Loving the Dead

It's a bit early to get up but it's okay, it's my birthday after all. I'm gonna turn twenty-three today, yay!! I know no one of my age is excited to be twenty-three, but I don't know why, but I just feel like something big is gonna happen. It's only six in the morning, so waking up my sister would bring me nothing but misery. So I convinced myself to make breakfast for the whole family. It's a family thing where the birthday girl or boy has to make breakfast. I know weird. No one ever told me that making pancakes would be this hard. I mean just mix the ready-made batter, pour it, spread it, and flip it. Like how hard is it? But my stupid and clumsy ass couldn't even get that right. All the loud banging noises from the kitchen must have woken up my sister as I saw her trudging down the hallway to the kitchen with a death stare directed toward me. "What is wrong with you that you are making such loud noises at...seven in the morning?", she whisper-shouted. "Good morning to you too, sister.", I shot back. "What on earth are you making?", she asked. "Umm... pancakes, why though?", I asked. "The whole family loves you." "I know Lisa.", I snapped back at her. "Then why are you trying to kill us, like what have we ever done to you?", and she busted out laughing at her own jokes. After what felt like hours of work, arguments, and lectures between us, we finally finished making breakfast. This is what I absolutely love about my elder sister. No matter how much we fight with each other, and act cold towards each other, she is always there for me. After all, she was the one who convinced dad to let me work in our family business. My dad owns a chain of restaurants and hotels all over the world. After some time, the maids started coming in, so we called our parents for breakfast after I made her swear to secrecy. After breakfast, dad and Lisa went to work while I stayed back for one more hour to get ready for my first day. I had a degree in art and design so I made sure to take all of my ideas with me. I had requested my dad not to tell anyone that I'm his daughter as I wanted to start from the beginning. The world and media know he has two daughters, but only Lisa's face is out in public as I was not a very big fan of so many cameras in front of me and my private life being hampered. After getting ready, I decided to walk to the bus stop as I liked availing of public transport. I wasn't like the rest of my family. While the rest liked going to fancy restaurants, I liked the small booths in a diner, and while they liked to go on vacations, a walk in the park would suffice. Hence, a walk sounded good right now to calm my nerves. On my way to the bus stop, something very weird happened. Like someone was calling me. It wasn't like a voice in my head or a voice in general, it was like my instinct calling out to me. Deciding to follow my instinct, I let my feet drag me. After what felt like five or ten minutes, I stopped and looked around. It was a deserted cemetery. For anyone, this cemetery would look creepy and terrifying, but that feeling did not surpass me. Instead, it felt familiar. Like I have been here before although I'm pretty sure I have never came here. Demi Solania George Acole Esme Bellevue Derek Bellevue Hmm...seems like they are related. Looking around once again, I saw a peculiar tombstone. It was bigger than all of the other tombstones and was situated at the far end. Now that I notice it, this cemetery is way weirder than any other cemetery. In other cemeteries, there isn't an arrangement like this. The big tombstone is at the far end of the cemetery and behind that is barren land. After that comes around fifteen or twenty tombstones which are smaller than the one at the far end but bigger than the rest. And finally comes the rest of the fifty or something tombstones, which are of regular size. Walking further inside, I decided to read a few names of the dead people, no disrespect. When I reached those medium-sized, the names were oddly familiar like I knew the names. Although anyone can know the names. Agnes Aetós Ryker Cirillo Oscar Drakos Astrid Drakos But one name struck something within me, Adelina Ashman. All of these names are Greek. Weird as these are all ancient names, at least a century old and all Greek, and that also in California. Without my knowledge, I was in front of the biggest tombstone. It had lots of weeds growing around, making it impossible for me to look at the name. I was about to remove the weeds when the sudden ringing of my phone took me out of a trance like I was so indulged in my surroundings. It was Lisa. As soon as I picked it up, I heard my sister's panicked voice along with my father's. " Where are you Percy?", she asked as soon as I picked up. "Why? I'm on my way to the office, just give me thirty minutes.", I replied. "But mom said you left hours ago". Checking the time, I saw it was almost five. I had no idea I had spent this much time here. " I'm sorry Lisa, I lost track of time, I'm on my way right now."