The Accidental Journey: Battle of the Last woman Standing

Home Not-so-sweet Home

     I stared at the floor in horror, I have been working on this project for the past three weeks and now it's gone, it's torn into shreds. I know Glea is devious but shouldn't she be considerate enough to know that this project being forty percent of my English grade, is really important to me if I want to graduate. I clenched my fists resisting the urge to wipe that ugly smile on her face with my fist but I knew deep down that I couldn't bring myself to do it.

"Why?" I asked her my voice barely a whisper, but it was enough for her to hear. She only smirked in response.

''Why do you hate me so much? What did I ever do to you?''

''Don't worry sweetheart, you're not worth my hatred; I just don't like the sight of you.' She said and walked away dramatically with her nose in the air.

Glea is the daughter of the school principal, so she pretty much gets away with everything she does. In fact, she violates every single rule of the school and she never gets detention. So, if you're in her bad book, she's going to ensure you hate your life. Sometimes I wonder what I could have done to her but nothing comes to mind; She just takes pleasure in seeing me suffer. When she started hanging out with my cousin, Fred, I thought she would at least tolerate my existence but I was so wrong, it got worse. It gave her the opportunity to come to our house and post embarrassing videos and pictures of me online and the worst part was that she did not deny it. Fred supported her [obviously], so did my aunt and no one in school seemed to mind, it was in those times I missed my parents. I looked at the torn project again, wondered what excuse I was going to give the teacher, sighed, picked the torn pieces and threw it into the waste bin, it was a thousand page report on a certain book, 'Tragedy' by Will Hughes. Well, the project lived to it's name, it ended in tragedy.

Mr Jones, the English teacher entered the class, the sound of his shoe on the ground interrupting my thoughts.

We started to greet him but he stopped us.

"I want to believe everyone of you is done with the short project I gave you, this earned murmuring from the students.

"I apologise everyone, I must be putting on my '' I am so concerned about your busy lives face.''. He said with a creepy smile and then changes it into a horrifying frown.

 ''I guess this expression conveys my attitude towards your personal lives.'' He added with his usual scowl. 

''You all had Three weeks to complete a simple report of a few pages and that's a problem? Do you know the amount of work I did in high school? Back in my days....'' he trailed  but stopped when his eyes landed on a boy sitting at the back of the class.

 "Mr Barnes, will you stop that disgusting act of yours this instant!" All heads turn to the direction of a skinny boy sitting at the back of the class who got carried away while picking his nose.

"Sorry sir" he replied his ears bright red as he put his head on his locker.

"Well he's not called "The picker'' for nothing. Fred said which everyone found funny except Mr Jones and I was just too angry to laugh at anything.

"Funny we don't share the same sense of humour, Mr Daniel " Mr Jones said to Fred with a disapproving glare.

"That's because yours is Old fashioned." Glea says to Mr Jones while looking at her nails. Fury was evident on Mr Jones face but he ignored her and continued his lecture.

I stared at Glea and thought about my project and the sleepless nights I had because of it and sighed and fortunately enough Mr Jones just had to hear it. His hearing is actually pretty good for his age.

"I am very sorry Miss Swanson, my lecture must be so boring that you just had to sigh like that.'' Mr Jones said with mock sympathy.

"No sir, of course not, I had no idea I sighed out that loud. " I muttered.

''That's alright, then I'm sure you wouldn't mind being the first to submit your project, would you?'' he said again.

I knew this was coming so I took a deep breath and tried to explain what happened to him, not the exact thing actually, reporting Glea will make no difference. I opened my mouth to speak but lost the will to do so when I stared at what was in front of me, my project was intact on my desk, just the way it was before Glea destroyed it.

"we don't have all day". Mr Jones said with an impatient tone. I turned to look at Glea but she avoided my gaze. I was too shocked to do anything than to hand the project over to Mr Jones. He looked at the first few pages and smiled.

"interesting approach Miss Swanson. I'll go through the rest later.'' With this, he continued the lecture.

The rest of the class passed like a blur, I was too distracted to concentrate on the class, my mind was preoccupied with what just happened, I was certain Glea destroyed the project, she practically tore it in my presence and I threw it into the waste bin myself, so how did it manage to reappear back on my table, intact, like nothing happened? I was so confused. When the class was over I ran to check the waste bin only to discover that the torn project was nowhere to be found. Strange, I muttered.

Home, from what I've heard, is meant to be a comfort zone. A place where you meet with your loved ones after a long tiring day, A place with so many childhood memories, A place where you can relax and just be yourself, but unfortunately in my case, it's the opposite. I sighed as I walked into the house, the smell of alcohol filling my nostrils. I would have hurled on a normal situation but I was used to it. My Aunt is a heavy drinker. How she combines that attitude with her her job as an accountant still amazes me. She's always early to work even though she must have passed out on the kitchen floor a night before. In fact, last month, in her place of work, she was nominated employee of the month, the fifth time in a row. She is hot tempered and is extremely obsessed with her looks and truth be told, she is beautiful. I guess that's where Fred got his looks from because I don't really know his father and there are no pictures of him in the house.

Ever since her youngest daughter named Camille died from cancer, she's turned from my sweet Aunt into something else entirely, I don't blame her, I know how bad it feels to lose someone you love. She has always blamed me for Camille's death claiming that my bad luck killed my parents and now her daughter.

I rushed upstairs to my room in order to avoid any form of confrontation from her which I know will end badly.

If there is anything that makes me happy and makes me feel like I'm not so close to disappearing, it would be my Laptop, strange, I know, but it means a lot to me. It belonged to my parents and it is all I have left of them. I once asked my parents why they cherished the laptop so much and why they couldn't get a new one when they could easily afford it. They told me that the laptop was what brought them together. So it really meant a lot to them and now it does to me.

After a long nice shower, I had lunch. Aunt Florence is a terrible cook, likewise Fred, I am the only one in the family with culinary skills. Sometimes, Fred will force me into making lunch for Glea, pretending he's the one who made it in order to impress her.

I heard a loud crash upstairs and I rushed to check it out only to find Fred coming out of my room, his hair wet probably from having a shower because a towel was draped around his waist.

"Is lunch ready? he asked with a raised eyebrow. 

"Yeah...It is. I replied 

He started to leave but I stopped him, "wait!" I said and he turned to look at me.

"What were you doing in my room? I asked him, eyeing him suspiciously.

"I was looking for something but...anyway my bad," he replied nonchalantly and walked away, I had a bad feeling about what he said so I rushed to my room only to find my precious laptop broken on the floor.

I sank to my knees, trying to put the pieces back together but it was broken beyond repair. I was beyond angry, I marched out of my room in fury and went to confront Fred.

I ran down the stairs in annoyance. I found him at the dinning, eating his life away like he usually does. "Fred! I called him with a low yet frightening tone. 

"Can I help you? He asked with his usual raised eyebrow.

"What...did..you....do...to..my laptop? I asked him with gritted teeth. He rolled his eyes in response. "It was an accident."

"Is that all you can say? I asked him clenching my fists together. "I apologized, didn't I? Oh! wait, I didn't, because apologies are not in my dictionary, besides, what's so special about that junk anyway?'' With this, he continued eating. Not being able to control my anger I marched to him and grabbed his shirt. He looked surprised but he quickly replaced it with his signature smirk.

"Not bad Riley, you have really grown a pair, so what are you going to do, hit me? He said and laughed and that my friends is exactly what I did, I punched his face HARD.

"That junk is the only thing I have left of my parents you Monster!

I don't know where the courage came from, I have never resulted into violence in all of my life but I knew he deserved it.

"And who are you calling a monster?'' I cringed realizing my aunt was watching all along, I am so dead.

She was walking towards me, staggering as she did, she was obviously still drunk.

As soon as she got to me, she raised her hand and slapped me. My eyes stung with tears as I looked at her.

"I think I have done my share as a human in taking care of you" I tried to speak but the words wouldn't come out. I closed my eyes and took a sharp breath, I already knew where the conversation was heading.

OUT!!! She shouted. "Pack your garbage and leave my house, after everything I have done for you... I feed you, clothe you, I practically do everything for you, yet you want to kill my son...my only son.... killing Camille with your bad luck isn't enough for you?....She fell sick the day you entered this house. My poor Camille, my beautiful....beautiful Camille." She said with tears falling from her face.

"But...but...I have no... no...where to go, you know that" I stammered my voice failing me.

"You should have thought about that before you tried to kill my son, I am asking you to leave for the last time or else, I'll call the police." She said with a warning tone. I tried to talk but she raised her hand to stop me. "I won't discuss this further! She said raising her voice.

I turned to look at Fred and I saw a wicked smile on his lips but when his mother turned to look at him he acted like he was in serious pain. I knew the punch didn't affect him, he was just surprised. I mean, come on he's the captain of the football team, he loves martial arts and extreme sports there is no way a punch from a weak girl like me could affect him. "What are you waiting for? She asked again with a raised eyebrow.

With clenched fists, I walked upstairs and packed my things. This was a usual routine, whenever she's angry, she'll send me out of the house and blame me for her misfortune, all I have to do is find a place to pass the night then the next day, I'll plead with Fred to help me apologize to her, that is after offering to do his assignments, projects and chores for three months; eventually, she'll calm down and let me in again. That's just how pathetic my life is.

I don't have much really, just a few old shirts and jeans. After packing my stuff, I took a deep breath and stared at the family picture in front of me. It was a picture of me, my mom and dad at the park. I was five years old then and I had ice cream on my nose. I smiled as I remembered the day, I took the picture from its frame and put it in my pocket, just in case Fred "accidentally" breaks it.

I bent down and started to pick up the broken pieces of the laptop, wondering if it was possible to fix it. Taking a closer look at the broken pieces I saw a small round golden coloured metal and on it was inscribed weird symbols and letters." Strange, I muttered, wondering what it could be. Not wanting to waste much time, I put it in my pocket in a hurry.

Fred smiled menacingly at me as I came down the stairs.

"Let's have a deal" He says.

"What do you want?" I asked him.

"I'll talk to mum now so you won't have to leave the house, only if you help me with all of my academic work till we graduate. There's a big game coming up soon and as the Captain I will need a lot of time to practice so....'' he continued but I didn't let him finish.

"Wait...hold on, so you're telling me that you planned everything? You broke my laptop on purpose, got me into trouble with Aunt and now you are blackmailing me into doing your work all because of some stupid football game?"

"Impressive right?" He says smugly, so...... do we have a deal?" He asked.

"A deal? You destroyed the only thing I have left of my parents for your selfish interest and you're asking me if we have a deal? ''Why do you enjoy seeing me suffer?....Why?.... You destroyed my only source of comfort and you're asking me about a stupid deal? You know what? I'm done... done with you....done with aunt....done with this house. You're a terrible person Fred and I hope you get what you deserve!

For a moment, I thought I could see a faint trace of guilt and sympathy that crossed his face but it was quickly replaced by his usual bored and nonchalant expression.

"Whatever, suit yourself" he said and walked away.

I shrugged and left the house with my bag and a heavy heart and as I did, I did not look back.

I had not left the house for five minutes when the rain started to fall. It fell like it had never fallen before. I ran to a tree right across the street and stayed under it hoping the rain would stop but I was terribly wrong, two hours passed and the rain did not show any sign of stopping anytime soon.

I guess I was going to have to swallow my pride and plead with Aunt to let me in again. This time, it was hard to do so. The house would constantly remind me of my pain, shame and all the negative emotions I was desperately trying to escape from. If only I had somewhere else to go.

I sat down on the floor not caring about the wet grass I was sitting on. I closed my eyes and relaxed. I was enjoying my short moment of rest until I heard footsteps. I was not a heavy sleeper so I became alert as I heard voices coming closer.

"You have got to be kidding me. I heard a masculine voice with a strange accent say.

''You shouldn't judge a person by physical appearance, that's the 10th rule of the Gamza. a feminine voice replied.

My mind was racing, who are they and what on earth are they talking about? I was busy thinking of various ways to escape and defend myself when the masculine voice startled me.

"You do realize we know you're not sleeping right? He asked me and my eyes opened in response. I got up, rolled my fists into a punch and aimed at them.

"Who.....are....you? I still couldn't see their faces for they were wearing weird looking hoodies and their hands were in their pockets.

"First things first, where's your army? What art do you specialise in? Do you have a special gift? He asked.

I stared at him with a puzzled expression, what on earth is he talking about?

''She is ignorant, she knows nothing of the things you ask of her.'' the female said.

''How is that possible?'' Could the prophecy be a lie? a fantasy? a mistake? Is all of this for nothing?''

''Calm down Xander.'' The lady says abruptly.

''Calm down? The inauguration is in a few days, we do not have anytime, do not tell me to calm down.''

''Have it your way then, since freaking out is obviously the best way out of this situation.''

''Um....guys...do you mind putting your differences aside and tell me what is going on here?'' I ask them.

''Tell us how you got here in the first place.'' the man asked

''I walked...my house is just across the......I was about to say street until I saw the crazy scenery around me. Just then, I realized I was freaking cold. How did I not notice it was snowing and most importantly, how did I not realise that I was in a completely different place.

''What....what's going on here? where am I? what am I doing here? I asked; shivering, confused and scared.

''We need to leave now Xander.'' the lady said in a hurry.

''You're right, this has been a waste of time, have a wonderful day young lady.'' he agreed, waved at me and turned to leave but was drawn back by the lady with a strange yet powerful kind of force.

''She's coming with us. If we leave her here, she will freeze to death.''

''Don't tell me she doesn't even have the basic fire level skills.'' he said with a very disappointed tone.

He walked to me grudgingly and asked me to take his hands in a very rude manner.

''Who...are....you?'' I asked refusing to take them.

''We will explain everything there is to know but if you want to live to hear the story then you better take his hands.'' The lady said.

She was right, I definitely wanted to live to know what was going on. So I took his hands and wondered what was going to happen next and as soon as I did, a flash of yellow light encircled us and then everything went white.