Diary of Ivory Black

Chapter 16: The Drunkard On the Road

    Anna was back in her house. Trashed.

    She slowly made her way to the living room and plopped herself onto the nearest couch. Not bothering to close the front door from when she arrived back home. She was tired. Guilty. And unstable. Mostly unstable.

    Her mind felt like a raging storm of every possible emotion. God, was she pathetic. She thought to turn on the surprisingly undamaged TV would make things better, but the pain just got worse and worse, the storm inside her mind isn’t going to calm anytime soon. Nothing made her feel better, nothing could make the pain stop, it just stops when it wants to stop.

    Anna let out a deep sigh before turning down the volume of the TV. She slowly lay herself down on the couch, occasionally shifting her elbows to make things comfortable. She rested her head on the arm rest and quietly placed her hands on one of the couch pillows. And slowly drifted to sleep.

    Not like she wanted to sleep. No, she wanted to go out into the streets and find her stupid adopted sister so she could strangle her to death. But that little fantasy isn’t going to happen anytime soon with what’s left of her energy.

    So sleep is the best option at this point.

    Anna tries her best to relax her body and let her mind drift away from consciousness. But of course, her mind couldn’t stray far from her sister, work, Mei, and all of the other crazy things that’s been thrown at her lately.

    “Relax Anna! When’s the last time you got to call off from work and not trying to fight off your sister with a kitchen dagger?” She scolded at herself.

    “That’s right! You just have to relax. Think of happy stuff! Like, cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels. Or, whatever the hell was fun back in the day.” Anna told herself once more.

    “Relax.”

    “Relax.”

    “Relax!”

    Anna found herself half way asleep already. Though she didn’t quite remember holding a bottle of wine before she went to the couch. But it doesn’t matter anymore, nothing does. Well, at least she’s calm enough to rest now.

    “Right, just deep breaths and happy thoughts. Just rel-”

    Click.

    Ana sighed and slumped back into the kitchen chair. Despite the wine she’s taken, she could already feel the ropes burning and leaving marks on her skin. Most prominently the ones on her wrists and ankles.

    “What do you want, Adriane?” Anna huffed, trying her best to hold in her alcohol.

    “I have a gun to your head, and that’s how you react?” Adriane snorted. “Man, you really are on rock bottom, aren’t you?”

    “J-just...urp...g-get it over with.” Anna slurred, the alcohol starting to take its toll on her ability of speech.

    “Oh, wouldn’t you just love that.” Adriane teased. “You just want me to kill you and send you back to hell with your bastard for a husband and that stupid gay daughter of yours.”

    Anna’s vision was beginning to steadily blur, she put no effort to listen to any of the things her sister had just uttered. She tried to somehow yank or loosen the rope for a few seconds, before giving up and slumping back to the chair. Making sure Adriane paid no attention to her pitiful attempt of escape.

    Anna could hear bits and pieces of Adriane’s “great evil plan” speech. Making sure to filter out the useless parts about how her sister utterly hates her.

    Something about needing all of the three diaries...Something about her daughter and the scholarship...Something about money; which, of course is completely in brand with Adriane.

    And something about...Camilla Vorpex?

    “W-wait...hic...back up.” Anna slurred, trying desperately to focus her blurry vision on her sister.

    “And you probably don’t even care if I shoot you! Because the blood and guilt would be on my hands, and mom would hate me anyway. But that wouldn’t even matter anymore when I have the money and split it with her, so—Wait, did you say something?” Adriane said, finally realizing that her sister had been staring at her the whole time. Drooling.

    “Y-you said...urp...s-something about Camilla.” Anna instigated, the alcohol finally starting wearing off. She secretly wonders how much wine she’d even taken before this.

    “Yeah, didn’t I told you? I’m working with her now.” Adriane replied as she lowered her gun.

    “W-what? Why?” Anna quized, quirking her brow as her blurred vision slowly improves.

    “Because she has a history with Ivory, you i***t! That means she knows how Ivory acts all the time.” Adriane answered with a groan.

    “Yeah, s-so what? And w-what’s with the whole college scholarship t-thing?” Anna inquired once more.

    “Ugh! Enough of this.” Adrianed grunted in frustration. She aimed her gun once more to her sister’s head, preparing to pull the trigger. "I'm working with her so she could replace Ivory for the scholarship, which means the money would still be viable."

    “No, wait!” Anna’s eyes jolted open as she heard another “Click” from the gun.

    “What!? I swear to hell this better be an important information, or some super cool and edgy last word! Because you’ve stopped me from shooting you for like, three times now!” Adriane shouted in frustration. Clearly, agitated.

    “No no no,” Anna darted, “I j-just wanted to say...”

    “You suck at tying knots.”

    “I wha-” Adriane’s words were cut off abruptly.

    Anna had managed to hoist her legs up to Adriane’s neck, strangling her with the ropes her sister had tied to her previously. Anna wasted no time to let Adriane struggle her way out of her grip, as she quickly slammed her legs down with Adriane still choking on the rope on Anna’s ankles.

    Adriane’s head hit the floor with a loud agonizing thud. Surprisingly and thankfully, she was out cold.

    “Well that...hic...t-takes care of...urp...that,” Anna mumbled.

    “I mean, why didn’t you just tied my legs to the chair? If you’re gonna kill someone, don’t f*****g slack off!” Anna scolded at her sister. Who was still out cold, on the floor.

    A familiar sound buzzed from Anna’s pockets. Must be Joseph calling to check progress. Though, she couldn’t quite pick up the call at the moment. As she was still tied up on the chair. Because unluckily for Anna, her sister was still smart enough to tie her hands to the chair.

    Anna painfully stretched her arms out to the front of the chair. Emitting an eerie cracking sound from her shoulders. Anna winced at the pain, her arms were still sore. But quickly composed herself as she slipped out of the tight rope her sister had tied around her elbows and wrists, using her legs as a quick assist.

    She glanced at Adriane’s unconscious body, praying to whatever being was watching from up above so that her sister wouldn’t wake up.

    When Anna finally managed to free herself of the ropes, her phone had already stopped ringing. She let out a heavy sigh and looked up, her vision was beginning to blur once more and her head started to spin. She stumbled on her feet before finally getting a grip on herself.

    Anna dusted herself off, the quickly tied up Adriane to the chair. Making use of the neglected ropes, Anna not only tied Adriane to the chair, but also the kitchen table. She glanced to the kitchen counter, hoping to find some more rope to tie around her unconscious sister. The only thing on the kitchen counter was the bottle of wine she previously had. She could tell that Adriane had also drank from the bottle. There was still a good amount left from the bottle. Anna thought of drinking it, but decided against it. The brown haired woman decided that she needed some fresh air. So she stumbled her way to the front door , and proceeded to walk outside the house.

    It was currently in the middle of the night. The night sky was pitch black, due to the clouds blocking the bright stars and luminescent moon. The only thing iluminating the streets was a faint street light in the distance. One of the only functional ones in the area Anna resides in.

    Anna sighed at the dull sight, feeling the cold night air breezing through her thin blouse. She slowly focused her vision to the distant street light, trying to overcome her nausea and re-focus her vision. It worked, to an extent.

    She faintly remembered Joseph calling her, so she decided that it’s best to call back right now. Didn’t take long for him to pick up, and he started talking almost immediately. But the one problem in this situation is that Anna was still drunk of her ass.

    “J-joseph...L-listen, I didn’t hear a word that you just said. B-but Adriane’s knocked out and...urp...tied up in the k-kitchen right now.” Anna replied.

    “Oh,” Joseph said. “That’s good actually.”

    “Ok, listen. You keep her tied up, and find the diary if you can,” He dismissed, “And if you can’t, just come back to my house.”

    “A-alright, hold on.” Anna slurred, before promptly ending the call.

    She waited for a few minutes before she lazily walked back inside the house, refusing to be drunk around her sister once again. She needs to be careful around that maniac. Her eyes were glued on to her sister as she slowly approached the kitchen, not bothering to close the door on her way in. She slowly kneeled beside her unconscious sister and started searching her pockets.

    And sure enough, there they were. The two diaries, completely intact. No scams, no jokes...It was all there.

    “Mnnhhh...” Adriane groaned, it appears that she was going to wake up any minute.

    In a moment of panic, Anna quickly punched her in the jaw. Rather than knocking out Adriane once more, the action only managed to do the exact opposite. Adriane was now awake, and angry.

    “Hello, sister,” Adriane cooed, “Enjoying yourself?”

    “Welcome back Adriane.” Anna mocked back.

    “I see you’ve taken the diary from me once more.” Adriane pointed out. “Are you gonna run away from the house like a maniac again?”

    “Oh shut the hell up,” Anna groaned, “This s**t wasn’t even yours to begin with.”

    “We both know that I don't have much care regarding morality.” Adriane replied with a smug.

    “Ugh!  Why are you so...Difficult!?” Anna grunted, agitated.

    “I wonder who’s fault is that?” Adriane said with a coy smile.

    Anna quickly remembered the gun, and quickly picked it up from the floor before Adriane could say anything.

    “Ooh, a switch of roles I see.” Adriane remarked. Her voice laced with anger.

    “I-I’m the one in control now! S-so watch your mouth!” Anna stamered. Granted, she’s never actualy held a gun before.

    Anna held the diaries with her one hand as the other held up the gun to her Adriane’s head. She glanced at her sister’s face, not even a trace of fear on it. Instead, it felt as if Adriane was just begging to be shot. It’s as if Adriane was telling her to shoot, whispering encouragements in her ear to pull the trigger and get it over with.

    “Do it! Just do it mother fucker! Do it!”

    “Do it!”

    “Do it!”

    “DO IT!”

    Anna shook her head, then threw the gun across the room. There was faint disappointment in Adriane’s face, but the emotion didn’t last long.

    “I’m not gonna shoot you.” Anna said with a stern face.

    “Pussy.” Adriane remarked.

    “Fine,” Anna huffed, “Have fun trying to get yourself out without a kitchen knife."

    “I—Wait, what!?” Adriane blurted, but it was too late. Anna was already out of the kitchen and heading for the door. The two diaries in her hand.

    “Oi! You can’t leave me here! Come back!” Adriane snapped.

    “Bye, Adriane.” Anna calmly replied as she gripped the door handle.

    “I’ll f*****g kill you!”

    “Sure thing, Adriane.”

    Anna was sitting on her porchstep, tired. She could still hear Adriane screaming curse words from the kitchen. To be honest with herself, she was still quite tipsy from the alcohol. She didn’t even know whether she actually pointed the gun to Adriane’s face or her crotch.

    She took a deep sigh and looked up, still no stars.

    “Whatever.” She mumbled to herself, as she felt the night’s breeze calmly whisk her hair away from her face.

    She observed the diary, curious as to what everyone’s fighting about. Two books worth of what? Certainly not blackmail information. And money? Impossible.

    She haphazardly flipped through the pages of one of the diaries, not really paying attention to what’s written on it.

    “Huh, funny,” She thought to herself, “Why are all the writings glowing?”

    Well, not like any of this matters to her. If anything, it’s just her eyes messing with her. She slammed the diary shut and quickly started making her journey back to Mei’s house. Which is going to be much more difficult, now that she’s halfway drunk.

    “Ah, I figured you’d come at this hour.” Joseph remarked as he gestured Anna to come inside. “You smell like wine by the way.” He pointed out.

    “Zip it.” Anna hissed as she stepped inside the familiar house.

    “You must be famished, I’ll go get some food for you.” Joseph said before heading for the kitchen. Anna trailed from behind.

    “People are starting rumors about you two, you know,” Joseph spoke once more, “The drunkard on the road, or so they say.”

    “It’s hard not to,” Anna replied, “My house is trashed from inside-out.”

    “That’s true.” Joseph sighed. “Here.” He said as he handed her a plate of sausage and scrambled eggs.

    “It’s burnt.” Anna commented as she pointed at the scrambled eggs.

    “So it is.” Joseph remarked, uncaring.

    Anna sighed as she grabbed the plate from Joseph’s hands, and started eating. Joseph sat down as he waited for her to finish.

    “How’s your daughter?” Anna asked.

    “Getting better.” Joseph replied simply, clearly not wanting to talk about it. And the conversation died rather fast.

    “Dad? Is that Anna?” A familiar voice chirped from the living room.

    “Oh hi, Mei! How’re you doing?” Anna beamed as Mei entered the kitchen and sat down with them.

    “Getting better, I guess.” Mei replied nonchalantly.

     "Oh, by the way.” Anna chirped. “Guess what I have?” She quizzed with a smile as she revealed the two diaries she’d collected last night.

    Mei’s face beamed with joy and bewilderness as soon as she saw the two blood-red books. Anna quickly handed the book to her, seeing that she needed it more than her.

    “Thank you.” Mei said with glee.

    “Yeah, I figured she’d wanted you to have it.” Anna replied with a chuckle, refering to Ivory.

    “Yeah, it took quite a hassle to get it back from Adriane.” Joseph babbled.

    “By the way,” Mei said, “Does anyone else smell alcohol?”

    “It’s me.” Anna admitted, “I aciddentaly got drunk last night.”

    “And you ran here right after?” Mei blurted. “Man, that’s hardcore.”

    “Yeah, I was so drunk last night that when I wanted to read the diary, the writings started glowing.” Anna remarked with a chuckle.

    “I don’t think that's the alcohol, Anna.” Mei enunciated.

    “Yeah, I’ve been drunk enough to know that glowing writings are not part of the alcohol.” Joseph added.

    “Then what? Is the book suddenly magical now?” Anna joked.

    “Glowing writings...” Mei trailed off.

    “Holly s**t, I got it!” Mei exclaimed.

    She quickly ran to her room and slammed the door. Leaving her father and Anna dumbfounded.