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LOSALINI
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According to scientists, one of our universe's most deadliest planet was Venus. Yeah, it might have a pretty name, might be the brightest planet you can spot when you look up into the sky at dawn and you might just wish you could go there one day, but make no mistake, Venus' beauty is only in this case 'name deep'.
When I was in high school, in sophomore year we had to write a five page report study on any planet in the known universe. I chose Venus. I soon learnt that it was not only deadly but dangerous.
The atmosphere was too filled with carbon dioxide that the heat was trapped in the atmosphere, warming the planet to temperatures that would make the national heatwave years back seem like a day in Antarctica. Once you land on the surface you would baked alive, fried to a crisp like bacon.
Why was I even mentioning this?
Well, because right now, as Douglas drove me home, I would rather be on deadly Venus then in his Aston Martin, being driven home.
No one said a word in the first five minutes of the ride and the idiot forgot to turn on the radio before I got on, which left us in awkward silence. And he couldn't very well turn it on now because that would just make things more awkward. I fiddled with the buckle of my bag and just resigned myself to admiring the passing scenery beyond the glass tinted windows as Douglas drove down the highway.
Douglas cleared his throat minutes later when we were just less than ten minutes from home as if he wanted to say something.
I turned to face him, wondering what he was doing.
"I'm...I'm..." He let out a grunt of frustration as he kept his eyes on the road. I noticed his hands tighten around the steering wheel. "I'm sorry." The words hung there in the the tensed atmosphere for a couple of seconds before I finally understood what he was doing.
"Is this an apology?" I asked, my eyes still trained on him.
He nodded. "What I did was wrong. I know that now and I hope you forgive me and we can go back to the way things were."
I sighed. "Okay, fine. But one quick question, were you just being nice to me throughout this entire week because you felt bad for me getting into an accident or was it because of Georgia coming?"
His eyes darted to look at me, his eyebrows furrowed together before they were back on the road. "I was being genuine."
"Why? I'm sorry, but it's scaring me. One second you want me gone then suddenly you're nice. I don't believe it."
He nodded. "I get it. But after your accident I just thought 'she's stuck with me in this whole situation and she doesn't want to be in it as much as I do'. And I just accepted that we'll be together for the entire summer. Why should we live it with all the hatred and distress, right?"
"Riiiiight," I dragged out the words as I tried to understand if he was being genuine or not.
"I'm serious, Krystal," he chuckled lightly. "This is not some modern rendition of Mean Girls or something. I actually want us to start over again, forgetting everything that happened before."
"You watched Mean Girls?" I burst out laughing as I pictured him watching Mean Girls on his massive flat screen while eating popcorn.
Douglas scowled at me as if to say 'Seriously?'
"Okay sorry. But really?"
He nodded as he looked at me. "Really."
"Okay then. Fine."
Silence dawned for a couple of minutes as my thoughts wandered everywhere. Our new arrangement, how Nancy's day had gone and whether I should truly believe that Douglas was willing for us to start again. Then finally it dwelled on a question I'd been curious about for a long time now. That question stayed on my mind until we pulled up in front of my house.
"What are you thinking right now?" Douglas asked after I continued to stay in the car and not get off.
"What?" I asked, as I shook away the conspiracies I was concocting.
"Your eyes are telling me your somewhere else, they're hooded, your eyebrows are furrowed like they always are when you're thinking intensively of something else and you have that expression as if you're having an internal war with yourself over something."
My jaw unhinged as I started back at him in shock. How long had I been spaced out for him to study me so extensively?
"What?" He chuckled nervously when I just stared at him in awe.
"Nothing," I shook myself and focused on his question. "It's nothing." I moved to open the door.
Suddenly I heard the sound of the door being locked. "You're not leaving until you tell me," he smirked at me playfully. "Didn't we just say we'll start over? Now's the best time."
The words were on the tip of my tongue, but there they remained frozen. I couldn't ask him. I shouldn't.
"Krystal," his words broke into my contemplation. "Just tell me."
"I don't think you'd particularly like my question," I said honestly.
"I'll be the judge of that."
"No really. You don't like the question and I know."
"Krystal."
"Unlock the door, Douglas. Let's leave the new friendship at this point for tonight and start again tomorrow."
"Oh come on. How bad can it be?"
I huffed in frustration. Turned out the whole stubbornness streak ran in the family and if what I had experienced today was anything to go by, Douglas was not letting this go. Might as well satisfy my curiosity. "Fine. What happened to your mom?"
You literally could hear a pin drop as soon as the words slipped out.
This time I took the chance to study him.
Douglas' eyes widened at the question before he closed his eyes for a couple of seconds and just stayed that way. His fingers tightened around the wheel again and I heard him draw in a huge lungful of air as if to calm himself.
I was ready to break down the door at this point to run away if things turned sour, which they were already starting to.
"Douglas?" I asked.
He held up a hand as if to silence me.
"Douglas?" I tried again, ignoring his warning. "I told you you wouldn't like it."
He chuckled dryly. "That you did." Finally he opened his eyes and he just stared at the now darkening streets of my suburban area.
"It's okay. You don't have to tell me anything."
He nodded. "I know." He sighed as if he felt the whole world's weight on his shoulder as he leaned back and let go of the steering wheel. "Tell you what. You go read up on it. You have a computer and internet, right?" I could feel the downplayed frustration in his voice and it was a feat already that he hasn't thrown me out of his car yet. "Let me know what you think of the truth, or," he paused as he looked my way, "my dad's version of it anyway." His voice soured at the end of his words as if they left a bad aftertaste to his mouth.
I had thought it was just your typical father and son misunderstanding when we met that day, added to the fact that Douglas had totaled his Lamborghini, but watching him now, it seemed to go way past that and was buried deep within.
"Okay," I nodded, hoping he would forgive me for bringing it up in the first place. I could've said something else other than that was bothering me, but I didn't. Stupid Krys! "I'll ...uh, see you tomorrow?"
He nodded as he unlocked my door. "See you tomorrow."
I got out of the car and released a sigh in relief. I didn't end up in a ditch mascaraed and Douglas and I had somewhat come to an understanding.
Douglas drove away without a goodbye soon after and I understood that he was still lost in his thoughts.
After a quick greeting to Nancy when I entered the house and informing her that I was going to do something, I went into my room, threw my bag onto the vanity and grabbed my laptop.
After waiting for what felt like forever for my ancient internet to connect to my laptop, I typed up Google and entered 'Sebastian Burns and wife' into the search engine.
An article of their wedding from twenty five years ago showed up. A younger version of Mr Burns with a redhead who appeared to be in her early twenties, dressed in a beautiful white wedding dress, mirrored smiles on their faces as they posed for the camera.
I instantly recognized her to be the immortalized woman in the painting that I had seen on the first day at the Burns mansion. The painting had disappeared the second day I went there.
Under the photo, the words 'Sebastian Burns and his lovely bride Athena Burns'.
Athena Burns? So that was her name.
I opened up a new tab and typed in Athena Burns death. The article was dated 18th July 2003.
I clicked on the first article entitle 'The sudden passing of the kind-hearted Mrs Burns'
She diminished the thin line between classes and acted on the believe that everyone was equal. She rose to the occasion and donated millions to charities for orphaned children and gave a day in her week dedicated to running a food drive for the homeless.
Our saint in this desiccated town, Athena Burns passed away on the sixteenth at four in the afternoon.
The family have since released a statement that she suffered from a chronic illness which they wished to remain private and that this disease had then claimed her life from them.
When asked who had discovered her, the family's spokesperson replied that her only son, Douglas Burns had discovered her when he came back from school that day.
Mrs Burns will, we can confidently say, be missed sorely and her presence will always be seen through the many charities and foundations she has built in the glorious time of her life.
Athena Burns is survived by her husband, conglomerate king, Sebastian Burns and her eleven year old son, Douglas Burns.