Genesis VI
“Tick, tick, tick, ding!” I slam the alarm clock too hard. It bounces off its handmade stand, glittering in the silver moonlight before crashing somewhere against the wall. I hold my breath waiting. This is it. He’ll definitely kill me now, after everything I’ve done. This is it. I lie down staring at the cracks in the ceiling. I can’t die. I don’t want to die. Not by him at least. With each thought, my heart racks against my rib cage, until I’m sure I’ll now die from a heart attack. It’s more than common around here anyway. I can’t die. I force myself to breathe in and out slowly.Think.Think.Think. With shaky legs, I slip out of bed and press my ear against the wooden floorboards. I’m sure. He’s not home. I lift my hands against my mouth and stifle a laugh. I’m alive for another day!” But deep inside I know. I know. Flinging my hands in the dark, I search for any pieces of gear. I find three brown and rusted. Careful to avoid the pointy edges I pile them on top of the stand before searching for more. When I reach the window a sharp needle-like pain stabs my right hand. Gathering up the rest of the clutter, I find the clock unrepairable near the window. I toss the gears under my bed and move to toss the clock out the window. That’s when I see him. “At least he isn’t dead.” With that, I slip out of my room pushing open the door ever so slightly.
I drift into the darkness of the hallway. Below me, I can already hear him singing an odd tune. As my feet touch the wooden floor I feel for the floorboard I loosened earlier in the week. Leaning down slowly to the floor, I press my face against the opening.
He stops.
I move away. Waiting until I hear his footsteps moving around the downstairs area. I watch the only living relative I have left. My older brother. He sways left and right around the small area. Wearing a pressed gray suit with a matching tie anyone would’ve thought that he was a put-together man. Something that was rare these days. He walks around in a circle tracing the moldy flower wallpaper with a gloved hand. When he starts to sing again, I feel myself relax. Everything was going to plan. It wouldn’t be too long before he would show me the location of the money. I would get it the next day, then leave. He does a couple more circles before puking all over the floor. “You’re disgusting,” I mutter. “You’re a fool and a drunk.” At this, he stops abruptly once again but this time looks up. A gasp spills out my mouth, as I scramble away from the hole. Searching for my bedroom door as fast as possible I open and lock it. Jumping back onto the bed, I pull the thin covers over my head and wait for my doom.
He doesn’t come.
“Tick, tick, tick, ding!” When the alarm clock goes off again, morning arrives. The sun streams in through the broken windows and ceiling holes
Reaching under the cot and grabbing my boots and my work outfit, I push at the flimsy luggage that I was supposed to disappear with. Glancing back at the clock one more time, I before get dressed in a yellow cotton dress. Immediately the unwanted memories flood in. Mom lying down in her casket. The neighbors forcing me to take the dress. You’ll need it if you want to survive. I rip it off and throw on another dress. My finger traces a hole. With boots in hand, I head downstairs. The sunshine pours in through the windows. Displaying colorful rainbows on the peeling moldy wallpaper. Which I carefully avoid coming in contact with. “Luke?”
“Yes?”
It’s barely more than a whisper but it convinces me enough that it’s safe to be near him. “Aren’t you hungry?”
No answer.
I walk up to the small cardboard box in the corner and pick up a can of chili beans Then I try again.
“Where are you?”
“In the cellar.”
He whispers. I slowly approach the wooden trapdoor in the middle of the floor.
“You need to eat?”
I whisper gently.
“Leave me alone.”
“You’re hungry aren’t you?” I argue back.
“I said LEAVE ME ALONE!” He breaks through the cellar door like an animal. The house creaking with every heavy step. I quickly open the can of beans and set them on the floor. I don’t dare look at his face until I hear him sit down. “So, you were watching me last night.”
No good morning.
No thank you, for the breakfast.
Not even an explanation for his strange behavior.
I can already feel a mix of anger and hate bubbling up my chest. So, I ignore him. Sitting on the floor across from him. I draw on my boots and take a long time tying up the laces.
“What were you hoping to find?”
He dips his hand in and out of the can. Raising the soup up to his mouth, and then reaching for more.
“Nothing you don’t know about already.”
A smart reply but a deadly one. The can barely misses my head as it sails towards the front door. I turn to face him. Wearing the same suit as yesterday only clean, his dark eyes looking down at me in disgust.
“Mom and dad told me to take care of you.”
Plastering on a fake smile, I point around at our surroundings. “You’re doing a great job of it too.”
When my finger lands on him, his eyes narrow.
“I don’t even know what’s wrong with you, one minute your perfectly sane the next...”
Luke stands up to his full height till I’m forced to look at his polished shoes. “You better learn to stay in your place, Agitha.” With that, he brushes past me out the door. Still sitting on the floor I try to decipher all thing he could’ve meant. Then I leave for the door as well.
