Hit List

sixty four | dancing

Elijah's POV

There she is.

Jamie left as soon as he saw her standing there. I didn't have to say a word, but he knew the magnitude of what this means. What she means to me.

Her dark hair tied back into a ponytail. Her eyes wide and lips pursed, not knowing what to do or how to act.

My sister. Here. "How?" I stand walk over to her. The last time I saw her, she was different. She's taller now. More reserved, too.

She stares up at me. Her arms are folded across her torso and her thumb rubs across her skin nervously. "Mom said she is tired and bought me a ticket here."

The feeling of relief is conflicted with a painful irritation at my parents. They bought her a ticket here and might as well have left a collar wrapped around her throat and a sign saying 'don't forget to feed her'.

"You don't look happy," she says, her voice softer.

I haven't seen her in so long. She's older know. I can't just pick her up and carry her everywhere on my hip like I used to. But if there's something no kid can resist, it's sugar. "Do you want ice cream?"

She nods, her hands dropping to her sides as she shifts over to the counter that has each flavour of ice cream labelled in colourful letters.

Every movement she makes is filled with anxiousness. It tightens the empty confines of my heart, making me wish to stop feeling all together.

"So, uh, how have you been? What was it like with mom and dad?" I need some kind of baseline to know what I should do next. Even though my parents are acting like it, she is not a dog. She doesn't just need food and water and a daily walk.

She might need a lot of love and someone who understands her.

At the question, she somehow becomes more quiet. She barely moves. The ice cream she had just been spooning into her mouth is forgotten.

"That bad?" I barely had contact with her.

My sister, who I know and love more than anything, sits a meter away from me, and yet she feels miles away. It's not the same as on a call, where it's an endless string of 'one day' and 'I miss you'.

The day is today. There is a million things I want to say; a million things I want to show her.

"I am so happy you're here," I tell her, reaching across the table to squeeze her hand.

Tears immediately slip down her cheeks, her form crumbling. "First I lost my brother. Now, I have you back, but I have lost mom and dad. When does it end? Why can't I have a normal family? It's not fair."

"I know. Life can be really tough. It's meant to test you and bend you and mould you. But each day that you keep going, you get stronger. And I'm here now. You've got me, and you will always have me. Okay?"

The redness of her cheeks, the water glossing her eyes. I want to take it all away. If there is one thing I know, it's that I will give everything for her. I'd sell my organs for her, if I had to.

I can't believe she is here.

"So . . ." I don't know how this starts, or where I would need to go from here. The government should be able to help with funds for her education or something, but I don't know how the childcare system works and I am nervous that  if I make the wrong move, she could be taken from me again and put into the foster care system.

I will not lose her again.

With the money from the company my dad left behind, I will be able to take care of her. I won't send the money to my parents anymore. Still, she is going to have to make some adjustments that she is not going to like. "Are you alright with going to school online for this year? I know it sounds strange, and it'll make it harder to make friends—"

She is nodding her head before I can finish my sentence. "You mean I don't have to go in to school? I don't have to talk to people? Yes, I'm okay with that."

"Do you not like people?"

Her hand rubs up and down her arm. "No. Why would I like people?"

I assess her, from the baby hairs escaping from her ponytail to the creases in her blue shirt. Every part of her seems different. Foreign. "What do you like?" I'm guessing not barbie dolls and dress up anymore.

"I like art and dancing. At home I started dance class and it—" She halts her speech and then slows down, as if being more wary with her words. I don't know why she is being so restrained with me. Possibly because I feel foreign to her too. It has been a while. "It feels like a way to forget about the bad things in the world."

I stand and gesture for her to follow me. "If you like to dance, I've got somewhere we can go." There is a a club that I know where they have silent dance parties every evening. I've been once or twice in the past, with Jamie. I think she would like it.

She stands and smiles up at me, her guard finally falling. "Do you like to dance?"

"To be honest, I haven't danced in a very long time. I am probably going to embarrass you horribly."

As we walk out the door, she nods, watching me. "Back home, my friend would say that's what brothers are for. Her brother would—" The words are cut off by her muffled scream.

A black bag slips over my head, darkening the world. Strong hands grip me, pushing me to my knees. My sisters screams stop, and my stomach lurches in fear of the worst.

•<•>•

*winks slowly*

T w i t t e r : xPineappleGirlx
I n s t a g r a m : laylaawrites
Y o u t u b e : xThePineappleGirlx

Lots of love and jelly tots - xThePineappleGirlx