Dual

Chapter one: Meeting Zoe

Zoe

Zoe opened her eyes, before immediately closing them shut again, blinded by the sun rays which mercilessly penetrated the room. She slowly sat up, patting around her in search of her glasses, sighing in relief when she finally found them, she was after all, practically blind without them. She quickly put them on, before glancing at her small alarm clock : 7:00 A.M. She cursed before abruptly jumping off her bed and onto her feet, as if struck by lightning. She changed into some jeans, so ripped and faded, they were barely decent, and her favorite t-shirt, the one with Jim morrison's face on it, it had belonged to her dad hence the fact that it was twice her size. She bolted out the door and raced down the steps as fast as humanly possible, silently praying that her parents were still asleep.

« Zoe, honey, what's wrong ? Where are you going ? » Zoe heard her mother ask and she cringed at the sound of her voice

Zoe stopped in her tracks before slowly turning around to face her mother, whom, just as always, was wearing her favorite bathrobe, which, at one time must have been beige colored, but now looked more greyish than anything. She looked so frail, with her unruly hair, where a few white threads were starting to surface, and the dark circle under her big grey eyes, making them pop out even more. It seemed like at the slightest gust of wind, she would fly away.

« Uh...I am...uh...late for school ! » Zoe said cringing yet again at her own inability to provide a plausible lie

« But it's Saturday... » She said looking confused

« Uh...yeah...but I have to meet up with some friends for a project... » Zoe explained

« Again ? Zoe stop lying... you can't keep disappearing like this every day ! I'm starting to think you're trying to avoid us ! » She said

« I really gotta go mom... see you later » Zoe said before quickly running out, ignoring her mother's pleas.

As soon as she was out of the house, Zoe let out a sigh. She was lucky to have escaped her mother so smoothly this time, it was always the same ritual, her mother trying to know about her whereabouts and her doing everything so she didn't find out. It wasn't like Zoe hated her mother or anything, on the contrary, she adored her, but Zoe knew that if she stayed home, she would have to face Francois, and that was something she dreaded and despised having to do.

Zoe gracefully walked to the sidewalk in front of her house, happy with herself for having avoided a delicate situation : explaining why she couldn't stay home because the mere sight of her step-father made her want to puke. As she walked to the bus stop she quickly glanced at her old dented watch, and as every time she did she smiled internally. This watch had been a gift from her dad for her 9th birthday, to anyone else it must have looked like an old dented watch, but it was particularly dear to her as it reminded her of the time they had been happy, the time they had been a family.

Zoe's father had died the year before, not from some fatal illness or a murder, not theatrical enough, instead, he had died from losing the one and only love of his life, his ex-wife, and Zoe's mother. His body had been found lying next to several bottles of Merlot, and an empty bottle of sleeping pills, and of course, a letter, explaining his actions. Zoe had never understood what could have pushed her dad to go to such extremes, after all, he had always seemed so happy. She had often thought about imitating her father, and going to meet him, but like everything she started, she could never go all the way.