Come Closer

Chapter 2

AFTER ONE YEAR….

“Lyena, can you go on grocery shopping tomorrow please?” Avelyn asked, cleaning the dishes in the kitchen. Lyena, who was on her phone, looked up briefly.

“No can do”

Avelyn frowned. “And why is that?”

“Because I’m busy”

“Oh please! What kind of ‘work’ do you have other than staring at that screen huh?”

“MY work is none of YOUR business. And, grocery shopping is your work. YOU should do that”

Upon hearing this, Avelyn slammed the kitchen towel on the floor and furiously came towards Lyena.

“MY work?” she scoffed.

“You think that all the household work should be done by ME?” she asked, pointing at herself.

Lyena shrugged. “Well, take it however you’d like, I don’t care.”

Avelyn took her sister’s phone and threw it on the couch. Lyena stood up, anger coursing through her veins. “How dare you do that?” She screamed in Avelyn’s face.

Avelyn huffed. “How dare I do that? Have you realized how have YOU been doing things?”

“What? What have I done here? You’re the one who has been f*****g picking fights with me!”

“Oh shut up! You are not doing anything here, in this house. I am the one who should cook, clean, shop, work here every day, while you are being the ‘oh so privileged little sister ‘and stay around doing NOTHING!”

“Oh really? Well, let me remind you that no one told you to do chores here. Don’t try to act like a mom, because you’re not a one”

“Why can’t you share these works with me, huh?”

“Because I don’t want to” Lyena said, folding her arms in front of her.

“Huh! Then being a parasite is what you’re good at, I can see”

“At least, I don’t pretend to be the ‘mom’ here you b***h!”

Avelyn’s anger had reached its limit by then. “Get out!” She shouted pointing at the door.

“Yeah, I’m going. You don’t have to tell me”

And with that, Lyena stomped out of the house, slamming the door behind her.

Avelyn glared after her sister’s retreating back. Then she sighed looking around the house and again, started to wash the remaining dinner plates in the sink.

//////

On the other hand, Lyena was stomping further away from their home. With every step she took, she felt the anger in her was subsiding down. And her pace became slower and slower, when she realized that the fault was on her hands.

She stopped and looked up at the night sky. It was beautiful with millions of stars shining above her. She sighed and leaned her back on the iron fence that was behind her.

‘One year was all it took for us to change.’ She thought. During that span of time, Avelyn had found a job at a bank, and the salary was just enough for her and Lyena to cover the household expenses and their food expenses. Lyena was still searching for a job, in order to make a living for them both and, to reduce Avelyn’s burden. Though Avelyn had said that she would take the responsibility of sending Lyena to the college, she had refused the offer, not wanting to bother her sister. ‘She too, has a life’ she had thought.

So, as the time passed, the pressure of work and covering expenses and responsibilities had took a toll on Avelyn, and she ended up not having time to spend with Lyena. Lyena, who was left alone for most of the time, ended up with some nasty ‘friends’, who were at clubs and bars mostly in their time. Avelyn was furious when she got to know this. She cut off Lyena’s allowance, till Lyena stopped hanging out with those friends. Learning a lesson, Lyena decided to listen to Avelyn only that once, and started looking for a job.

But, the influence of her ‘friends’, had changed how she interacted with her elder sister. She often ignored her and didn’t care for her. She had got grumpier and hated it when Avelyn tried to approach her. The sisters, who were so close to each other once, drew apart. Avelyn had sensed this, and tried to solve things out as the older one, but Lyena’s lack of response had driven her every attempt to waste. So, in the end, Avelyn had simply stopped trying, and contended herself by providing Lyena everything she needed and being patient.

Today, was another day that they had had a quarrel. Lyena understood that today’s one was on her hands, but she still didn’t like to admit it in front of Avelyn.

“I should say sorry” she said to herself and took a deep breath. She started walking towards their home, hanging her head low, hands in her trouser pockets.

“Help me!” a shrill cry was heard from the alley to her right. ‘Should have stayed at home.’ She thought and hurried her steps. “Help!” again heard the cry, before she could even take ten steps. She hesitated. ‘Might as well just take a look’

So she crossed the road and silently, carefully, stepped towards the alley. Just as she was about to peek her head into the alley, a gunshot was heard. Lyena jumped at the loud sound. She no longer had the curiosity to know what was going on or the will to help, in her, and she took a step back. And two steps, and three, and fou-

‘s**t. She cursed in her head as she stumbled upon a iron dustbin. It fell on the floor with a loud clang! And she knew that she was done for. She got up and turned in an instant and started to run for her life. ….or so she thought.

Soon, she couldn’t feel the ground under her feet, as she was lifted up in the air. She screamed and tried to hit whatever that was holding her, but failed as her consciousness quickly vanished, when a cloth was pressed against her nose.