Friday, April 08, 2011
Nearly ten years had passed since that fateful day. Ten years since the death of Marcus Bank. But Nall Circle had barely changed. The only passing of time was the photographs on the mantelpiece; the two infants had grown into a 10 (soon to be 11) year old boy and a 10 year old girl. In the pictures was a normal, loving family… well, except for one person: aunt Josephine. Josephine, Alex's stepmother, was a real piece of work. If she had it her way, both Amelia and Brian would be out on the street. Luckily, Mike refused to let that happen to his older sister. As a result, in photos where neither Amy nor Brian were present, Josephine looked happy while she scowled in frustration and jealousy in photos with Brian and Amelia. Despite her attempts to turn Alex against her cousin, she and Brian got along fairly well and were almost like brother and sister.
Speaking of Brian, he slept in the same room as his cousin, as the house didn't have an extra guest room. He slept in a separate bed from his cousin; he was asleep at the moment, but not for long, as his aunt would soon wake him up.
"Up! Get up! NOW!" Josephine banged on the door.
Brian woke up, startled by Josephine's shrill voice.
"I said get up!" She shouted again. "And comb your hair! I want EVERYTHING to be perfect on my daughter's birthday. Are you up?!"
"Nearly," Brian replied.
"Get a move on, or else!" She shouted back. "As I said, I want everything to be ABSOLUTELY perfect!" Meanwhile, Brian was trying to remember the dream he had. It was a good one too; he was sure there was a black car in it! Though he could've sworn he had that dream before… Brian groaned in frustration and tiredness.
"What did you say?!" Josephine snapped through the door.
"N-nothing…"
Alex's birthday! How could he forget?! Ever since he and his mom moved here, they celebrated Alex's birthday. They'd also celebrate his own birthday, but Josephine wanted no part of them. Brian slowly got out of bed and looked for some socks. He managed to find a pair in the nearby drawers and put them on.
"GET A MOVE ON!" She barked as Mike came in.
"What are you doing?!" He asked his wife.
"Getting your freak of a sister's brat up!"
"Don't you DARE call my sister a freak again!" The two argued. Brian wanted to intervene on behalf of his uncle, but Alex stopped him.
"You ok?" She asked. She and Brian were about the same size; he was a bit skinny for a boy his age. Brian had a skinny face, brownish hair and green eyes. He wore round glasses that were currently held together with scotch tape due to the fact that he fell down the stairs and broke them… or at least, that's what he was told to tell the authorities. Alex looked very similar to her cousin, except she didn't wear glasses. The only thing Brian liked about his appearance was his eyes, and even then… "Hey, don't listen to Josephine, okay?" Alex tried to cheer her cousin up.
"You're right," Brian said, smiling, "not on your birthday." Alex hugged her older cousin.
"Happy early birthday, Brian! Only 6 more days until you're 11." She smiled before leaving the room to give her cousin some privacy.
Now dressed, the two went downstairs into the kitchen for some breakfast. If Mike wasn't there, Josephine wouldn't make Brian anything. Luckily, Mike was cooking breakfast today, so Brian didn't have to worry too much.
"Why do we even let him stay here?" Josephine murmured to herself, angry at Michael.
"Because he's your nephew," he calmly told her. She wanted to argue back but Mike just said, "and we can talk about this later. Don't forget, Alex and Brian have that field trip to the Houston Zoo today."
"Why does he get to go?!"
"Because I signed his permission slip," another voice said. It was Amelia, the same brown-haired, green-eyed woman that Brian knew and loved.
"Mom!" Brian smiled as he hugged his mom. "I hope you do well at work today!"
"Same here, kiddo!" She smiled back. As far as Brian knew, Amelia Bank worked at an ordinary office while Mike was the homemaker. Josephine was a teacher at the school Brian and Alex went to. Thank goodness she wasn't their teacher, otherwise Brian AND Alex would be in hell.
"That little-!" Josephine yelled in frustration as she looked at her iPhone 3GS.
"What is it now?" Amelia asked, annoyed.
"Not that it concerns you, but my friend's out of town, so Brian won't be able to stay there." Brian smiled in excitement.
"Wait a minute," Mike said, "I thought Amy signed Brian's permission slip? Did you rip it or something?!"
"So what if I did? I'm not letting him go with Alex!"
"Don't worry dad!" Alex exclaimed, as she brought in Brian's permission slip. "I found it!"
"Where did you get that?! I thought I put it in the shredder."
"So you admit you tried to destroy it!" Mike gasped in anger and shock.
"So what?!" Josephine barked back at her husband. "THAT BRAT IS NOT MY NEPHEW!" The three adults got into an argument… as usual. Alex, meanwhile, secretly gave Brian's permission slip back to its rightful owner.
"Why are you giving this back to me?" Brian asked Alex.
"Because trips are a lot more fun when you're around!" Alex replied, with a big smile on her face. Alex couldn't care less about what her stepmother thought; Brian was her cousin, no matter what.
After breakfast, Brian and Alex got into Mike's SUV while Amy got into her own car and drove to work. Unbeknownst to her, Josephine ordered Brian to step out of the car for a minute.
"I'm warning you Brian," she said while GLARING DAGGERS at the boy, "any funny business, and I'll see to it that you're not only expelled, but that you're in a cupboard for good."
"B-but," Brian tried to say.
"NO. BUTS." Brian knew better than to argue with Josephine as he got in the car, unaware that Alex was recording the whole thing.
Strange things had been happening around Brian for a while now, but he couldn't explain it! Trying to tell his aunt was no good; she'd just blame him and stick him in the cupboard until Mike freed him. Mike wished he could divorce that monster, but she threatened to frame him for abuse if he divorced her, which was ironic because she was abusive towards Brian!
"I… had a weird dream last night," he said to Alex, remembering his dream.
"What was it about?" Alex asked.
"It was about a black car, and it was flying." This set Josephine off.
"CARS DON'T FLY!" She barked at Brian!
"Josephine!" Mike shouted at his wife. "You're making a scene!"
"Shut it, Michael! Remember what I told you about divorcing me." Without any evidence against her, all Mike could do was intervene whenever he could…
Fridays would normally be the best day of the week, according to Brian and Alex, and today was no different. Today was the day they'd go on a field trip to the Houston Zoo! And on Alex's birthday too! What were the odds of that happening? Josephine didn't want to buy Brian any food while they were there, but thankfully the teacher Brian and Alex shared for homeroom wasn't Josephine. He gave Brian a ham and cheese sandwich which Brian ate with a canned Coke that he bought from a nearby vending machine. Josephine glared at Alex and Brian, wondering how they could get along despite her efforts to get Alex to find Brian disgusting…
After lunch, the group of students followed their teacher into the reptile house. It was nice, cool, and dark, with lit windows across the walls.
"Good thing Mom isn't here," Brian said to himself, "she's not a fan of snakes…" The group noticed a king cobra, which was thankfully asleep at the moment. Another student began tapping the glass…
"Move!" He shouted. "MOVE!"
"He's asleep!" Brian said to the rowdy student.
"What a stupid reptile…" the student murmured as he left Brian alone…
"Sorry about that," he said… to the sleeping snake… or maybe the glass, he wasn't sure. "Sometimes, I get how you feel… Actually, I have a feeling you have it worse than me, huh?" He turned from the glass for a sec. "What am I doing? I'm talking to myself, aren't I?" As Brian turned back towards the glass, the king cobra slowly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were level with Brian's.
It winked.
Brian was startled, but he stared back. He quickly looked around to see if anyone else was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too.
The snake looked at Josephine arguing with a teacher and gave Brian a look that said plainly:
"I get that all the time."
"I know," Brian said, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him… "It must be annoying."
The snake nodded vigorously.
"So, where're you from, anyway?" Brian asked.
The snake jabbed its tail at a sign next to the glass which read:
King Cobra (Scientific Name: Ophiophagus Hannah). Range: India, Malaysia, China, Indonesia, Philippines.
"Oh? Was it nice in India?"
The snake pointed its tail at the glass again and Brian read on: this specimen was bred at the zoo. "Oh, I see — you've never been to India? My bad."
As the snake shook its head, a defeating shout behind Brian that made both of them jump.
"MRS. SMITH! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"
Josephine dragged Alex to the king cobra exhibit.
"Move it!" She said as she pushed Brian onto the concrete floor! What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened — one second, Josephine and the student that tried to get the snake to move were leaning on the glass, and the next, he lept back with screams of horror.
Brian sat up and gasped; the glass front of the king cobra's tank had vanished! The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor, which caused visitors to run for the exits!
As the snake slid past him, Brian could've sworn he heard a low, hissing voice say, "Thanksss, friend! India, here I come!"
"N-no problem," Brian quietly replied as the snake slithered away and snapped playfully at Josephine.
"Whoa!" Was all Alex could say as she saw the student panic.
"What happened to the glass?" The reptile house keeper said in confusion and shock. Josephine looked at Brian in ABSOLUTE FURY and drug him and Alex by the ear back into the SUV (with Mike being forced to accompany them to ensure he wasn't abandoned), driving them all home, ignoring the fact that she was making a scene.
Back at the house, she dragged Brian by the ear to the dreaded cupboard.
"I swear! I don't know how it happened! It was like magic!" Brian tried desperately to explain, but to no avail. Josephine shoved Brian into the cupboard under the stairs and slammed the door.
"LISTEN TO ME, YOU LITTLE BRAT. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS MAGIC!" She barked at Brian as she closed the vents of the door and locked it with a padlock! "STAY IN THE CUPBOARD UNTIL I GET BACK! AND YOU CAN FORGET ABOUT ANY MEALS AGAIN!" She declared.
"THIS ISN'T YOUR HOUSE!" Brian barked back.
"DO YOU WANT ME TO GET THE BELT?!"
"N-no ma'am." If there was one thing worse than the cupboard, it was the belt.
"Good. NOW SHUT UP!" She screamed before dragging Alex to another room and yelling at Mike for calling her out on her appalling behavior.
Brian just sat there, crying softly to himself…why would Mike marry such an awful woman? Did she trick him and is now showing her true colors? Luckily, Brian didn't have to worry for long, as someone approached the cupboard.
"Brian?" It was Mike's voice!
"Uncle Mike! Aunt Josephine locked me in here!" Brian said to Mike, hoping he would help.
"Again?! Hang on! Oh, son of a… gun. She locked it! Hang on, I'm gonna get help!" Mike called the only person he knew could help. "Amy, Josephine locked Brian in the cupboard again! Get here as soon as you can, please! I wish I could… but without evidence, I can't do anything. It'll be my word against hers."
"But we do have evidence, dad!" Someone else exclaimed: Alex. "I recorded Josephine's threat to Brian and one of my friends recorded her dragging us to her car!"
"You did?! How'd you record it without her knowing?"
"It's easier than you think! My friend already got her suspended, but I'm honestly shocked she didn't get fired."
"Hang on, Brian! We're gonna get you outta here, I promise."
At exactly 5:30 PM, Amelia came home and rushed to get Brian out of the cupboard… she whispered something, causing the padlock to unlock, setting Brian free from his prison! Almost immediately, he hugged his mother.
"Mommy!" He blurted out with tears in his eyes. "T-thank you!"
"It's no problem, sweetie!" She said to Brian, horrified that Josephine would do this, but happy that Brian was safe and sound. "I'll always be there for you."
(Note from the author: River City is a fictional suburb and Nall City is a fictional street. Any similarities to any real life address is purely coincidental)