Ruby

~Chapter One~ Alarm Clock

I walked through the hallway and then down a set of stairs. Right next to the bottom of the stairs was the kitchen. It was also the dining room. There, I saw Chloe; my younger sister. She was sitting at the table eating cereal. Mom was in the kitchen preparing some eggs. I wondered what time it was since I was too busy throwing my clock rather than looking at the time. I sat down at the round dinner table that was smooth and made out of wood, like almost all tables. The chairs matched the table. They had a small red cushion on each seat, which was very comfortable.

"Is today Saturday?" I asked my mom, although, Chloe answered the question instead.

"Duh!"

"I wasn't asking you." Chloe then stuck her disgusting little tongue out at me. I did the same to her. We acted both very childish, even for our age. Mother's head was turned and facing the stove where she was cooking eggs. She didn't seem to notice anything that was happening around her. She didn't even hear Chloe's rudeness.

Chip was sitting at his water bowl which was full of fresh water, so I assumed that someone refilled it this morning. He drank out of his bowl while I began to think. Why was my alarm clock on? Did I turn it on for some reason, but don't remember doing it? I'm a kind of person who would do something like that.

"I'm glad you're dressed." Mom said as she set a plate of scrambled eggs in front of me, along with a fork. Then, she went back into the kitchen to get some salt for the eggs. "Did I tell you that you're visiting your cousins today?" Mom asked. She turned around to see my answer after she grabbed the salt and pepper shakers. I shook my head. I had no idea what she was talking about.

"Yes, I'm dressed, but you never told me I was going somewhere today." I said, glad that I already got dressed today.

"Well you are. I thoght I told you. You'll be leaving later on in the afternoon, but you have to run some errands with me before you go."

"You never mentioned that before, but which cousins?"

"You've never meet them before." I looked down at my eggs, thinking about what my new relatives would be like. Chloe continued to eat her cereal, and I began to eat my breakfast after dashing some salt on them.

"What are their names?" I asked after my mom sat down at the table with her own plate of eggs. She also had an orange.

"Can't really remember. They live in up further in the state with your aunt Mary. They're brother and sister, but some other cousins you haven't meet before as well are going up there the same time you are."

"6:30... P.M." I then gave a look of disgust. The alarm clock, which apparently Chloe had set, woke me up for no reason at all since the train didn't leave until after I'd normally eat dinner. Mom then handed me the salt. I dashed a bit onto my eggs and began to complain.

"So you're saying you turned on my alarm for no good reason?" I asked.

"Chloe, why would you do that?" Mom asked my sister. The child shrugged and I shook my head. "Well anyways, eat up and then take Chip out for a walk after you do your chores, then come back by 1:00." Chip heard his name and looked up from his drinking bowl. Realizing that we didn't really want his attention, he left into the living room which was next to the dining room. Still curious about these cousins, I asked another question.

"Which cousins are we visiting?"

"It's just you and Chloe who are visiting. My sister in-law's husband's brother's son is who you're visiting. I think."

"Then they're not just 'cousins'. More like cousins in-law, 3 times removed."

"Something like that, sort of." My mom said. She looked up at the ceiling, like she was trying to think, which I'm sure that's what she was doing. I ate my eggs silently and Chloe finished her breakfast. She was eating cereal, which she ate quickly. After she had finished, she went upstairs without saying a word. Mom then went into the living room, but I caught her before she was able to exit the room with another question.