Chapter 4: Cats Out
Miko had stuck with her word. She was consistent in her text messages. One every day at around three-thirty and another around seven. It made me sick to think that something could happen to my baby sister, but I couldn't control her. She was her own person. I just had to trust that she'd look out for herself.
It was that time of day again and I was anticipating the bell. Miko and I had been separated for talking in class and I eyed her across the room. She was sleeping. She'd wake up second before the bell like clockwork.
The bell rang and Miko was one of the first ones out. She never waited for me, not that I expected her to. I held my things in my arms, my backpack unable to hold another item. It was dragging down on my shoulders and I was in need of a rest.
I found myself outside and I parked my butt at the top of the stairs, watching for Miko, Jack, and Raf. But, I found them by a tree at the corner of the schoolyard. I see Miko glance over and do a double take when she sees me, waving. I wave back and watched them for a brief second before opening a book.
"Hey, Ren!" Miko says, coming up the steps.
"Hi, Miko." I greet, waving to the boys as they followed her up.
"Bob isn't picking you up?" I ask.
"Nah, not for about fifteen minutes. He's late." She huffed, blowing a strand of hair out of her eyes. She got out her phone and started playing a game on it. The noises coming from it were just as bad as the ones that keep me up at night. I wanted to say something but thought better of it. We'd probably get into another fight.
After fifteen minutes exactly, Bob showed up. Was he picking up all three of them? I thought Jack owned a bike.
"Where's your bike, Jack?" I ask.
"The shop." He shrugged, rubbing the back of his head. I nod and I wave goodbye to them as they leave. Miko was half-way across the yard when I notice something bright pink on the ground. Her phone!
"Miko!" I call.
"Gotta go sis! Text ya later." She yelled, slamming the door. The tires squealed as they tear off down the road.
"How are you gonna do that when you don't have your phone?" I say to myself. I pick it up and I flip it open, to see if Bob was one of her contacts. But I was stopped short at the picture for her background.
"What is this?" I ask. Nobody was around to hear me. Giant robots? The green one bore a particular resemblance to Bob's SUV. Against my better judgment, I opened her photos. There, I found all sorts of suspicious things. There were several pictures of the green robot, the white, red, and green one. There were others too. Menacing purple robots, glowing blue cubes. Then, things get stranger. Pictures of New York City, Greece, statues in museums, the list went on. How had she gone to all these places in one short year?
I was going to have to have a chat with my sister.
The next day, I resumed my normal routine, waiting to get to school to talk to her. Oddly, I was nervous. Miko was no doubt going to yell at me for going through her photos, but I'd endure for some answers.
I was holding my sister's phone in my hand, waiting for her to get to school. It was a little chilly outside and I tug my jacket closer to me in hopes of holding in the warmth. I brushed my hair behind my ear, seeing some cute boys walk up the steps into the school, but sadly they paid me no notice. Oh well.
Then, Bob pulled up and his suspicious SUV. I had studied those pictures and I knew that somehow that SUV was not just an SUV. Miko hopped out of the front seat and swung her backpack over her shoulder. She saw me and bounced up the steps, but stopped seeing her phone.
"Awesome! You have my phone. I was so worried." She said, snatching it out of my hand.
"Miko," I start. "I think we need to have a talk," I say.
"Ugh! Don't get started about Bob again." She huffed.
"It's not that. I was trying to find his contact on your phone to get a hold of you and I saw some pictures. A lot of pictures." I say. Her eyes widen and turned angry.
"You went through my pictures?!" She screeched.
"Yes," I say calmly. "What are those things?" I ask in a hushed voice.
"Damn it, Ren." She rubbed a hand over her face. "Lemme call Bulk." She sighs, flipping open her phone, dialing the number.
"Hey, Bulkhead. She knows. What are we going to do? Okay. Bye." She hangs up and shoves her phone in her back pocket.
"Looks like you're coming with me after school." She glared at me.