelled at me, standing on his feet.I took a couple of backward steps before the well-packed tears started streaming down my cheeks.
"Calm down, Jay. We just need to gently explain everything to her."With his hands frantically going through his hair, Raphael was clearly stressed.
"And have not you been doing that? Did she understand?"The bus will arrive in forty-five minutes, he said, picking up his phone and wallet.
My gaze remained fixed on the floor, but I could hear his departure footsteps on the marble stairs.
"Ashy...do not cry."Raphael was removing a strand of my hair from my face, tugging it behind my ear and saying, "You know Jay is very concerned about you, right?" It sounded more like a statement than a question.
I sniffed and nodded my head in agreement.I raised my gaze to him and managed to smile.
"I should get packing, Raph," I said quietly, "the bus will arrive soon."
Ashira picked up her fallen bag and returned to her room....Perhaps we really needed to move....Perhaps Jayden wanted the best for her...Perhaps moving will put an end to the scary thoughts. Ashira let out a deep sigh.
*sighs*
Her adolescence was marked by frequent moves.She could not even count how many houses they had lived in.
*sigh*
Why were they moving??
As much as she hated to admit it, she knew it was all because of herself. Ashira's childhood was not all sunshine and roses; she had a lot of terrifying hallucinations and nightmares about a faceless creature that was clearly a woman based only on her shape. Despite being hornless, the creature's claws and clothing always gave her the creeps.