Pages

Chapter 8

Her wait comes to an end when the creaking sound of the door hits her eardrums. Marianne opens her eyes lazily and glances at the door with her head still resting on her arm. The sight of Khaiser stepping into the library after Julianne surprises her a little. She proceeds to change her posture and sits properly on the chair even though she realizes that her brother has already seen her exhausted condition. She stretches out, relieving her muscles and allowing the blood to circulate properly throughout her body as Julianne and Khaiser approach her.

"What's up Mari? Tired already?" Julianne smirks. Marianne clearly knows that her sister is mocking her from her tone of voice. Besides, she was the one who dragged her to do their homework earlier. She decides to stay silent and be patient. "Look what I have here." Julianne is not satisfied with her sister's lack of reaction. She lifts the game console in front of Marianne's face and wiggles it. Marianne just looks away, refusing to be consumed by her annoyance. She is not intending to start a catfight.

"Shut up." Marianne's voice is soft, but still can be heard by both her brother and twin sister. Julianne bursts out laughing and her laughter echoes throughout the library after a brief pause. Realizing that she is being too loud, she falls to her knees and laughs against the carpet instead with her left hand pressing against her stomach. Marianne shrugs her long skirt in her fists. Her face slightly turns red and she pouts.

"Alright Juli, that's enough. Stop teasing her." Khaiser reprimands his sister gently after he notices the changes in Marianne's behaviour. Julianne just nods as she lets out her remaining urge to laugh. He looks around for a while. "Since you two are here, I guess there's nothing much to do today?" He brings up a different topic. Seeing both his sisters are now paying attention to him, he is convinced that his effort is fruitful.

"Yeah, mom seems kind of tired today. Dad went out to the workshop in town." Marianne closes her books and stacks them at her side. She focuses on her stationaries next, keeping them back in the stationary case and putting it on top of the books.

"Yes...Mari. Stop doing homework. Close the books and get some rest. Play games with me..." Julianne raises her hands and wiggles her fingers, acting as if she is hypnotizing her sister. Marianne looks at her without saying a word before forming a smile.

"You're right. I'm not in the mood to do homework right now. We still have time to do them anyway." Marianne gets up from her seat. Her heart is tickled by her sister's childish act just now.

"Yeah, now that's my twin sister." Julianne grabs the game console that she put on the table earlier and steps toward the TV to set it up. Both Khaiser and Marianne watch her without moving from their spot.

"Oh yeah, speaking of which, do you really need to go back this evening? There are still a few days left of holiday." Khaiser turns towards Marianne and looks into her eyes.

"Yeah. My work schedule is not the same as the school's, okay? Why? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Just asking." Khaiser can sense a slight disappointment in her facial expression and voice.

"If you're bored, you can use my game console or PC. I'll leave them in my room. Just don't do anything weird."

"It's not that. It's just...I don't know. It's just different when you're not around." Marianne turns away, staring at her sister as she sets up the game console.

"I think she wanted to say that it's boring and dull without you." Julianne speaks up, but her attention is still on the game console. Khaiser nods a few times.

"Sorry, I have to work on a project. Don't worry though. It'll just take a few days. At least that's what usually happened." Khaiser scratches his head. A smile formed on his face to brighten up the mood. "Besides, mom and dad can just call me if they want me to go home. You can call me too. My house and workplace are not so far from here. Only a few hours drive." He continues. Something clicks in his mind with what Julianne said earlier. He is still unsure when Mikael will be back home. He decides to give him a call later before he hits the road.

"Okay, done. Enough chit-chat. Let's play." Julianne hands over two controllers to her brother and sister. Both of them gaze at the controllers for a moment before grabbing them and taking their seats on the floor in front of the TV. They spent the morning playing games until lunchtime.

***

Khaiser walks up the staircases calmly. As usual, the flat complex is surrounded by busyness. It is almost like he is meeting new people with every step he takes. Some of them are his neighbour that he already knew, but most of them are total strangers. But he greets all of them nonetheless. He expects that there will be some late-night parties around the flat blocks. He starts to feel uneasy with the thought.

After a few minutes of walking through the corridor, Khaiser finally arrived at his house. He notices that the grill door is shut and tries to pull it gently. It is locked. He puts down his suitcase on the floor and takes off his backpack, searching for the keys to both the grill door and the front door.

"Hello, Mike?" Khaiser closes the grill door behind him without locking it as he steps into the house before doing the same thing to the front door. No response. He calls out for his housemate again. But still, no answer is given. Thinking that maybe Mikael went out somewhere, he steps to the kitchen to get something to drink.

His hand reaches for the light switch as Khaiser steps into the kitchen. The dark kitchen turns bright almost instantly, showered by the white light from the ceiling. He glances around as he approaches the refrigerator. Nothing strange seems to catch his attention. Everything remains the same as the day he left the house.

His hand is already gripping the refrigerator's door and ready to pull it open when his gaze reaches the sink as he continues glancing around. Khaiser freezes for a moment. He changes his focus to the sink and slowly steps towards it. His heartbeats almost get interrupted a little when he gets the full view of the thing inside. A knife is laying there, and it is covered in blood. Once again, he freezes on his spot as if he has been glued to the floor. His mind goes blank. The ambience in the kitchen suddenly turns chilly.

The creaking sound of the front door being opened snaps Khaiser back to reality. He turns to the living room, still frozen in his spot. He keeps staring in the same direction, waiting for whoever just entered the house to reveal themselves.

"Yo, Khai. You're here." Mikael raises his right hand as he walks to the kitchen. He is carrying a groceries bag in his left hand. Khaiser takes a deep breath and releases it in relief. He stares at his housemate without moving an inch, waiting for him to come closer. "What?" Mikael raises his eyebrows as he puts the groceries bag on the table. The smile on his face still remains.

"The knife, in the sink." Khaiser brings his gaze back to the sink.

"Knife? What knife?" Khaiser returns his gaze to his housemate. No words escape from his mouth. He keeps staring at his housemate sharply with a straight face. "Ok fine. It was me. I did it. I was filleting a fish earlier." Mikael finally surrenders. He cannot afford to keep pretending as he cannot bear his housemate's death stare anymore.

"Why didn't you wash it after you're finished?"

"No reason. Just thought it might be a good prank. I got you good, didn't I?" Mikael pats his housemate's back a few times while laughing. With the same facial expression, Khaiser keeps staring at him before letting out a soft sigh.

"Fine, you got me. Make sure you wash it later." Khaiser does not wait for any response and walks out of the kitchen. He grabs his suitcase in the living room and heads straight to his bedroom. He totally forgot the reason he went to the kitchen in the first place. He is afraid that he might not get enough rest if he decided to stay in the kitchen, talking to Mikael.