Deceiving looks

"Lily, you have fifteen more minutes to get ready, then I'm leaving with you or without you," my sister shouted at me.

"Ok, I will be down in a minute," I replied while applying eyeliner on my waterline. It was my junior year and I needed my first day to be eventful. When I was done getting ready I ran downstairs with a half eaten pop tart in my hand. My sister Chloe was already in the car, eager to get to work. I hopped into the passenger seat and Chloe sped out of the driveway.

Chloe was my older sister who had been raising me since our parents had died in a severe car accident a few years ago. I took a glance at the speedometer and saw that she was going seventy five mph in a forty five mph speed limit.

"Slow down," I warned her.

She snapped, "Shut the hell up!"

I put my middle finger up at her and asked, "What the fuck is your problem?"

She let out a sigh. "I'm sorry. I've just been so stressed lately since Jonathan died."

Jonathan was her boyfriend. Well, former boyfriend. I had killed him about a month ago, but the final disposition stated that it was a suicide. I remembered when I killed him just like it was yesterday.

I had walked into our house after coming back from a party and heard Chloe and Jonathan arguing.

"Ever since your parents died you've been trying your hardest to raise Lily. I know she's your sister and you love her, but you need to start thinking about yourself more." Jonathan’s tone of voice suggested he was trying to be comforting, but it was raised and there was an edge to it that gave me the feeling they’d been through all of this many times before. I followed his voice towards the kitchen and peeked around the edge of the doorway.

They were standing facing each other in the middle of the kitchen, their bodies tense. Chloe had her arms folded over her chest defensively, but her hands were clenched into fists.

Chloe shouted, "What do you want me to do? Send her to her godparents, who couldn't give two shits about her!"

He replied, "You need to do something, and besides, you know they care about her. Maybe not as much as you do, but they still care."

 "No, I can't. I just can't."

He said to her, "You need to. Maybe you can have her on weekends, but dealing with a teenager and trying to pursue your dreams at the same time is very hard."

Tears began to fall down my cheeks. I couldn't live with my godparents! They didn't care about me like my sister did. My sister was the closest thing to my parents, and she couldn't leave me. I wouldn't allow it.

He gave her a peck on the lips.

She said, "Ok, maybe you're right... We'll talk more about it in the morning."

No they won't, I thought.

"Trust me, at the end of the day you'll be glad when you let her go.”

Let me go? He was talking as if I was about to die or something. How about I let him go? He began to walk towards the door. I ran upstairs into my room, ready to let all my anger out on my pillow. I wanted to kill him right then and there, but I couldn't. I forced myself to maintain my patience and resisted the urge to choke him until he turned blue.

The next day at about 8:00pm I looked at Chloe. "I'm tired and I have a test tomorrow."

She smiled at me. "’k, goodnight. Love you."

I went over to kiss her on the cheek. I went to my room, locked my door, and pulled my hair into a sloppy bun. I put sweatpants on, my new balance sneakers, and a jacket. I took Chloe's car keys and snuck out my back window. I waited outside Jonathan's house until 11:00pm, when all the lights finally cut off in his house. I got out of the car and took the keys he had given to my sister out of her glove department. I unlocked the door. I'd been to his house before, knew the layout, so as soon as I put my gloves on I got to work. The kitchen was downstairs and Jonathan's bedroom was upstairs, so I left the kitchen door open and shut all the others, putting rolls of cloth under them to limit air flow. I quietly opened his bedroom door, careful not to wake him, went back downstairs and switched the gas on the stove on, and left.

A few days later I woke up to Chloe crying. I ran to her room.

"What's wrong?"  I asked, even though I already knew.

She looked at me. "The police just called." She paused. "John... he committed suicide.”

I looked at her and forced tears to come out my eyes. "You aren't serious, are you?"

She began to sob loudly. "I'm serious. His neighbor was supposed to go jogging with him that morning and he walked in to find him dead on the floor."

Damn, I forgot to lock the door, I thought. Still, the body would have been found eventually. Better the neighbour found it than Chloe. Hurting Chloe had been incidental rather than deliberate, an unfortunate side effect of a necessary act. 

They probably hadn’t described the state the body had been in by the time it was found to Chloe, but I could imagine it. Sallow and bloated, past the stiffness of rigor mortis, and starting to smell. With the hot, humid weather we’d been having there might have even been some maggot activity getting started.

She looked at me and grabbed my hand. "Lily, you're the only person I have left and I will never leave you... ever! I promise."

I looked up at her and asked her, "Pinkie Swear?" I held out my right pinkie.

She attached her pinkie to mine. "Pinkie Swear."

I smiled at her and went to my room to finish watching a show. I didn't want Chloe to go through all this pain. If Johnathan had just minded his business none of this would have had to happen.

Snapping back into reality, I looked at her. "Everything is going to be alright, Chloe. Things are gonna turn around for us."

After she pulled the car up in front of my school, I gave her a hug.

"Have a good day today, Lily," she told me.

I smiled at her. "You too." I shut the door of the car and she pulled off.

This year was gonna be my year. I could feel it. I would be the most adored, dominant, and popular girl ever known to walk the halls of Silver Creek High School. Even though I was every year, this time I would have more power than I ever had before.

Authors Note: Next time story will be longer. If you look at the multimedia you will see a photo of Lily. I will post photos of her with every story. Special thanks to my editor @overlordpotatoe . Stay tuned !