More Like Shattered

~POV: Vanessa~

It was friday afternoon, school just finished, and all I wanted to do was get home and sleep. I hopped into my small black Audi and began the drive home. I knew my twin brother Valentino was behind me in his identical white audi.

They were presents from our father, the biological one. Not the dipshit we are forced to call dad that lives with us. No, that dumb sack is far from being a father, but what can we do about it.

The cars were kind of like goodbye presents. He gave it to us on our 16 birthday, last year, as a sort of coax so that we think highly of him. Not that it worked. I know he divorced mom when I was 13, took all his money and his big house, got with his secretary and her child, and started up their own family. Our 16th birthday was the last time we saw him.

“Shit,” I whispered as I parked my car into the driveway. I gathered my things from school, got out the car, and locked it. “They’re home.”

“Yea, thanks for the heads up, cause I clearly couldn’t see their car over there,” Valentino said while pointing to their care parked in front of the house.

“Damn, sorry. Just wanted to warn you. You know the drill,” I told him. We made our way to the front porch and stood there for a minute.

“I hate it when they’re home,” he whispered, almost too low for me to hear.

“I know, me too. Come on, before they get suspicious and things get worse,” I grabbed his hand and pulled him as I opened the front door.

We walked in to find Stuart knocked out on the couch and mom in the kitchen cooking. Stuart was clearly knocked out from the numerous bottles of beer on the living room coffee table. I internally groaned.

We made our way to the kitchen, me still pulling Valen.

“Hey mom. School was great. We’re going upstairs. No, we’re not hungry right now. Everything is fine. Ok bye,” I quickly stated passing her in the kitchen to make our way upstairs. Valen said nothing, did nothing, just stared at the floor while walking. He had to be thinking the same thing as me.

We quickly ran up the stairs and headed to my room. I pulled him in and quickly shut and locked the door behind him.

“Listen, maybe it’s not what we’re thinking. Okay. It’s the middle of June and school is almost finished. They’ll probably wait until after school is done. We don’t have to assume-” I began.

“Don’t.” That simple word made me stop what I was saying. “Don’t fool yourself, Vanessa. We know what is going to happen. School is practically over, we aren’t learning anything important anymore and I’m sure they know it. Don’t try to give me or you hope, we’re long past that by now.”

“Okay. You’re right. I’m sorry,” I whispered unlocking and opening the door for him to walk out.

He knew what I was doing and walked out without another peep. I locked the door and plopped down on my bed to a dreamless sleep.

“Vanessa!” The banging on my door continued. “Vanessa! Wake up, it’s time for dinner and we don’t want mom to come up here to wake you! Or worse Stuart!” Valentino shouted still banging on my door.

“God! I’m awake!” I walked over to the door and opened it.

“Thank god, come on let’s go,” and with that he pulled my arm as we made our way downstairs.

We sat at the dinner table with the already served plates and mom and Stuart already seated. Valentino and I took the seats across from them. We quietly made our way through the dinner. The only noise was whenever Stuart would drink his beer and lazily plop it back down onto the table.

“Kids,” my mom began, “Well, I got another job offer. It’s out of state this time. In Oregon to be exact.”

We stayed quiet. We knew this would happen. We were expecting this. Yet, I couldn’t explain the sudden burst of sadness I felt or the pained look on my brothers face.

“When do we leave?” I didn’t mean to sound snappy.

“Watch your tone,” Stuart warned.

“It’s ok. Umm... we need you to start packing your bags. We leave tomorrow morning. Early. Around 5 A.M.” Mom concluded.

We both nodded our heads and finished our meal very quickly. Once we were done, we put our plates in the sink and head upstairs to begin packing.

I quickly locked myself in my room before Valentino tried to say anything. As the oldest, I always tried to appear strong, I failed miraculously. I sat on my bed and looked down at the floor.

Oregon. We were moving to Oregon. Why? We moved here in the middle of november and now we’re leaving in the middle of June. We didn’t start school here and we wouldn’t be finishing school here. I hate when this happens. Why do they do this? UGHHH! I pulled my hair to try to sense something and put my mind at ease somewhow.