Jennifer has been a character in my head for a long time. She's only just become Jim's sister.
I hope to be updating it very soon. I can't stop writing, i think my brain is making up for not writing anything during the holiday.
"You can't just mirror my moves Jenny!"
I looked from Jim to the pile of white chess pieces to the left of the board and back to my big brother. "Is that in the rules?" I asked sincerely, thinking that actually it worked quite well.
"Uhm… no." He stared the board down as if one of the pieces will jump up to his shoulder and tell him which move to make next. I thought it would be the Queen. She's very good on the board and in my mind I saw a strong woman in the pieces' place, dressed like Isabelle of Castille and driving away my Moorish black set. All of a sudden I feel bad for winning.
Jim made his move and I capture another.
"How the hell-!" He yells at the board to the concerned look of Jonathon, who doesn't seem to give the bad language a second thought and goes back to his college work.
And then my brain did what it had been doing all morning; it mapped out every possible move and my best reaction to it, all in a heartbeat. That's when my brother made his move, making me wonder; did he see the same as me?
In two moves I had his other castle. Another three moves and he finally added one of my rooks to his pile.
"Do you see it?" I whispered across the game.
Jim looked into my eyes, his own filled with curiosity and concern, "See what?"
"The moves? Like a map?"
My brother smiled, "You see it?"
I nodded.
"Do you know what that means Jenny?"
I shook my head.
"It means you're a genius."
I made another move, "But I only see things sometimes. Sometimes it's obvious, sometimes I have no clue.
Jim smiled at me, "Don't worry little sis-" He shot a glance at Jonathon, who was fully engrossed in his book, "I'll help you. You can make sure you see it all the time. Dad can do it too you know."
My interest dissipated. Dad never interested me. He disgusted me.
White flakes drifted past the window, making me stare while Jim pondered his latest move. The white spots increased. Then began to fall a lot thinker and faster.
We needed to move, and move fast. I left the room like a shot and ran upstairs to get a raincoat, scarf, gloves and wellies.
By the time I was back downstairs, Jim was wrapped up too, standing beside Jonathon, who was trying and failing to give Jim a scarf.
I waited until I heard the tell-tale sound of the maid going past my room until I left. Everything was dark outside, but Jim had put his light back on. Could he hear me crying? I wiped my eyes with my sleeve and opened the door as quietly as I could and closed it just as quietly when I was inside. I tip toed over to his bed and climbed in next to him.
"I'll be an adult soon." He whispered to me, "And we can run away, go to Edinburgh where Jon is going." He wrapped his arms around me and I resisted the urge to wince as his arms landed on my tender skin.
The door opened once more and I froze.
"There you are!" It was Mum. I relaxed.
She came over and kissed us both on the head. Her hair was soft. It smelt like strawberries! When it brushed against my shoulders, I lost myself in it. I think she smiled… then left.