There she was

The story

There she was, Amy Gerstein, over by the pool, kissing my father. How I hated her for what she did to mother. Amy betrayed a trust my mother had in her, to help my father with his business. She slowly took the business duties from him, bit by bit, and did the same for my mother. There was a time I didn't hate Amy. A time when she would tell me the secrets to running a business successfully, without owing the banks money.

Amy was a professor of business studies, turned business advisor for hire. She helped lots of small companies like my father's shop turn their turnover into profit. She stayed around long enough to realise she was on to a winner with dad's business. I knew something was wrong, but I couldn't work out what it was. I'd got enough problems with school, I didn't see what she was doing until it was too late; for the business and my family.

Look at her. A youthful woman in her late twenties. Look at him, late forties feeling like a teenager again.

"There you go, making up lies again." That's what they told me when I finally figured out what she was up to. I'd come home one evening and found her going through dad's paperwork in his study. I didn't think anything of it at first, maybe it was a little odd her being in the house in the evening, a bit too dedicated to her job perhaps?

"Hey Jack," she said through the open door. "Good day at school?"

"I guess." It wasn't.

"Your dad's just getting me to go through some of the older paperwork, just to make sure we're not missing out on any owing bills. He should be back in a little while." I didn't really care, I was hungry, and at sixteen, that trumped curiosity at that time in the day.

"Whatever, I'm getting something to eat," I said. "Where's mum?"

"Don't know. She wasn't here when I got here a couple of hours ago."

This was suddenly trumping my hunger, as mum would always be home when I was back from school. If she wasn't, and it was very rare, she'd always leave a note or make sure dad was there. They didn't like me being at home by myself. Not since the accident with the fire. It was an accident, honestly!

Eloise was my half-sister, but everyone thought she was my cousin. She was sitting in the lounge with her feet up on the poof, watching TV. She was three years my senior and was a bit of a bitch when she was interrupted, so I let her be.

"Shit head," she said as I walked past her into the kitchen, not taking her eyes off the box.

"Sis." It wound her up when I didn't rise to the insults. Hey, we're siblings after all. The fridge door clunked open as I stared at the contents, wondering what I was thinking about before. There was some leftover pizza that I grabbed, still a little voice mumbling to itself in the back of my head.

"Mum," I suddenly remembered. "Elly, where's mum?" I said sticking my head through the serving hatch, ready to dodge any incoming projectiles.

"Buggered if I know. She wasn't here when I got home an hour ago."

Now that was unusual, a straight answer from her and - "Ow!" I spoke too soon. The shoe bounced off the service hatch door and clocked me in the eye. They were all the same I decided. Girls I mean. None of them can cope with their hormones, but then again, we as a gender don't seem to cope with them any better at that age. Something I look back on and laugh about now.

I checked the fridge door, no note from mum. This was very unlike her. I grabbed the phone from its stand on the kitchen worktop and speed dialled her cellphone. It went straight to voicemail.

"Mum's phone is switched off," I called through to Eloise, far enough away from being caught again.

"So what?" she shouted back. Eloise was dad's daughter from his first marriage. Her mum died when she was only one, and she never really took to mum as her own. Maybe she knew deep down early on that she wasn't her real mother. Dad had married again quickly, so we've been told, to make sure Elly had a sound upbringing.