Chapter 6
868 Words
The next few days were a breeze after Esther visited Billy. Eli seemed to have recovered from his nightmare quite quickly as well.
The twins sat on a bench while Cheryl stood beside them. They watched all the little children play during the twenty-minute recess.
Esther had asked Cheryl if she wanted to go play with them, but she didn't seem to want to unless the twins were going, and well, playing with children wasn't exactly their idea of fun.
Cheryl eyed Billy, who was across the playground. He was playing with some of his buddies. Occasionally, he would turn and side-eye the twins and Cheryl timidly. "Billy hasn't said anything mean to me in a while. He hasn't tried to take my stuff either."
"Indeed," Eli said as he turned to side-eye his sister. "I wonder what happened."
"I-I don't know," Esther replied, turning away guiltily from her brother.
'Still, it's nice that he hasn't been threatening us about exposing our powers.'
'Yeah,' Esther agreed.
'Now all we have to worry about is her.'
Esther and Eli looked over at Cheryl. She was fixated on the children who were playing ball. They wondered why she so adamantly refused to go play when she clearly wanted to.
'I don't think she'll tell anyone,' Esther replied calmly. 'Not on purpose anyway.'
'That's not really reassuring.' Eli leaned back and looked at the bright blue sky. He was glad it wasn't red. 'But I don't think anyone will believe her even if she does tell.'
'Exactly.'
They paused for a minute.
'But I do wish she would leave us alone.'
'My thoughts exactly.'
* * *
Cheryl was proving to be more trouble than she was worth.
Besides being all over the twins, she was always eager to please. She would offer to do everything for them. Carrying their backpacks, offering up her lunch, securing their spot on the bench. . . those were only a few examples of how she would help them out.
Eli and Esther were already at their wits end with her, but after a week of putting up with it, they were on their last straw.
'Eli. . .'
'I know.'
'What should we do?'
'Ignore her; she'll have to go away eventually.'
'And if she doesn't?'
The twins shivered; they didn't want to think of the possibility of never being able to get rid of the girl.
'Speaking of her,' said Eli. They turned to see her right behind them. She had been talking nonstop. About what? They hadn't been able to keep track of hardly any of the things she said.
"Okay!" she said loudly, "I have to go this way now!"
"Okay!" The twins said, immediately brightening up.
She extended her arm as high up as it could go and cheerfully waved them goodbye. "Bye!"
"Bye!" they replied, returning her energy.
Once they got home, they headed upstairs to their room, tossed their backpacks off onto the floor, and laid down on their beds.
After stretching out comfortably, Esther looked up at the dull ceiling and sighed, "I'm tired."
"Me too," groaned Eli.
"What should we do about her?"
Eli rolled over to look at Esther before responding, "You're asking me?"
Esther glared at Eli.
"Never mind," she sighed. "I'll figure it out by myself."
"Hey, don't ask me. You've always been the one with the plans."
Esther sat up on the bed. "You know, it wouldn't hurt you to come up with a plan every once in a while."
"Yeah, yeah," replied Eli as he slowly scooted further up on his bed to grab his pillow. He began fluffing it up with his tiny hands. "I'm tired. Plan later; sleep now."
Esther let out an aspirated sigh and said, "You're stubborn, you know that? It wouldn't hurt you to-"
Her words were interrupted by their grandfather calling them.
"Yes, Grandpa?" Esther yelled.
"I was going to cook us some basil pasta, but I'm out of tomatoes and olive oil. I was wondering if one or both of you could run down to the store and get me those ingredients." They could hear him downstairs shutting and opening cabinets. "I'd go myself, but I seemed to have misplaced my car keys, not to mention my knees have seemed to catch me on a bad day."
Eli and Esther both looked at each other. They knew what was coming next.
"You don't have to go if you don't want to. I don't want to put you guys out if you don't want to go. I can probably manage without those ingredients anyway."
Esther c****d her head backwards and shouted, "It's fine, Grandpa. I'll go get you your ingredients."
"You will?" Eli asked, shooting up from the bed.
Esther jumped down and replied, "Yes, I will go."
"Don't you want me to go with you?"
"You're tired, aren't you? That's why you didn't want to be the one to go in the first place."
Eli flinched before flopping back down on his pillow. "Yeah, sorry."
"It's fine," Esther replied. "Get some rest; I'll be back soon."
Eli nodded softly and watched as his sister quietly shut the door behind her as she walked out.
- Writer
