"Dammit LeyLey!" A young boy growls as he looks down at his younger sister.
"What I _ _ anything wrong Andy!" LeyLey groans with a roll of her eyes.
"Well the _ won't see it that way!" Andy's tone is filled with worry with hints of something… darker.
"So what if we end up _ _ we'll still be _" LeyLey says her lack of concern is clear as day.
"You don't get it do you" Andy places his hands on both sides of LeyLey's head and forces her to look at him "_ and _ don't go to the same _ you know what that means, right?"
Ashley's face pales at the implication "What? How? Why? No…"
"Don't worry LeyLey" Andy brings her into a hug "I'll handle this"
{Dream/Flashback ends}
Grrrrrrr!*
"Ugh-" I groan, as my stomach rumbles, waking me up. My body refuses to move, which is fine by me since I got the best spot in this rotten apartment.
I giggle, snuggling further into my brother's chest. Letting myself melt in his embrace and enjoy his warmth. I bury my nose into his shirt and sniff, loving his scent.
Hah~ yes, the best spot in the world.
"I see you are awake" hearing his deep, tired sounding voice I look up and smile.
"Gooooood~ morning!" I lean forward and plant a kiss on his cheek making his stone-like face crack, as his lips quirk up.
"Good morning to you too, so how'd you sleep?" he asks while patting my head, running his fingers through my luscious locks.
"Hmm~ it was… alright, could have gone without the weird dreams though." I admit with a sigh as his slight smile turns into a slight frown.
"Again?"
"Again"
"What was it about this time?" His tone is laced with worry making me smile again. Before planting another more reassuring kiss on his cheek.
"Red… flowers, well I think they were flowers but I'm not sure" I explain and he relaxes slightly hearing that I dreamt of flowers of all things.
He tries to get up, probably to take a piss or something. I won't let him! I entangle my legs around his and tighten my hold on his upper body. This effectively makes him unable to get up from his spot.
He sighs but can't hide the amusement in his eyes "LeyLey-"
"What on earth can possibly be more important than cuddling with your sister?" I pout and start sniffling, making my eyes water for good measure.
And the bastard has the audacity to just deadpan at me! I'm crying here! Try and cheer me up, you two faced, good for nothing, bitch!
Watching as he does nothing while I bawl my eyes out I scoff. "Fine, leave me alone and defenseless you heartless bastard" I untangle myself from him and he gets up as he chuckles. I watch as he stretches, groaning as he cracks his back.
He turns to me as expressionless as ever, his green eyes softening ever so slightly as he leans down and kisses one of my fake tears away. Without another word he walks out… leaving me alone. I lay there trying to enjoy his scent which permeates his covers. But it's not the same.
…
Cold, so… cold.
Grrrrrrr!*
My stomach grumbles again, my hunger becoming far more apparent than just a few moments ago. I get out of bed and leave our room, I hear the water running and consider taking a peak before deciding against it. Food takes precedence over teasing my dear Andy.
Ah~ the look on his face when I find us some grub! He'll be overjoyed! Praise me and give me headpats!
I gasp in excitement at the thought, increasing my pace into the living/dining room. I look over the room, deciding where to start my search for sustenance. The cupboard and fridge has been utterly picked clean, my parents room has nothing useful in it(except for some… interesting mags), and the only snack in the bathroom is my brother but I don't think he'll appreciate me trying to make a meal out of him.
Then that only leaves one possible option, the trash! Yes, we've been through it several times throughout the months. In fact it has been our main source of food since the apartment stopped giving us store bought products. But, surely there has to be something we've missed in the large pile of plastic and rotting scraps.
I start moving some of the bags planning on plundering the ones at the bottom. So imagine my surprise when I find a can of tomatoes just lying there. I squint my eyes as I pick it up, trying to make sense of this odd phenomenon.
It couldn't have fallen out of the trash bags, Andy double bagged all of our trash. Both to prevent smells and exactly this from happening. It could have fallen out during one of our other scavenges but considering that I've been starving to death.
Grrrrrr*
…I wouldn't just miss out on food like that.
So that means…
Growling, I grit my teeth in frustration and a tad bit of betrayal. Despite knowing that Andy wouldn't hide food from me without reason. But his reason better be good because if not I'm gonna whoop his ass!
I march over to the bathroom and swing the door open making sure to bang it against the wall to ensure he knew I meant business. He languidly turns to me and raises a single brow. Giving me the good ol' 'what the fuck at you doing, dumbass?' Look.
I just toss him the can of tomatoes which he catches nonchalantly(which was cool). He looks down at the can then at me, then back at the can. Before tossing it back at me.
"Not going to say anything, you snake!" I hiss at him with as much venom as my tone can muster. While he turns the water off and steps out of the tub.
"I hid that from you so that we have something to eat later in the future" he explains as he wraps a towel around his waist.
"Bu- but, I'm hungry" I whine, despite knowing that he hates it when I whine. But it should get him to see my side of things quickly enough.
"No" he says in the same monotone as usual, but with a bit more force put into it.
Ah- I'm dealing with stubborn Andy, annoying but still manageable. As he turns around to brush his teeth I approach and pull him into a hug. Pressing myself onto his back and laying my head over his shoulder. He squints his eyes at me through the mirror before going back to brushing his teeth in circles.
"Andy~ wouldn't it be nice to fill that empty stomach of yours?" I whisper into his ear, making him tense up.
"Wouldn't it be nice to enjoy a nice hot meal made by your lovely little sister?" I press the can of tomatoes against his bare skin. The cold steel makes him shiver slightly.
Looking into the mirror I can tell he is tempted. The way he glances at the tomatoes tells me everything I need to know. Yet he refuses to submit, pretending that both the can of sustenance and myself doesn't exist.
Cute…
"Andy" I change my tone, going from whiny to begging at the drop hat. "Please, I'm hungry" his eyes flicker to me, his eyes frowning for him before he sighs, spitting out the toothpaste and built up saliva.
"Alright" he relents, sounding incredibly reluctant. But that doesn't matter! I'm going to eat some canned tomatoes!
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You're the best!" I give him a kiss on the cheek before running out of the bathroom. Stopping before the stove I grab all the necessary tools for the job. A pan, spatula, and some spi-ces… we ran out.
"I hid some spices in the coffee container!" I pause hearing this before growling.
"What else did you hide! My panties!" I bark back.
"Why the hell would I want your panties?" He asks, coming out of the bathroom fully dressed.
"I dunno, probably to masterbate with them" I smirk smugly to hide the shiver that ran down my spine. Another fetish I will leave to fester in the back of my mind.
Andy gives me a disgruntled look, grunting before leaving me to cook. As he sits on the couch and cracks open a book, I open the cupboard to get the coffee container. Opening it I find a bunch of smaller containers, each containing their own seasoning.
I take out the salt and pepper, along with some sugar to sweeten it up a bit. I pour the tomatoes into the already heated pan along with a healthy mix of spices. Rather quickly the apartment smells of cooking tomatoes.
Grrrrrrr*
Soon my tummy, soon…
I eye the food as they cook, prepared to take them out as soon as they are ready. I stir them occasionally and add a bit more sugar. After counting to one thousand I figure that they are done and take them off. Sprinkling a little salt and pepper on top to finish.
"Foods ready!"
"There is no need to yell, I'm right here" he sighs before getting up and walking over to the table. Sitting down as I plate the tomatoes.
I put away the pan and sit down. Though instead of taking a bite, I watch as my brother eats. He feeds himself with a fork in one hand while the other hand holds the book he's reading. So deep in his escapism it takes him a while to notice the cutie(me) who has been staring at him for the better part of five minutes.
"It's good" he compliments, but it's too… What's the word? Lax, yeah lax! So I continue to stare, not touching my plate in the slightest.
He looks up at me, squints his eyes, and sighs. "Amazing! A culinary experience of divine proportions, on par with Olympian ambrosia!" He properly compliments my cooking, making me beam at him.
I start to eat my food as he finishes up. He doesn't leave the table though, reading his book as I eat. As I am about to take my last bite, loud, gothic, and annoying chanting starts to echo into our apartment.
"Are you kidding me, Again?" Andy growls as he snaps his book shut. His normally stoic face scrunched up in a scowl.
"Seems like it" I mutter as I chew on my last tomato. I wonder what the hell our neighbor is doing with all that chanting.
"Wanna take a peek?" I ask, swallowing my food.
"I would say no, but knowing you I will have to" he replies, placing his book down. "If only to make sure you don't jump off the balcony."
"Ah! I-I wouldn't do that!" How dare he! To even suggest that I would kill myself. But I mean… if we were to die together…
"Come on LeyLey" I blink and look up at Andy as he walks towards… our parents room?
"Uhhh, what are you doing?" I ask as I catch up to him. He turns to me and his eyes scream 'I told you so' as smugness practically radiates out of the emerald orbs.
"LeyLey how are we supposed to spy on our neighbor?" He asks, amusement coloring his tone as we walk into our parents room.
"Well obviously we would-" wait… how would we spy on our neighbor? We're obviously going through the balcony since the front door is barricaded. But how are we going to see our neighbor from our balcony? They live right next to us so thanks to the angle we'll see Jack shit.
"So we'll need to get to our neighbors balcony somehow" I mutter in realization.
"Exactly, glad to see you have more than one brain cell up there" Andy taunts as he removes a plank from dad's book shelf.
"Ah! It's not my fault that starvation causes brain damage!" the nerve of this bastard, if he wasnt my brother I would have ripped his cock off and shoved it up his ass.
"And if you weren't my sister I would have strangled you by now" he replies making me gasp, oh no! Did he learn how to read minds!
"No, your thinking out loud"
Oh, that makes sense.
"Wait, what did you mean by 'would have strangled me by now'?" I ask him, but he doesn't respond, instead leaving the room.
"Andy, Andy! You better answer, you bastard!" I growl as I catch up and start hitting him. He just starts heaving, the motherfucker finds this shit funny… okay it's pretty funny but i'm not going to tell him that.
We make it out onto the balcony and I stop messing with Andy so that he can set up the board. As he does, I look down the four stories of space between me and the ground. The memories of dead and twisted bodies on the sidewalk pop up and I shrug. It's hard to feel anything for idiots.
"LeyLey get your ass over here" I turn to see Andy already on our neighbors balcony.
"Coming, coming" I move away from the edge and walk over to the board Andy has set up. I step onto it easily keeping my balance as I walk down. I look at Andy as he watches me, seeing the clear worry in his eyes. I grin. Before abruptly stopping making him jump up and shock, fear, and worry.
Seeing his reaction I nod, a ten out of ten.
Though the murderous glare he is giving me is not suitable for a big brother, who by design are supposed to be protective of their little sister. I quickly make it to my neighbor's balcony only to receive a smack to the back of my head. "Ah! What the hell!" I pout up at him.
"Don't do shit like that again Ashley" oh… he used my name. Awww~ that must mean he cares, good.
"Okay, okay I'm sorry now, shouldn't we be spying on our neighbor?" his glare lessens and he nods before walking towards the door. I follow behind peering through the window along with him.
Inside we find a dark room barely lit by candles, so we can hardly see too far inside. But what we could see is a crude but clear magic circle in the middle of the room. It's red and looks similar to blood, but it's dried though so I can't really tell.
In the darkness bows a weirdo in a rob, as far as I can tell he is plain and average. Then again the rob hides a lot. We watch as he chants on his knees.
"Oh great marquis of hell, Lord Phenex, here my plea and come fourth."
"Oh great marquis of hell, Lord Phenex, here my plea and come fourth."
"Oh great marquis of hell, Lord Phenex, here my plea and come fourth."
…
Nothing happens.
"Tsk, what the hell am I doing wrong?" the man grumbles to himself, getting up off his knees and he walks out of sight.
I turn to my brother and even he with all his stoicism is obviously weirded out, a rose brow displaying his emotions as clear as day. "So… weird hobbies?" he asks, as we step away from the door.
"Mmmm, maybe or he could have gone insane" to be honest, I have no idea what to make of the guy and don't want to.
"Fair, let's get back, the program should be starting soon" we walk back across(without issue this time) and into our apartment making sure to lock our balcony door just in case.
"Ah~ home, sweet home" I fall onto the couch facing the T.V, I watch as Andy turns it on. Exposing my ears to dreadful static.
"Leyley we were only out for a few minutes" Andy rolls his eyes as he sits down on the couch.
"Yeah, and?" I scoff as I cuddle up to him and he wraps his arm around me "after being cooped up in here for so long those few moments were a much needed breath of fresh air"
"If that's the case why didn't you just go out onto the balcony I mean, the key is right there?" he asks, tilting his head in consideration.
I shake my head "It's not the same-" the channel turns on and we grow quiet as the very ugly, basic bitch starts talking.
[Hello and thank you for tuning in! Today we share some joyous developments in regards to the quarantine. We're happy to announce that the quarantined has been safely secured. It has been a few months since the first incident and the death toll has only reached 50 total. And the quarantine period has been extended for another three weeks to ensure the public's safety. Thank you again for tuning in and have a lovely evening.]
The channel cuts off, the T.V returning to static. I turn and look up at Andy watching as his brow twitches erratically. "I'm going to bed" he gruffs out, visibly done with the government's bullshit. Seeing as there is nothing else to do I decide to do the same.