APOLOGY
Tilly walked gingerly towards the lounge room. She hated walking in the small hallway that divided the family room from the formal lounge and dining room. The computer was there, which meant her younger brother Sean was there. Sean was what Tilly described as "a fat little grunter." He complained about everything. He was fat, lazy and rude. He was spoilt. And most of all, he was always glued to the computer. Tilly sighed. Hopefully she'd make it through this small space without a comment from her brother. She slipped quietly across the hallway, hoping that Betty wouldn't recognise her moving. She did. "Tilly entering hallway," Betty announced. Tilly sighed. She had never mastered the art of hallway-sneaking. Sean spun around on his computer chair, one hand in a bag of chips, the other on the computer mouse. "Hey, Tilly," Sean sneered. "Um, you're an idiot!" Tilly snorted at the lame insult, and kept walking. He was stupid.
Dad was lounging on the couch with Jane glued to his chest. Jane was Tilly's younger sister. She was 10, and Tilly was 14. Sean was 12. Jane glared at Tilly. Dad did the same. "Look dad, I'm sorry I didn't come straight to the door!" Tilly yelled.
"But the house warned you!"
Jane smirked, loving that she was more loved than Tilly at that moment. Jane always seemed to be in a non-existent competition with Tilly.
"I didn't hear it!" Tilly sighed.
"I just thought that you didn't care," dad whispered.
Tilly shook her head. "Of course I care!" Tilly said. She hugged her father. He smiled. A happy ending, she hoped. He'd always been afraid of losing her, she thought. "You won't even lose me, dad," Tilly assured her father. She was wrong, of course. The wallscreen blared in the semi-dark room. The news was on. Tilly blinked through the 20 standard channels. Nothing good was on. All reality TV. Boring. Dad took control of the TV, and blinked it back to the news. He blinked a lock on the TV, and glanced back at Tilly. His eyes twinkled, saying "Ha ha, I won!" Tilly turned her attention back to the news. Boring. They were talking about the stock market. So boring. Suddenly, the TV sound was turned up automatically and the stock market report was interrupted. The news reporter had a grim look on her face. "Viewers, we have some bad news," she said. "Oil has started exploding at six major oil refineries in the Middle East. These blasts have killed many. The cause of the blasts is unknown, but police have ruled out terrorism." At the sound of the word "terrorism," Tilly shuddered. Terrorism was just so common these days. The mere thought of it frightened Tilly. Mum walked in. "Time for bed, kids!" she informed them. Tilly got up. She was tired. Nothing was stopping her from going to bed. She bid everyone goodnight, and climbed the stairs up to her bedroom. She slept badly that night.