Chapter 6
I moan loudly as the light shines down right on my face.
"What happened to the curtains?" I grumble, getting up and glaring at Arsen, who raises an eyebrow at me.
"I ate them," He deadpans, pointing to the curtains who were very much alive and breathing next to the window.
I roll my eyes, not in the mood to keep up my polite behaviour. It's been three weeks since they kidnapped me and nothing has happened to me so far, I think it's time I show my true colours.
I already started to about a week ago.
"Arsen?" I ask sweetly, and he looks at me.
"What?"
"Why are you such a dickhead?" I ask innocently, and his blank face stares back at me, showing no emotions. Like always.
"Why are you alive?" He mutters, and I immediately glared at him.
Although that question hit me as if a brick had been thrown at my heart.
I have been in this house for three weeks. I think I'm dead. Because my brain can't take this anymore.
I feel like I'm Anne Frank, the poor girl who was stuck in the annexe place for...I don't even know how many days.
"Anne was more sophisticated than you," Arsen says to me coldly.
Great, I said that out loud.
"Shut up, Arsen. You should be happy that I'm not a bossy idiot like you," I tell him.
"No, you're not a bossy idiot. You're annoying." He growls icily, and walks out, leaving me with my mouth open.
Out of anger.
I swear that guy doesn't think before he talks. Doesn't he know how angry he gets me?! And how much his words hurt?!
"I hate him with all my life!" I snarl to myself, walking into his bathroom, slamming the door shut and angrily stripping down to get into the shower.
Although, now that I think about it, he really is a bossy idiot.
He's so controlling all the time and acts as if he owns you. And it drives me insane. Does he not get the meaning of the word 'yes'? Because all I've ever heard him say is the opposite.
Almost as if he's demanding for you to not have fun. As a strict order from the queen, or something.
Great, now I'm thinking about him.
What's his problem, anyway? He leaves for about three days and comes back as if nothing ever went wrong! And we're all sitting in the house waiting for him. I'm not saying I'm worried, I'm just saying it's vexatious.
Does he not know what day it is? If he knew my twin sister so well then why hasn't he said anything?
Fucking prick.
*~*~*~*
"You okay?" Ameena asks as I walk into the kitchen and plop down on the seat, with the sourest expression I can muster.
I was hoping nobody would ask me that.
"I'm fine," I mutter, getting a weird look from Noah and an eye roll from Ace.
Okay, so here's the deal with Ace.
He hates me.
And I'm not just saying the 'cute, banter type hate where he actually really likes me but says he hates me for a joke' kind of hate, but the kind of hate where he doesn't care if I die and would most probably be the cause of my death.
Noah, on the other hand, is like an easy puppy.
He is so loyal and sweet and would do anything for you. He's pretty much everyone's right-hand man, but most of his loyalty is wasted on the prick-who-shall-not-be-named.
But I'm pretty sure we all know who.
I huff out a long breath and get up.
"I'm not hungry," I mutter, and I'm about to walk out of the living room, but clearly Ameena isn't done here.
"Why? You've barely eaten anything the past week, and now that it's Friday, I was expecting you to celebrate or something because you said before you were on some kind of funny diet and--are you mad?" She quickly asks.
Probably because I'm pretty sure I've got smoke coming out of my burning ears.
I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and try to calm myself. Although, when I open my eyes, everyone's looking at me, amused.
As if there's something funny happening here.
How dare they! How do they not know what day it is?! It was their gang who killed her!
"I said I'm not hungry," I growl, making Ameena blink out of surprise.
Except I don't care.
Today's about Xena, and that's what today's going to stay as. No bossy, controlling idiot can stop it. At all.
When everyone has stopped looking at me as if I've turned into an elephant, I walk out of the kitchen and up the stairs, barging past a very flustered looking maid.
I ignore her and make my way to the balcony, the only actual place I can calm my thoughts down.
Yeah, maybe I was angry, and yeah, maybe I always hide behind my happy emotions to block out the sad ones, but today, those emotions needed to be let out. And that's what I was planning to do.
I made sure I had my phone, for its purpose, and I didn't need any drinking glass from the kitchen because they had a whole barbeque set up here.
So, I did what any normal and angry person would do.
I took out my phone, and I went through it.
No, that's not the best bit.
I went through my photos and made sure I backed up every picture I had with Xena onto my iCloud account. I then went into my contacts.
I didn't need anyone in my contacts, I barely texted them when I used to see them every day, so why have them now?
It's not like Arsen'll allow me to text them or something.
I click on Xena's name and scrolled down through the many conversations I'd had with her.
None of them were important.
So, I turned my phone off completely and clenched it tightly in my hands. The phone my twin sister bought for me. On our last birthday ever celebrated together.
Her last birthday ever.
I needed to get rid of this phone. As cheesy as it sounds, the memories it holds isn't something that needs holding right now.
I stood there, in the middle of the balcony, a wall on my left and right, a railing in front of me, and a door behind me, and I thought about the past year I'd had without my sister.
Of Mackenzie and how she'd treated me and my two so-called friends.
Of how my mom had thrown me away, made me the third and last option to choose from.
How my stepfamily had treated me, how they'd jeered at me every time they saw me, how they broke me down, piece by piece.
How they made me stronger and weaker at the same time.
My anger was growing. So I did the one thing I could do right at that moment. Something that would cause my horrid memories to vanish into thin air.
I threw my phone with all the force I had in me.
It went flying to my right, and with a big crash, smashed into the wall. It banged onto the floor, the screen blasting into smithereens.
But I wasn't done.
I grabbed every single glass, every single shattering object, and I threw it. I threw the four cups, the five wine glasses, and the three regular glasses, and I threw them with all my might.
Everywhere and anywhere.
And I let it out.
I stood there, my fists clenched, and my mouth set in a straight line, and without realizing it, I started to cry. I cried, and for the first time, I wasn't ashamed of it.
I cried as hard as I could because these weren't tears of grief - they were tears of anger, of disappointment.
Because even though people say crying is for cowards, it isn't. It's for the people who've learnt the reality of life. If you don't let it out, you won't be able to bring anything in.
The beauty of sadness.
'It's the broken heart that can be mended,' my sister had once told me. I hadn't cared at the time, and I still don't care, but there was a lot of truth to it.
"She would've done the same," A deep, cold voice says from next to me, and I snap my head up to see Arsen standing there, his hands tucked in his pockets. I look at his face.
In all my years of knowing Arsen, I have never seen a proper expression on his face. On his blank, cold, expressionless face.
A day like this, a day like today, it seemed ironic how much his expressionless face fitted in with the bleak atmosphere. The dark rain clouds rumbling and hiding the sun.
Just like the ground was hiding my sister.
He knew.
"Yeah," I answer instead, my voice breaking. I wipe away the tears from my stained face.
Just like my stained heart.
I laugh.
"She wouldn't have thrown it at the wall, she would've thrown it at someone," I point out, and Arsen nods his head, his jaw clenching.
"I know you saw the picture in my dresser," He says after a while, and I look up at him, trying to fathom what his face said, now.
It was still the same. I had no idea what he was thinking or what emotions were inflicting him.
"How?" I ask. He carries on staring ahead.
"It was moved out of its position. And you went looking around, that's something Xena would do," His dark voice tells me. I stare at him.
"But...I'm nothing like her," I shake my head.
"No, you're not. But a few things are the same. You're both curious, you both have anger issues," He pauses. "You both love chocolate cake."
And at this point, I'm mesmerized. Because although Arsen's face is stone cold, and his voice is its normal, chilly self, his words are soothing. They're comforting.
As if he doesn't realize it, but he's making me feel a little bit better anyway. Just a tiny bit.
I glare at him, realizing how much he knew about Xena. How much he knew about me and I didn't even know.
"Your eyes," He suddenly states, and my eyebrows raise. I look over at him.
But his gaze isn't on me. It's straight ahead.
My eyes...
Is that why...
I take a sharp intake of breath.
Did I look like her? No one had ever said that we were similar. Definitely not our eyes. I was so desperate for my twin's approval, I never realized how alike we already were.
"I miss her so much," I breathe, and Arsen finally looks over at me, his face impassive.
"How did you...know her?" I ask.
Arsen shakes his head, running a hand through his hair.
"When my dad's aids went to the ice rink, they weren't looking for her, they were looking for y--somebody else. But because she looked like that girl, they took Xena instead, and when she came, I saw that it was the wrong girl. I couldn't let her die, so I did everything I could to keep my dad away from her. I kept her with me," Arsen says.
He made all of it seem so normal, so stupid. As if it were just...puppy love.
I look at him, at his face. No matter how hard I try, I can't tell what he's thinking.
"You were in love?" I ask, and Arsen glares at the dark clouds, his fiery eyes matching the expression.
"She was in love, Xanthe, I was just taking care of her," He sighs, which seems unusual. "My last year at school, when I came back from graduation to visit my father, I saw that he'd poisoned her, without asking or telling me."
At this, his jaw clenched, and I could feel my own hands balling into fists, tightly.
My nails were digging into my palms, and I could almost feel the blood coming out of the cuts my nails were making.
How dare he.
"Why did you go to school, Arsen? Why? Why didn't you just bring her back?! You had her at your PLACE! You could've brought her back, Arsen! Did you not think she had a family?! A sister?! Did you not once think that?!" I screamed, losing it.
When he looks away, I make him turn so that he's fully facing me. I carry on my rant.
But this time, after every word, I punch his chest. It may not have hurt him, or I may not have done it hard enough, but it made me feel better. And I needed it.
"You," Punch. "Could've done something!" Punch. "COULD'VE BROUGHT HER BACK!" Punch. "Reported to the police!" Punch. "Anything!" Punch.
I kept on screaming. Arsen tried to stop me, and eventually when I was getting tired, he grabbed my arms harshly, but instead of pushing me away, he pulled me closer.
I was taken aback for a second, but melted into his embrace, strangely liking the comfort.
He hugged me tight to his chest as cried, and even though I was mad at him, I held onto him. He let me cry on his black t-shirt and he let it soak.
I don't know how long I had been crying, because at some point it started to rain, and soon, we were both drenched. I didn't know if my face was wet because of tears or the rain, but I kept on crying.
Arsen still held onto me. And he still let me cry.
*~*~*~*
"We can't go to see her grave, because that means taking a plane," Arsen says coldly, and I look over at him with a knowing smirk on my face.
He narrows his eyes imperceptibly.
"No, Xanthe, we won't be able to get there in time," He growls. I snort.
"Well, you don't have to go. But I do. And I'll go, on my own," I smirk, emphasizing 'own'. He glares at me.
"I don't think so. You are not going to book a flight and go all the way to Canada alone," He snarls.
I raise an eyebrow at the intense force behind those words and let it hang in the air.
"Watch me," I say slowly, and grab his laptop from his lap, causing him to jerk up from his comfy position.
"Xanthe, give it back," He warns darkly, and I laugh, shaking my head.
"I can't, sorry not sorry," I smile cheekily, rushing to the corner of his room, where it's harder for him to see, turning my back to him and setting down his laptop to use it.
Unfortunately, for me, I don't see him coming up from behind.
"Xanthe," He growls deeply, and I jump.
I feel him reach across me to get his laptop back, his front pressing against me, and my beating heart comes close to stopping, before starting to run erratically all over again.
The only thing I can actually comprehend is the fact that he is close to me.
So, very close to me.
Way too close to me.
In fact, I can smell his Starburst breath on my--
Starburst?! Seriously?!
Damn, can he get any hotter?
As I stare at him, he cautiously takes his laptop, going as slow as he can since he's leaning over on one foot, and I think I actually sighed.
Actually, I did, because Arsen looks over at me and furrows his eyebrow, causing me to go beetroot red.
You idiot, why do you have to embarrass yourself every time?!
He strides over to his bed and sits down gracefully, his laptop propped up on his knees, and he looks over at me, blank expression forever embedded onto his stone cold face.
"Today's Friday," He starts, looking back at his computer. "And I have to do something in Canada, so I'll book tickets for next week, and we can both get our jobs done there." He looks at me, his voice impassive and cold - which is now his normal voice, as I've come to realize.
I pause for a second.
Wait...he's actually considering taking me to Canada?
Damn.
"That doesn't sound too bad," I answer, still confused. "But wait,"
He looks over at me. I plop down on my - his - chaise lounge.
"What are you going to do? In Canada, I mean," I ask. He just shakes his head.
"None of your business," He mumbles coldly, going back to his furious typing.
I sigh. Can't he hold a conversation?
"Okay, then, what are you doing on your laptop?" I try a different approach, although this time, it works because Arsen looks up, an undecipherable look on his eyes.
"Nobody told you," He asks, although it comes out as a statement rather than a question. I give him a 'duh' look.
"Told me what?" I ask his smart head.
"We got an order from Dean about a new mission."
I raise my eyebrows, surprised.
"Oh. What's the mission?" I ask. Arsen observes me for a while, before eventually speaking.
"We're going back to school," He says smoothly. "Including you."
My eyebrows shoot up and my jaw falls down.
"Am I not a part of the 'missing people' back in Toronto, though?" I ask, and Arsen gives me a look.
"We're going to be attending the school here. Reed Academy," He bluntly tells, and I raise an eyebrow at the name.
"It's--really?" I ask, and he nods.
"Named after my dad," He mutters coldly, as if not wanting me to hear. But I hear anyways, and I try not to let my mouth fall open.
I knew it!
So did I.
Yeah, right.
I did!
I'm the one who told you to ask, goofball. I'm your subconscious.
Fine. I'll give you that one.
"My mom owns the school," He says, and I raise an eyebrow.
Of course, she does! No wonder it was easier to get in without actually having to do anything. Like, you know, paperwork and forms, etcetera etcetera.
"Wait, so why is he sending us to school again?" I ask, and Arsen leans his head on the bed's headboard, closing his eyes and sighing deeply, still making his face seem expressionless.
It makes him look sexy--um, nice.
"We're going to spy," He starts as if he doesn't want to explain. "Worst bit isn't that."
I pause.
"There's a worst bit?! Isn't going back to school worse enough?" I ask him, and this time, he growls, making me straighten a little.
What's making him so angry?
"We have to work with Killahead NY," He mutters, rubbing his temples.
When he looks up at my confused expression, he glares.
"It's our other branch. From New York. They're going to be staying with us for a while," He snarls.
My eyebrows raise, and I smile happily, not at all noticing the fact that Arsen doesn't like it that I'm happy about spending time with a gang he hates.
This is going to be so epic!
"No, it isn't," He growls, and I snap up to look at him.
Oh, God, I said that out loud.
"Why are you guys such big enemies?" I ask, and he glares at me.
Way to go, bumhead. You made him madder than he already was.
Hey, I'm just asking...
"None of your business," Is all he says. I roll my eyes.
"That explains just about everything I've ever wanted to know!" I exclaim sarcastically.
"It wasn't meant to," He comments, and I fall back on the lounge, groaning loudly.
"How many of Killahead NY are there?" I ask.
"Four," He says. "Xanthe."
I look up.
"Yeah?" I ask, thinking I'm in trouble.
"Stay away from their leader," He warns in a deep tone.
It sends a shiver down my spine.
"Why?" I ask.
"Just stay away." Is how he answers me.
How am I meant to stay away from someone who's going to be living literally in the same house?
Seriously, Arsen?
Is he serious?
When is he ever not serious?
___________________________________________________________________________
3149 words.
If you liked this chapter, and want me to be more interesting in life, then...
Vote, COMMENT, Share!