Pebbles

Normalities

The doorbell rang.

Normal, right? Two sharp notes.

Ding. Dong. 

Only, it was one o'clock in the morning.  And I had been sleeping on the couch, because my room was being painted.

Less normal, but still boring.

My computer was resting on my stomach, and I was surprised that it hadn't burned a hole in my blanket.

   I could hear my parents running down the stairs.

I shut my eyes. Personally, I don't want them to know I'm awake. For obvious reasons.

My dad answered the door in his housecoat and slippers.

"Hello, sir. What do you want?"

There was a tone of angry recognition in his voice. Maybe the late-comer was a family member. My parents were... Secretive. I've never met my cousins. Most of my family is dead, anyway.

Okay, even less normal. Sorry, getting off track. 

I heard the someone shift their weight.

"I want to see your daughter, the one named Kiara."

It was a man's voice, with a Russian accent so thick, I was sure it was fake.

I stiffened at the mention of my name.

"We don't have a daughter."

My mom spoke now.

I quietly got off the sofa. The hardwood floor was cold on my bare feet.

My foot stuck a little as I made my way to the hall, and peeked around the corner.

What could be so bad that my parents lied about my very existence?

Of course, I soon figured it out.

The Russian man was a giant. He filled the entire boot room. He wasn't even fat, just tall. And stocky. His face was the worst.

Cut up and misshapen, one bright green eye poked out under a prominent brow, rippled with a scar. The other one was covered with an eyepatch.

It wasn't an ugly face, really. Just... Unnatural.

It kept flickering in and out of focus, as if he couldn't decide what to look like. I had to squint to see him.

"Yes. Yes, you do. Kiara."

My parents shared a glance.

"She's sleeping."

I took a deep breath. What I was about to do, in all it's simplicity, would ultimately, ruin my life.

I just didn't know it yet.

"No I'm not."

I walked around the corner. The door was still open, and I had just stepped into the line of cold. I hugged myself, and cursed the fact that I had no winter pyjamas.

The man smiled kindly, it was a strange expression for his cruel face, and it looked almost fake, but his eye sparkled with warmth.