I sprint through my front door with panic and worries. I rush upstairs, my breathing is uneven and my heart pounding inside my chest and I stop in front of my siblings room door, trying to control my breathing.
I push the door open and my eyes immediately fall at both of my siblings, sitting down on the floor with their eyes fixed on their books as they write down words on it.
A sigh comes past my lips and the panic and worry inside my body vanishes within a second and a little smile form on my face as I keep staring down at them, leaning on the door frame.
Why are they so diligent, not like me?
At school, they always and never out of the top ten rank in their classes. And then there's me, a student with average score on her classes. I'm not really smart, I am, but I'm grateful they're not like me, they even more than me. And I hope could do anything better than me.
As I break out of my reverie, my eyes goes to Luna who's staring at me with her brown eyes already open wide and freeze on her spot in shock. She comes up to me in a flash and wrap her arms around my shoulders. Sam follows after her and wrap his short arms around Luna and me.
"Anne, where were you? I thought you leave us." I keep staying there, breathless, her brown hair tickling my nose and all of my face. I scrunch my face, feeling like I'm going to sneeze, and move her hair away from my face, still having the ticklish feeling on my face.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you both. I just went to the shop, buying something."
And it's a lie.
But if I tell them the truth, she would ask me nonstop about why am I sad and everything that has to do with it.
Luna and Sams lets go of me and I take in a deep breath. She takes a step back, her beautiful face now already covered with a frown. I look down at Sam who stares at me with a pout.
"You're scaring me, you know?"
I let out a sigh, regretting myself for going out of the house without telling my siblings and make them worried over me. I bring my gaze back to Luna from Sam, staring at her apologetically.
"Sorry for scaring you. I promise I will tell you if I want to go out next time." I stare at her reassuringly, and she nods her head, the frown lingering on her face.
"Okay."
"You're doing your homework, am I right?" I smile, hoping she would forget about this soon. She nods her head slightly as she turns around.
"Yeah." She walks back to her spot and sit down next to Sam, his eyes already focused back to his homework.
"Is there something I can help?" I kneel down in front of them, my eyes goes back and forth from Luna to Sam. "Maybe I can help." (Actually, I know nothing. I just wanted to sound helpful).
"No thank you, Anne. This is the easiest homework that has ever given to us." Sam says, smiling at me and looking so adorable as he stares back to me with those brown eyes.
Phew. Thank to God, I don't have to help them then.
"Well then, good luck with your homework." I stand on my feet and look down at them, smiling happily as I wave at them and they return it with smiles showing on their faces.
I walk out of the room quickly, leaving them with their homework, afraid they would change their mind and ask me for to help them on their homework.
I guess I have nothing to do for the rest of the day.
I step into my cold room and close the door behind me. I walk towards my bed, feeling my heavy eyes begin to shut themselves close. I try my hardest to make it stay open wide.
I drop myself carefully onto my worn out bed. I climb deeper into my bed and lay on my back, my eyes fixed on the ceiling.
Where will I work next month? Can I see my family everyday? Or I can't see them because I work at the palace? Why does time passing so fast? It feels like I'm just a kid a month ago. And it feels like I'm just having a brother and sister a few weeks ago. But now, I'm already 18. And soon, I will start working on my own. Ready or not.
What would happen to my family? What would happen if I leave them? My hometown is far from the palace. If I work at the palace, I'm not going to know what are they doing everyday. And I won't have a chance to see my brother and sister growing up.
"Anne, wake up. It's dinner." I feel a pair of hands shaking my body, waking me up from my deep sleep. I stay there for awhile, still gathering my strength and a little yawn escapes my mouth.
Wait, it's dinner time already?
I pull myself to sit abruptly and feel Luna jumps to her feet in shock. I rub my eyes, trying to get rid of the drowsiness in it.
"Okay, I'm going to cook now." I stand up from my bed, and begin to move my feet when Luna says.
"You don't need to. Dad already cooked the dinner." I spin my head quickly, narrowing my eyes at my clock.
8.15.
What?! That mean I'm already asleep for 8 hours?! Oh God. I'm such a heavy sleeper. And how could I sleep for that long?
It should be me that's cooking the dinner, it's my job in this house, although dad doesn't really let me to do it. And if dad is the one who cooks the dinner, at least I should give him a hand and help him out.
"Come on. I'm hungry." She pulls my hand with her, waking me up from my daze and follow her out of my room.
"Okay, okay." A chuckle comes out from me as she pulls me further downstairs.
We step into the kitchen, that is also the dining room, and find dad and Sam, already have their own seats at the dining table, discussing about something. Sam stares at him seriously and nod his head a few times as dad say something to him.
"Hi, dad. I'm sorry I didn't help you to cook the dinner." I hug him for a second and take the seat beside him, frowning as I see him looking back at me.
"It's okay, Anne. I didn't want to wake you up, you seemed so tired." A smile showing on his aging face as he stares at me. My own smile has it ways to my face without me realizing.
"Thanks, dad." He nods slightly. "Have a seat." He motions his hand to the chair in front of him and I nod. He averts his gaze from me and begin to dig into his dinner.
I take a seat and begin to grab a spoonful of a mashed potato and stuff it into my mouth.
Mhmm. This taste so good.
I don't know why, but I'm curious why dad can cook such a delicious meal with such little ingredients. I mean, it looks ordinary, like this mashed potatoes and steamed chicken. But it taste more than it looks. I'm so happy when he's cooking, but I don't want to make him tired.
"Dad, can I ask you something?"
"Sure, anything." He shrugs as he stops himself from eating.
"Where do you learn how to cook?" He smiles at my question.
"Oh, I learned it from your grandmother. She was such a great cook. She taught me how to cook when I was the same age as Sam." He looks at Sam, smiling at him.
"Really?" Sam averted his eyes from his dinner, stops eating his dinner as he stares at dad with amazement. I smile at his bewilderment and cute face.
"Yes, Sam. She teach me how to cook a lot of different dishes." He smiles at Sam who's still looking at him in awe.
"Can you teach me?" He gives dad his puppy eyes.
"Can you teach me, too?" Luna grins, practically bouncing on her seat excitedly. Dad laughs at them, I join him in an instant.
Their faces looks so silly.
"Yeah, sure." Sam and Luna cheers, makes me and dad laugh once again.
"Anne, I'll wash the dishes." He stacks all of the dirty plates and spoons on the table, clanking sounds fills the quiet kitchen. I put my hand on his, trying to get his attention, and he stops himself from his doing.
"Dad. I'll wash the dishes."
"Anne, please, let me wash the dishes." He pleads. It almost make me laugh at him as he stares at me pleadingly, trying to get me not to wash the dishes like he would do every time after meals. I let out a sigh, and look at him seriously.
"No, dad. You already cooked the dinner. So, I'll wash the dishes. Besides, you just got home from the town and you must be tired, right? You have to rest. I don't want you to get ill." He sighs as his face fell down, giving up about this 'dish-washing' thing.
"Okay then, you can wash the dishes." He frowns sadly at the floor, eyes searching for the ground.
I know he's just acting. He always do that every time thing like this happen. I grin at him, like an idiotic I am.
"Okaayy." I slur on the word teasingly, still grinning like crazy.
He huffs a laugh, giving up on his act. He pats my shoulder and then walk lazily to the living room but stop halfway, and I anticipate myself if he's going to argue about who's get to wash the dishes again.
"Oh, Anne. I have something for you." He walks back towards me as he pulls something out from his pocket. I look at him in confusion and stare at his clasped hand curiously.
"What is it?"
"This." He unclasps his hand and I look into it.
A necklace, with a little crescent moon pendant steal my attention and I stare at it with admiration. I look up at him, an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach.
He shouldn't be giving me this. Today is my birthday, but I don't expect him to buy anything for me. And I don't want him to buy me anything. God knows how much it costs.
I look up at him, frowning. "You don't have to buy me this, dad."
"It's okay. This is your 18th birthday. Just take it, Anne." I bring my eyes back at the palm of his hand and stare at the necklace hesitantly.
I take it from his hand, feeling the cold necklace against my skin. I look up at him again, smiling gratefully at him.
"Thank you, dad."
"Don't mention it. Want me to help you put it on?" He offers.
"Uh, sure." He take the necklace from me and I turn around nervously, letting him to put the necklace on. As the necklace clasped, its cold metallic links touches my skin.
I look down on the little pendant and touch it, examining it once again. I turn around and look at him, smiling widely.
"This is beautiful, dad."
"I know. That's why I bought it for you." He touches the tip of my nose and I move away from him a little, giggling a little and smile at him again. "Thanks, dad."
"Sure, Anne." He smiles and walk to the living room.
I pick up the dishes and carry it to the sink, still feeling giddy because of the necklace he gave me. I wash all the dishes until they all clean enough, humming a song to myself.
I dry my hands with a cloth and make my way upstairs. I keep walking toward my room, humming quietly. Some voices from my siblings room make me stop in front of their room door. I keep standing there, and laughter fills the closed room.
I open their room door slowly, peeking through the gap between the door without them noticing. I keep pushing the door open slowly, with them still not realizing it. Until it wide open. They still laughing with each other, clutching their stomachs, and didn't even notice me looking at both of them.
Are they that distracted?
I clear my throat, folding my arms in front of my chest as I stand at the doorway with my face, all serious. They stop laughing within a second, looking at me with their eyes open wide in shock. And they just sit there, on Luna's bed, stiffly.
A fit laughter almost escape from me as I stare at them. I keep my face as straight as possible as I stare back at them. I even try to look annoyed by them.
Damn, their faces are so silly.
"Go to sleep, now. It's already late." Huffs break the silence in the room and they pout as they whine at me.
"But I don't want to." Sam crosses his arm of his chest, frowning.
"Oh, Sam, " I pout. "But you have to. If you don't sleep now, you're going to get ill."
"Fine." He sighs and jumps off of Luna's bed and climb into his bed slowly. As he climbs deeper into his bed, he covered his body with blanket, still having the pout on his face when he stares up at the ceiling.
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight." I tap on the lamp switch and the room turns dark instantly.
Oh God, their faces. So priceless.
I close the door behind me, my shoulder shuddering vigorously as I laugh quietly. I begin to make my way to my room, still smiling at the thought of their silly faces. I stop in my track as I heard Luna giggles.
You're joking, right?
Sighing, I roll my eyes and swing the door open quickly. They try to fake a sleep, but fail miserably at their attempt. I sigh loudly, pretending that I'm irritated by them. I cross my arm in front of my chest as I tap my feet loudly repeatedly onto the floor.
"I know you both still awake. Go. To. Sleep. Now. Don't talk to each other." They huff in frustration. "Don't mad at me."
"Okay, Anne." And they both shifting a little in their bed and close their eyes to sleep. I close the door, laughing quietly to myself again.
Why are they so silly?
I step into my room and close the door behind me. I go to my bookshelf and grab a book. I sit down on the bed, my back and head rests on the headboard. I read the book in focus as my eyes moving from one word to another.
And my eyes getting heavier as the minute of me reading the book keep on growing.