KISS OF A TITAN

It was early June that my aunt and I as well as her two children had to arrive at Houston during the mid summer. Coming to Houston was one of the toughest decisions my aunt had to make and I was primarily the reason for her to make a decision about where her family and I would spend the following winter after the season of summer will end in a couple of months.

To my aunt, Houston was far from one of those of her favorite places she wished to spend with her family like the beach in Hawaii where she really loved to visit in North America during the holidays particularly Christmas holidays not only because none of the people dwelling there related to us but because she never liked any of the folks living within borders of the small town and it was actually because of me she had to put up a false smile of friendship each time we saw some of the town folks we met on the road while coming, waving at us as a gesture of a warm reception my aunt loathe whenever she saw them on the road.

It kind of reminded her of a compromise she had to make to leave her place of comfort to a town where the buildings at every neighborhood were less appealing to us just to have me attend a new school of which I wasn't sure if I was ready to see a whole new bunch of teenagers like myself living in boring town with nothing but older people roaming around the streets. We had arrived in the town in our car and had circled round town searching for the humble abode where we'll spend the night after driving a couple of miles all the way from Georgia to a small town whose population was barely half the size of those living in the city metropolis of Atlanta.

But with the right navigation and a keen observation of the neighborhood, aunt drove us around the eastern side of town and somehow got to know where the house she paid for might be located but little did she know that the houses in neighborhood all looked the same while I, covering my entire face with a red hood with my ears partly blocked with the earpiece I glued to my eardrums after finding its way through my way black hair that lay spread at both sides of my face since the journey started, was at the back seat with her two children observing the surroundings as we drove by. They seem to care less about the fact that we were almost getting lost and had made a lot of wrong turns in the search for the house since they were playing childishly whilst aunt kept circling us around the neighborhoods in her black Chevrolet.

I didn't bother too much of the fact that she kept steering us on the wrong route to the new house for I was enjoying the sight-seeing of the houses we passed by including every tree that we drove past as well as the music I was listening to and it wasn't until we arrived at a dead end before she realized that we have lost our way in the new town which seemed a lot quieter with no one in sight after driving for almost half an hour since we arrived at our destination. Even the children have somewhat turned their friendly play into a serious fight by the time she knew we had driven into the wrong neighborhood and there was no one in sight to call and ask for directions.

"Keep it down, Tom! Gosh, you guys keep driving me crazy",

She exclaimed in frustration as she pulled over from the main road and parked the car by the side of the sun-baked street.

"Mom, Nora's being a nuisance",

"No, you're, Tom!",

"Stop lying, you twerp",

"Shut the hell up both of you!",

"But mom, she started it", cried Tom, not willing to obey his mom's instructions.

"I don't give a darn who started it but both you should keep it down this instant!",

She ordered but Tom was still stubborn as ever. Their noisy argument arrested my attention and I took my eyes from the streets to look at the faces of the two culprits. 

"This is so unfair",

He said to himself as he shifted further away from Tom on the seat, a little bit closer to me and peered at me. His dimpled cheeks turned pale the moment his eyes met mine and lowered his head in shame of being defeated as he felt the heavy weight of the unfair treatment from aunt weighing heavily on his countenance. I could see tearful drops of water gathering in his eyes. 

As long as I had known Tom apart from the fact of being my aunt's first born, he was an adventurous kid who always stuck to his own point of view and was never willing to accept others opinions including that of his own mother despite being a seven years old kid with a black droopy hair that covered every corner of his head except for his ears like that of a monk and had chubby cheeks which greatly enhanced his cuteness whenever he smiles childishly. I also knew him from hanging around with naughty kids around his age back in our old neighborhood which explains why he was way smarter and earlier stubborn to his mother than he looks on the outside.

"Suck it up, young man and not one more word from you",

Aunt warned me to get ready to leave us stranded in the car at the corner of street near the sidewalk.

"Why did we stop? Are we out of gas or something?",

I asked my aunt to unplug one part of the earpiece from my right ear but she didn't say anything the first time she heard, instead, she took the car keys and went outside of the car. Then she walked over to where I was sitting close to the window at the other side of the car and stood near the window looking around to see if she could see anyone in the quiet street but saw none.

"Rosalie, it looks like we have lost our way around here",

"What?!",
I exclaimed.

"It's really quite surprising, right?",

"Yeah, I thought you knew the way to the house",

"I thought I did but now...I'm not so sure", She looked worried but I chuckled even when the situation didn't call for it, “Why the laughter?", She questioned.

"It's hilarious that you brought us all the way here only to get us lost in a deserted town",

I answered. Although she didn't find it amusing, she still beamed a smile at me.

"You know this is no time for jokes",

"I know, but I just wanted to make you feel better",

"Thanks for trying but it isn't helping at this point",

"So, any solutions to regarding this problem or are we gonna sit here and stare at each other's faces?",

"I've got quite a few ideas but things ain't looking good for us",

"What do you mean?",

"Unfortunately, there's no one around that might know the neighborhood pretty well. So, you'll stay in the car and all you have to do is to watch Tom and Nora while I go take a look around to see if I can get proper directions so that we can get out of here",

She replied in frustration and brushed aside loose strands of her neatly tied ponytail disturbing her vision with her left fingers while she placed her other hands on her feminine curvy hips.

Aunt wore a black trousers and an unbuttoned gray jacket that exposes busty boobs which was covered by her tight fitted dress whose fabric was soft and had sleeves that covered both of her elbows but the dress made her look skinnier than the way she had looked in the morning before we set out on the journey to Houston.

"Sounds okay to me",

"Good, I'm counting on you, so don't let the kids out of your sight"

"Got it",

I replied. 

Then she brought her face closer to the window with her hands on the top of the car, way closer that I could see mild wrinkles ravaging her pretty facial skin by the side of her and her gray iris stare boldly at my face and took a peep at Nora playing with her doll while Tom was sitting down quietly in a sober mood he had drifted into ever since he was reprimanded by aunt.

Then she looked at me and said,

"I'll be right back, so don't go anywhere",

"Mom..."
"Rosalie's in charge, so, stay right there, I'll return as soon as I can",

She ordered and walked away leaving us behind inside the car.

Tom and I watched her as she went, trekking back the way we had come earlier from where we sat at the back seat inside the car till she was out of sight taking a left turn to another lane when she didn't find anyone around like we had hoped she would after walking a few meters away from the parked

***

We waited patiently for the next fifteen minutes inside the car anticipating her return from wherever she went to but she was nowhere to be seen nor did we hear any of her footsteps from behind and the heat inside the car was increasing with each passing minute.

  I didn't bother too much about it because I was sitting next to the window while Tom and Nora were already sweating by the time I noticed that Tom was getting fed up with the hot temperature caused by the sun in the sky and little did I know that he wanted to leave the car without my permission. His desire to escape from the car was deeper than I had thought and had compelled him to desperately want to exit the car through the other side of the car when he saw that I was paying less attention to him.

"Make some room",

He whispered when he encountered his younger sister near the door but Nora shook her head in sharp refusal to his demands.

"Na-ah, I don't want to. Use the other door",

"Rosalie's over there and she won't allow me out of the car, so move aside before she catches me",
 He murmured, keeping his voice down. Both kids looked at me and saw me nodding my head to the music I kept hearing from my cell phone which got them perplexed and wondering what kind of song I was listening to that had fully enchanted my thoughts of which they couldn't hear thanks to the earpiece I placed in both ears. I wasn’t even looking at them but I was staring at the yard outside still lost in my world of music.
After taking a brief moment to read my actions, Nora decided to let him pass.

"Fine but you'll have yourself to blame if Rosalie gets in trouble",

"I'll take my chances. I can't stand this heat and need some fresh air outside",

"Suit yourself",

She said and shifted aside for him to venture outside. He forcefully pushed the door open and wanted to crawl outside but the sound of the door of the car opening had caught my attention in spite of the fact that the music was loud in my eardrums. At first, I thought aunt was back from scouring the vicinity and I suddenly saw him about to crawl out of the car from the back seat.

"Tom! What the heck are you doing!",

My words stung him and he froze like an ice stature in his attempt to make it out of the car while Nora pretended as though he wasn't even there.

I took my eyes off Nora since she wasn't the one sneaking out of the car and kept them glued to Tom who couldn't move from where he was quite unable to go ahead with his illicit intentions.

"Get back here, this instant",

I ordered, taking the earpiece from my ears.

"But Rosalie, I need some fresh air, the car is too hot for me to breath",

Said he as he slowly squeezed himself back to where he sat down on the seat.

"Then you should have told me. What part of me being in charge did you not understand, huh?
"I didn't mean not to tell you",

"You should have tried requesting for it",

"I wanted to but I didn't want to disturb you because you were busy listening to that song",

"But you did anyway. If aunt had seen you outside, I would have taken the blame for it. Didn't you think about that?",

Tom lowered his head and looked a lot more guilty than ever before. Nora suddenly intruded, making things worse for poor Tom.

"He didn't listen to me either when I told him about it",

"Shut it, Nora. Nobody asked for your opinion",

He retorted in bold defense and they started quarreling again.

"I can say whatever I want and you can't stop me",

Nora replied and pulled out her tongue in a funny way that her cheeks become puffy when her tongue came out of her mouth.

"Oh yeah?",

"Stop it, you two!",

I commanded, very irritated at their warring conversations. They obeyed but Tom sneered at Nora who felt cheated at the brief end of their fight.

"You guys fight a lot, you know that?",

"I guess so",

Tom answered.

"He's the annoying brother and I really dislike his naughty attitude",

Nora gave a sharp reply that got me giggling but Tom wasn't happy with her remark. Feeling defeated, He frowned and folded his hands against his chest in anger before resting his back further on the seat. I could clearly understand that he was upset by what Nora said because of the sullen scowl that appeared on his face after he got furious and I was about to say something when Nora shouted on top of her voice which interrupted what I was gonna say to angry Tom.

"Mom's back! I can see her, Rosalie",

She said gleefully with all ecstatic excitement and with her shrill thin voice resounding loudly into my ears. Tom and I joined her to peep through the glassy windscreen at the back of the car only to see aunt strolling towards us, accompanied by some older man wearing green shorts and a tennis jersey, in his late sixties. It seems to me she must have strolled to the tennis court coincidentally during her lone search for anyone who might know the area very well.

They walked briskly to the car while we watched them wondering what must have gone wrong and they ignored us even though they saw us looking at them until aunt stopped outside the front door of the car where she stood facing the stranger. We all turned to face their direction and from where they stood, I could clearly see that the man was right next to her with his hands akimbo. He was wearing a headband around his forehead which was almost covered by the loose strands of his gray hair while his beard was pretty much unkempt which horrified his wrinkling visage. Their chattering became louder the moment they arrived at the car.

"We are here",

"Yes, we are. Anyway, thanks for the heads up",

She said, smiling at the stranger.

"Don't mention it. Just trying to help good folks find a better place to live in Houston",

"And you really are doing a great job",

She commended with a broad grin across her face.

The man scoffed and combed his hair with his left fingers. Then he looked the other way to see if anyone else was watching them.

"Nah...I'm just making sure no one gets lost around here. There have been cases like this, so ...I ...huh just wanted to make sure you and your kids don't turn out to be victims",

"That's nice of you, you're a cop, by any chance?",

He chuckled.

"Well...No, I'm just a guy who lives around here",

"A philanthropist. It's good to meet one",

She nodded in affirmation to her deductions.

"You could say that. I...huh…gotta go continue playing…so...huh I guess this is goodbye then",
"Yep. See you around",

"You as well",

He said and walked away. He took a quick glance at us watching from inside the car and went his way down the same lane they both came from.

Aunt entered into the front seat of the car and sat behind the steering wheel. I didn't wait for her to ignite the car engine before asking questions her two children know too well to be adult talk.

"Found the house?",

"Uh-huh",
"Where was it then?",

"Way back. We had narrowly missed it when I took the wrong turn and landed us here",

"It's a relief we finally got to know where are going",

"It sure is. By the way, did the kids behave while I was gone?",

She asked this time around and turned around on her seat to check if there's would be doubts in my reply. Thankfully, Nora had forgotten about the stranger and had resumed playing with the item that had been the bone of contention between her and her brother earlier. I thought everything was back to normal until aunt started asking questions.

"They did. Sort of",

"But something is strange"

Aunt replied, peering at her discovery and I suddenly felt anxious about what she had noticed from the expressions of her two kids.

"Why is Tom silent?",

I heaved a huge sigh of relief after she said her observations.

"Maybe he's been a good boy",

"That's so unusual and unlike him. He's always been restless and often talks a lot. Now he looks like a humble man who just lost his tooth",

I giggled at aunt's joke but Tom remained quiet blankly staring eye to eye at his mother. I could clearly see the aunt's bluish iris meeting at a visual point with that of Tom's pale brown eyes.
"Please don't mind him and let's get out here",

"You are right about that. There's a lot of heat in the car but I need to take a power nap before driving us out of this place",

She responded and turned around resting herself on the seat while facing the other way.
As for the tennis ball player, he returned back to the court to finish his game only to find out that his friends had long ended the game and they as well as his son who was watching from the bench the entire time he was having fun playing some rounds with his opponents though he was holding a racket as well, were already getting ready to depart. 

Two of the deserters met him at the entrance of the tennis court with all their stuff inside their duffle bags as they were on their way out. One of them stopped to see him briefly while the other left heading to his car which was parked across the street. 

“Terry, are you tired already?”

“Sorry, man. I feel exhausted and I got a call from my wife telling me to come home”

“Alright, catch you later”

He said, giving Terry a handshake. Then he looked past Terry’s shoulder and saw his son putting their stuffs in the duffle bags he brought with when coming to the Tennis court earlier in the morning.

“Yeah, later, you were fantastic in today’s game and I wondered why you didn’t tell your son to join us”

“I have my reasons”

“Goodluck with that”

Terry replied and walked away. He strolled further into the side of the lawn court and walked up to his son almost getting his things ready for departure. For some minutes, he stood watching his son arranged the rackets as well as 

“Richard, that was quick”

“Where did you go with that lady?”

“Uh…that’s nothing, she's just someone who got lost looking for a house around here, are you done yet?”

“Almost done”

Richard replied and tucked the last vest into one of the zips of his duffle bag. 

“I’m done, let’s go, dad”

“Alright, son”

He said, patting Richard’s back and carried the two bags using the straps on his shoulder. They both walked out of the court, heading straight to a black Pathfinder automobile which was parked beside the entrance of the court. Richard opened the truck and kept the two bags inside before joining his father at the front seat inside the vehicle. 

 His dad drove the car out of the vicinity back the way he had returned to the court and drove past us. I saw their car as they passed but I didn’t see the man whose aunt came to the car except for his son who glanced at our saloon car as they drove by heading to another side of the neighborhood till they were out of sight.

 She yawned, preparing for a brief siesta and pressed one of the car's automated buttons on the dashboard which brought the windows down except mine for proper ventilation.

"That's better",

She remarked feeling the refreshing breeze rushing in to calming her nerves as the heat diffused out of the car through the windows.

"The walk was tiring, wasn't it?",

"Yeah, couldn't deal with walking around under the sun out there",

"Then who was that man earlier?",

I asked curiously.

"That's no one...just some random stranger I met at a tennis court around the corner playing with some friends of his",

"I suspected he was the one who gave you the directions to our new house",

"Well, yeah...He really did come through for us",

She replied wanting to drift off to sleep but I wasn't done yet getting what I wanted.

"He seemed like a good looking in his outfit"

"I'm not sure of his looks but I think he has a good heart",

 "You do? No wonder you were smiling like that in front of him",

I teased.

"Don't get your wrapped up in things that aren't going to happen",

  She advised me.

"But it doesn't seem that way to me at all",

"Come on, Rosalie...shut the hell up and allow me to sleep", She gave an evasive reply and shut her eyes tight. 

She relaxed more quickly than expected on the front seat while I looked at her face and saw that she was already trying hard to sleep off from the conversation whilst Tom who had been listening quietly to both stared at me with a bit of sleep in his eyes.

 He had been sobbing silently ever since aunt returned and wasn't too vibrant like the way he was earlier. I ignored him and put my earpiece back on since I already knew that we would be spending another hour at the corner of the road and sleep was far away from my eyelids. It took my aunt about an hour and some minutes to get us back on the road track again after relaxing briefly inside the car. 

She was quick to find the house this time around and eventually, we safely arrived at the house where we ought to have been some hours but we parked near the road instead of driving through a narrow pathway that ran through to the front porch of the duplex apartment in the midst of the broad courtyard where unkempt short grass grew at the opposite field of the route which to my greatest surprise, aunt chose not to take us through in order for us to be able to move in a lot easier than having to walk over a little distance from the road to the front door. 

Some of the grasses and shrubs on both sides of the field were overgrown and needed cutting to make the vicinity look tidy enough for us to dwell inside.

"Phew. This is it. We made it",

She said gasping in relief at the end of the irksome journey from Georgia. She was about to leave the car when Tom began to complain.

"But mom, don't you think it's better to get the car a little closer? I feel tired already being cooped here all day",

"For once, I agree with Tom, aunt. Our feets are probably numb by now from sitting here at the back",  

I rejoined.

"Guys, it's just a little distance away from the car",

"I know, mom but I can't carry my bags and that of Nora's if I'm very tired",

Said Tom, feigning a weary look across his face which looked quite convincing to aunt,

"Ugh...fine, you win. I'll park the car near the porch but in return, you and Tom will carry all the bags into the house including Nora's things",

She said and then, we all looked at Nora who was sleeping profoundly where she had been playing with her doll.

"So that's why I haven't heard her voice since we were coming in this direction",

Aunt said to herself as we stared at Nora sleeping profoundly.

"Aw, she looks so cute sleeping",

"Absolutely. Anyway, let's get going then",

Aunt turned and took to the steering wheel once again while Tom and I adjusted ourselves back on the seat so as not to get swayed by the vehicle that was about to move. Aunt restarted the car and its life was restored in a heartbeat.

"Tom, make sure you keep Nora from falling",

"I will, mom",

"Good boy",

She replied by taking her right hand off the steering wheel and tousled Tom's hair with her fingers. Then she retracted them back again and drove the car far back to the beginning of the street but halted aloof from the tiled road that ran into the neighborhood. She steered us forward and took a left turn towards the narrow track which eventually led us straight into the broad front yard till we reached the end of the road at the front porch.

"There you go. Happy now, Rosalie?",

"Let's say...for the moment",

She chuckled at my response and pushed the left car door open. I quickly unstrapped my seat belt and joined her outside. Surprisingly, aunt didn't put on her seat belt like she usually does and it made it quite easier for her to come out of the car first before I did followed by Tom who left Nora sleeping inside the car. The apartment now looked a lot bigger as we stood closer to the veranda than it was before aunt drove us to the front porch and it was then that I sighted a smaller circular window protruding outwards on the corrugated rooftop from where I stood beside the car. 

It had its own V-shaped  roof covering it of which we didn't see earlier that the house had an attic, a notable difference from the rest of the houses in the neighborhood which we figured had none when passed by on the way to the new house.

The structures of the house weren't too much older like it was in the photo shown to us by Aunt some months back. Its corners as well as the glassy windows were still fancy looking despite it being abandoned and shut from the inside with most part of the Venetian blind showing through the glass.

Everywhere was clean and tidy to my taste even a toddler would fancy the yard to be that of a wide playground in a park without the need of erecting a fountain to make the vicinity more lively but of all this, there was this refreshing cool breeze around the vicinity partly because of the thick trees at both left flanks of the house and it made me feel more comfortable at home even though we haven't stepped inside the apartment which of course we knew the front door was locked. 

I stood for a minute to smell the refreshing air brewing around even though  the sun was still as hot as it was when we first arrived in town but the trees as well as the grassy shrubs on the fields seemed to have absorbed every bit of heat radiating from the sun in the environment.

Before my eyes could pick out some swings near the bushy side of the little forest now covered by long thick grasses, Aunt had carried Nora on her shoulder before shutting the door of the car and its sound as it closed brought my mind off from savoring the breeze hovering around us in the tranquil vicinity. She headed towards me but called out to Tom, instead, who had found his way to the back of the truck to get the bags by the time we all got our feet ready to storm into the house.

"Tom, Get the bags while Rosalie, help him get them out",

She ordered taking no glances at my confusion as she forced her way through the back of the car towards the little staircase that led her to the threshold of the doorstep. I walked to where Tom was and he was already taking out some of the heavier things with the little manpower he could gather from his fierce hold on one of the luggage. 

Then my attention drifted away from him and fell on Aunt already at the door looking for something she and I knew very well was the only means we could use to enter the house.

"Are you with the keys?",

I asked in the best British accent I could use to express my concerns clearly to her.

"Thankfully, yes they are right in my pockets...",

She replied reaching for the keys in her pockets but Nora's huge weight and plump body size was making it difficult for her fingers to grasp hold of the pockets where the keys were. She stretched twice all to no avail.

"Can I help you?",

I asked again using the same accent as before but this time more pronounced than the first.

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine. Join Tom to get the bags out of the car...I just need to get the keys ...from the pockets",

She replied, still struggling to get hold of the edge of her pockets while finding it hard to endure Nora's weight. For some minutes, she failed to reach the keys in her jeans pocket while I looked on hoping that she would succeed in her intentions to get the keys out of her pocket but she seemed unable to get her fingers into the pocket each time she tried to get to it. 

Tom had already noticed her tussling with no one but herself and was standing close to me watching as well after taking quite a few of the luggage down from the car mostly, the ones he could pull out of the open boot with his bare hands.

I became fed up watching her not succeeding in what she wanted to do and couldn't keep myself waiting for her to retrieve the keys any longer.

"Stay here, Tom. I'll be right back",

I whispered.

"But—",
Tom looked at me in surprise.

"I said I'll be right back. Aunt needs my help",

I replied but aunt overhead me.

"Don't come any closer. I can handle this myself just fine. God-damn this thing",

She retorted in agitation when she couldn't get the key once again.

"No, you can't do it with Nora pressing hard on you. Let me help"

"I said I can do this easy shit on my own. There's no need to come over...just give me five minutes and I'm done getting the key out",

She gave me a coaxial response but I refused to comply with her instructions.

"I'm coming anyway. You can punish or thank me later as long as we can get that door open before then",

I said climbing the stairs to meet her already sweating profusely under the heat. From the look on her face, partially covered with sweat, I could see that she was already tired enduring the weight from her daughter bending her left shoulder to one side of her body. I didn't wait for her to tell me where the key was and I quickly took it from her tight back pocket. Then I handed it back to her. She received it warmly and thrust the key into the keyhole on the door knob. The door flung open as soon as she twisted the key to the left which forced the latch open from the other side of the door.

"Thanks",

She appreciated it with a smile across her lips.

"Don't mention it",

Before I could say something more in return, Tom called out to his mother from where he was standing beside the open boot with some of the luggage beside his short legs which was barely covered by his green shorts.

"Mom, tell Rosalie to help me get the big bags inside otherwise I won't be carrying any",

"Go help him out. I'll take it from here",

Aunt said to me and marched inside carrying Nora on her shoulder, not minding the fact that Tom and I were left outside with the whole bags near the car to carry inside with us.

Reluctantly, I went back to where Tom was smiling triumphantly at me when I came back but I ignored him and took three of the four bags he had brought down from the car.

"I'll take these. Don't forget to bring the other bags remaining inside the boot outside",

"But they are too heavy and I've tried bringing it out with the best I can but it didn't work",
He complained.

"Then deal with it. It's your problem that you aren't strong enough to take it down not mine",
I answered and left him gaping his mouth in amazement as he watched me rolled the three luggage away from him into the house to join Aunt inside leaving him behind to stare at me as I left without minding the fact that he doesn't have the strength to move two of the bigger luggage that belong to aunt.
Feeling ecstatic about entering into the house for the first time, I rolled the bags towards another staircase with a spiral handrail that ended at the upper left side of the heightened cubicle since the parlor had a lot of space and left it at the bottom. I met Aunt by the door on the way back to meet Tom outside of stairs after cuddling Nora to sleep on one of the large sofas utterly covered by a large white blanket just like the other household furniture in the house.

"You feel alright, aunt?",

"Yes, I'm okay. Nora's been eating quite a lot and I promise to control her appetite once we are done settling down",

"What about Tom?",

"Tommy's problem isn't his stomach but his attitude, so, i guess that I would be working on making sure he doesn't have naughty friends in the house",

"Good thought",

I said and it was then that I realized that I had left Tom behind in the car with two larger bags that he cannot take off the open boot on his own without anyone assisting him.

"Aunt, I gotta go. Some of the bags are still in the car",

"Oh, right. I need to make a phone call",

She said checking her pockets if she had kept her burner inside them.

"Your cell phone is in the car",

I reminded her and took a step ahead of her to the doorstep.

"Oh, yes, it is...I completely forgot",

She said in surprise after recalling leaving the device on the front seat of the car. I led her outside of the house and went to meet Tom already struggling with one of the heavy bags while she went to the front of the car to get her cell phone from inside the vehicle.

Tommy was glad to see me coming back to help him and felt relieved that I was back to ease the heavy load on him. He quickly let go of the bag's handle and kept panting profusely in a funny way that got me giggling with laughter.

"Leave it. I'll bring it out myself",

I said proudly with laughter written all over my face. He became perplexed and then peered at me in confusion.

"What’s so funny?",

"You look funny, that's all. Move aside and let me show you how real strength works",
I drew the first bag closer with ease using the handle and pulled it down with ease. He was truly amazed at the great strength I used in getting the bag down that left him bereft of words. Tom looked at me completely stunned and dumbstruck when he saw me bringing down the other bag from the car.
I looked at Tom and he was already disappointed in himself for failing to get the bags. Then I patted him on the shoulder and gave him a friendly smile which brightened up his shady face.

"Come on, Tom. Don't feel bad about not being able to get the bags down",

"I could have tried harder",

He replied and his face turned pale at once.

"It doesn't matter if you weren't able to get the bags but what matters is that you did your best",

"But it wasn't enough",

"Forget about it and put on a smiling face. Aunt won't like it if she sees like this",

     "But in return, you have to tell me something first",

     "What do you want me to tell you?",

    "Why do you always call mum, aunt? She's your mum too but you call her aunt like you aren't related",

    I took a slight pause searching for a preferred answer to give to the inquisitive fellow whose curiosity knew no boundaries.

     "I don't know...I like calling her that way and I've gotten used to it",

     "But it wasn't like that when you were kid",

     "Tom, please let's discuss this next time, okay?",

     "Alright. Always killing the joy of knowledge",

   He looked elsewhere while I chuckled at his statement and got my act together.

  “As for the heavy bags, you’ll have the strength to carry eventually when you get to my age",

 "Your age?",

 He almost exclaimed with surprise.

  "Yes, Tom. Why are you so shocked about it",

 "That means it'll really take a long time for me to become like you",

  "Pretty much but your thoughts won't change as long as you decide to remain the way you are",

 I said forgetting that we had to carry the rest of the luggage inside the house and Aunt who was making a phone call at the rear of the car caught us standing without making any effort to move the things inside. She briefly took the phone off her ears and yelled at us from where she stood.

  He wanted to say something but his speech was interrupted.

  "Rosalie! Get the things inside. Why are you standing there?",

 She screamed at us on the top of her voice while avoiding direct contact with whoever she was talking to on the other side of the phone call.

 "Let's get going before we land into much trouble",

 I said to Tom and he cheerfully grinned a lovely smile at me. Then he took the smaller luggage which matches that of his strength and headed first for the little raised platform where he met the staircase which gave him a little difficulty pulling the bags up. I wanted to help him but he perceived my intentions.

  "I can handle it. Allow me to do it myself",

 He requested and somehow he was able to end the tussle between him and the staircases very quickly unlike Aunt who was battling to get the keys to the house earlier on.

  I followed Tom soon after, taking the two heavy luggage that had posed too headstrong for Tommy to carry inside and it really did give me a challenge raising it past the platform on which the staircase was built but I succeed anyway and entered into the spacious living room where I met Tom exactly where I wanted him to be, at the foot of the spiral staircase where I had kept the other bags which I had earlier taken into the house, staring at the broad quiet house with a peculiar Italian interior house design which left us completely amazed by the decors and choral wall pattern that was printed on the wallpaper used in cover only most part of the walls around the living room.

***

I didn't take notice of the fact that there was a huge chandelier dangling down from the ceiling earlier when I walked in with the bags, even Aunt still outside at the front porch did not earlier see the dusty objects with many electric bulbs missing from the erected places fixed on the apparatus meant to be luminescent with the aid of electricity which was absent from the entire house and only the sunlight radiating into the house was the only source of light for us to see the concealed household items clearly.

 After I got to where Tom stood looking at every corner of the house, I wearily placed the bags near the other ones and sat on mine to get a bit of rest from rolling the bags towards the staircase which was a bit far off from the door that I left ajar for the wind to come.

 From there, I started exploring where we would be spending the night with my eyes roaming around from every covered piece of furniture right up to the old framed photographs of the family that once owned the mansion, which was still intact where it was hung on the walls but covered with dust. There was also a fireplace at the far edge of the sitting room in between two of the windows where the transparent curtain concealed with their opaque fabric but I was disappointed to find out that it was completely empty without any dry wood or coal present inside it.

    Tom too had his own opinion of how the house looked but his thoughts were quite different from mine, in a confused opposite sort of way. He started his pessimism about the the outlook of everything else we could find in the living room which was concealed by criticizing

 "This house looks bizarre and old fashioned. Mom probably chose a wrong taste for a house",

  "No, she didn't. She picked a good one beyond my expectations",

 "It sucks, Rosalie. I really don't see what so nice about this whole place Apart from the chandelier, the rest sucks",

 "You are peculiar little critic",

 "I guess I am but that won't change my opinion about how this house stinks",

 "Leave it up to the adults to decide",

 "Oh, yeah, I'm sure the other parts of the house are far worse than this on ",

 "Tom, it'll be best if aunt doesn't hear that from you",

  "I believe mom won't be as thrilled as you are about this old house when she enters and see the place full of dust",

  "Don't be a pain in the butt",

 "I'm not, Rosalie. I've seen better apartment’s designs in Hawaii and Florida than this one",

"Don't keep babbling nonsense. You haven't been there not even once so how come you have seen the houses there",

 "On TV commercials ",

 "And you think they are the best compared to this one aunt chose herself?",

 "Of course. If it were up to me, I would have persuaded mom not to take us here to a house that smells like a cabin in the woods",

  "You are just a weird kid",

  "I've gotten used to being a weirdo. Mom feels I act too much like a grownup which some narrow-minded people think is abnormal for a seven year old kid like me",

 "Not just that but you talk like one and sometimes act immature",

 I replied, folding my hands.

 "That's the way I am and everyone has to deal with it",

 "Alright if you say so. I wanna check out the other rooms to see if you were right about the whole house being old and all. You wanna come?",

 "I'm in",

 "Good but first, go check if aunt has stopped making her phone call",

 Tom nodded and trot to the doorstep. He took a brief peek outside and came back quickly without taking much time at the veranda like I had thought he would.

 "She's still on the phone",

  "Okay let's check out the rooms in the house before aunt could find out we are gone",

 "Sounds great, wait a minute, where do you suggest we go first?",

 "Um...the attic will be a good place to start",

 "There's an attic?",

 He questioned.

 "Yes, there is upstairs. Didn't you see it earlier when aunt drove us in?",

 "Nope"

 "That's because you were sobbing like a wimp close to me at the back seat",

 "I ain't no wimp!",

  He yelled at me sharply.

  "Keep it down or else you'll wake Nora up",

 I warned and he quickly refrained himself from getting angry which he knew would sabotage the plan to scour the rooms in the colossal house. He loathed Nora whenever she pestered him and he didn't want her to be around him at this point where he could do what he wanted without her being nosy in his endeavor.

 I knew at once he would keep his mouth shut for he loved it when he had his free time away from her and it was at this time when he didn't have to get into a warring argument with his little sister because they often fight over every trivial issue that arises between them.

 Both of us peered at Nora hoping that she wasn't going to wake up anytime soon after we had gone upstairs without aunt interfering in our little adventure around the house.

 "I hope she didn't get to wake up because of me",

 He whispered looking over at the couch where he could barely see her little chubby stature lying fast asleep on the couch aloof from where we were at the foot of the stairs that ran upwards.

"She didn't hear you. Let's go before aunt catches us",

"I'll follow behind you",

He replied, still looking at the couch while I stood up from where I was and turned to face the other direction leading upstairs where I already knew was the only way to get to the attic. 

I intently led the way as Tom and I climbed the spiral stairs to the other rooms upstairs and we saw frames pictures of painted images by the side of the wall now old and worn out after being abandoned for a long period of time as well as the lampshades that were too corroded to retain its glossy look. It was only after we arrived upstairs that we discovered that there were quite a few more rooms in the second floor than the three rooms downstairs including the sitting room where we had left our bags to take a survey of every nook and cranny in the apartment.

I wasn't sure of the right way to get to the attic since we met two opposite corridors with each having its own number of rooms when we arrived at the end of the stairs and I was beginning to feel discouraged even when we had not ventured yet into the lengthy hallways separated on two sides by another series of stairs each with its own handrail at both ends but shorter than the main staircase whence Tommy accompanied by me had difficulty in climbing to summit.

Tom felt confused at that point just like I was and things were beginning to feel undesirably uncomfortable where we stood still trying to figure out where to go next.

"Rosalie, I thought you said the stairs leads directly to the attic",

"Um..I thought wrong",

"Then are we going this way or that way?",

"I'm not sure which way to take but this does not feel right anymore",

I said against all odds of not revealing my fears to the young boy.

"Come on, you look scared",

"Me? I...I ain't scared, who gave you that silly idea that I am afraid to go any further?",

I inquired trying to brighten my countenance with a false laughter that was less convincing.

"No one did. It's just a thought of how your face had turned pale since we got here",

"My face? I'm fine. I'm just a little tired that's all",

"I can see that. Your shoes are pretty tight",

He pointed out and I willingly saw that the loafers really did occupy a whole portion of my two small feet but that wasn't the main reason why I couldn't find the confidence to go further. 

There was this intuition that something airy was out there in the both of sides of the rooms upstairs for they were locked and arrayed in a particular way that the sunlight in this part of the house was very dull to be exact in a sort of way that made it a bit spooky and ominous to walk in alone. 

Thankfully, Tom was with me and I didn't want him to get even a clue that I was indeed freaking out going forward when in fact it was my own idea of searching the rooms before aunt comes back into the house just to see how things looked like and from my own perspective at that moment, we had seen enough of the fairly dark corridors lacking intense sunshine.

Though I didn't want to recant my decision to go to the attic, I wasn't ready to commit myself to taking one of the corridors without being sure if the right corridor will lead us straight to where we want to go.

Tom suddenly tugged on my hand when he found out that I was still reluctant to lead him forward where he had accepted to go. He is a smartly adventurous kid whose round eyes beamed with no fear at me from where he looked at me below beside me whilst I, from above even when he saw the same cloudy outlook on the second floor.

"Something wrong, Rosalie?",

He questioned when he noticed that I hesitated.

"Uh...no, not...at all",

I stuttered feeling the confidence dropping every passing minute.

"Then we should get going before aunt catches us. You know better than I do that she would scold me much if I am caught with you here standing like this",

He responded in persuasion which seems to be working and for that, it instilled some amount of courage into my mind and gave me impetus to stick to my earlier decision to explore the entire interior parts of the house even before aunt could get back.

"Okay, I've heard you. We'll take the left but we'll have to be snappy",

"I'm with you all the way",

"Then let's go. We have wasted much time as it is",

I said and went ahead, towards the left hallway with Tom walking beside me while his eyes kept roaming around the corridors like I did looking for something that wasn't there.

"I'm sure these rooms are meant to be our bedrooms",

"Most likely it is",

 As we approached the first room, we met an antique statue covered by a piece of white cloth like the rest of the furniture in the sitting room downstairs and curious Tom took off the cloth even before I could barely stop him from touching things. The antique turned out to be an exquisite crafted little angelic statue of a baby cupid with a little bow and an arrow held by his baby fingers but the dirt on it was much and had almost corroded its beauty as well as the carvings on the stony material on which was shaped with a chisel.

 "Whoa! A cupid statue! I guess it’s my lucky day. Nora would freak out if she sees this ",

 Tom exclaimed with delight when he saw the statue.

 "Tom, cover it back with the cloth otherwise we'll go back right this instant",

 I threatened frowning at him. He reluctantly obeyed and did as he was told. He feigned a look of sadness across his face and kept quiet nursing his anger that had turned up after I intently cut his brief surprise short. His sudden countenance reminded me of what had happened late winter the previous year back home when we were still living in Georgia during the festive Christmas season.

 Aunt had prepared presents for everyone including himself and some other friendly neighbors living nearby who weren't too privileged to celebrate with their loved ones. Unknown to her, Tom had great expectations of what he had wished Santa would give to him, a video-game player, as a gift for Christmas only for him to unraveled an action figure and chessboard game instead, from the beautifully wrapped box that was kept under the Christmas tree we had erected during the season while Nora and I got the usual stuffs we wanted and we were satisfied even though we had high hopes of getting something more attractive but Tom wasn't the following year.

  After he had covered the antique, a brownish lookalike of the original model, we entered the first room and it was quite smaller but had enough straight space for easy movement. It was pretty much very empty with all the posters on the wall removed except for a bed that was covered including a little drawer beside it near the window. The other rooms after the first one were all the same and nothing different from what we saw at the first room but we eventually came to a dead end with no steps leading to the attic. It was then that we both realized that the other hallway by the right would most likely lead us to the attic.

 Then we hurriedly went back the way had come till we arrived at the same point we had stood wondering which way to take.

  "So the attic is that way",

 "Eventually and there's no doubt we'll find it once we get there",

  Phew, I feel tired climbing this stairs maybe you'll have to go without me",

 "Thanks for the heads-up but I'm not leaving you here",

  "Suit yourself",

 He answered as soon as we were about to make for the other corridor but I suddenly recalled something and grasped him by the hand from going any further.

 "Hold on, I need to see if aunt is still outside, just to be on a safer side",

 Tom nodded at the good idea and waited behind me to head downstairs. I went down and found two of the six luggages missing from the six luggages in all which Tom and I took from the car. No one had to tell me that aunt was already inside the house and evidently, Nora was missing from the couch where we had left her to scour around the house.

  I headed back with one of the heavy luggage and returned to find Tom still in his waiting position like I had left him briefly.

 "What's with that look on your face?",

  "Shh… Keep your voice down. Aunt is in house and you don't want her to hear you",

 I shushed him with one of my fingers crossed my lips and walked up to him rolling the bags behind me.

 Fear gripped him profoundly and he was dumbstruck and didn't know what to say either but I wasn't going to let his fears ruin our little search around the house.

   "Don't be afraid, Tom. Since aunt is inside the house and Nora missing from the couch, I guess she must be in one of the rooms",

   "So what if she is in there? She'll hear us the moment we start walking on the hallway",

   "I know that but we'll have to tread cautiously",

   "You mean like a ninja?",

 "Sort of, you have to make sure that you don't make any noise henceforward",

   "I promise not to",

   "That's good",

  "Sneaking around isn't my favorite thing to do",

   "It isn't mine, either",

   "You said aunt is probably in one of the rooms, right?",

   "Yes, I did",

   "Which one?",

  "I'm not sure but we just have to get past the rooms to the end of the hallway",

   "And then what?",

   "Then we'll get to know if the attic is there or not",

   I responded unanimously.

   Tom sighed.

   "This plan is surely not going to end well but I have no choice other than to obey at this point. I hope our desire to see the attic is really worth our efforts in sneaking around looking for something that isn't there",

   "It's too soon to jump into conclusion and we truly aren't sure yet if the house has attic or not",

  "Well...there's only one way to find out. I'll go first",

  He said and climbed the stairs up to the right corridors leaving me behind to watch the performance of his stealth approach as he tiptoed to the door of the first room which he found shut tightly. He ventured forward and found the same thing as the first door closed as flat wood without any sign of a forceful entry. 

Two more doors, and he was halfway done crossing to the other side through the hallway but he suddenly stopped when he arrived at the middle of his journey and took a peek into the room by the left only to discover aunt inside getting the bed ready for Nora to sleep off the nap she had been sleeping the entire time. He ignored her and tiptoed further away from the door. 

Then he continued his way without stopping and he cautiously made it to the end of the corridor where he beckoned to me that he had found the staircase that possibly led to the attic. Seeing that he arrived there safely, I climbed the little stairs in front of me carefully carrying the bags towards the corridor but left the bags near the doorstep of the first room before sneaking past the room where aunt was till I eventually joined Tom who was a bit relieved to see me.

  "Great. Now that we've made it, let's go see how the attic looked like",

   He ran on the stairs upwards in excitement before I could stop him from making too much noise.

  I followed behind when nobody got attracted to his trampling harder than ever on the stairs as he went in first into the attic only to get highly disappointed by what we both saw when we arrived inside the interior of the attic.

   I wasn't only the one that got taken aback by the collective pieces of old furniture and miscellaneous items crowding every little bit of space we could have used to move freely inside the tight spaced room heavily occupied with a bunch of abandoned materials scattered on top each in disarray and there were larger cobwebs attached to the four edges of the slant wall near the ceilings sheltering the entire mess of things which off course had dust covering the body of every old items in the room especially an old wardrobe that was barely closed after it was kept at the far end of the room by the previous owners of the house.

  Tom was by far devastated to see the huge mess lying in total disassemblement and he wasn't happy with what he saw, even I couldn't imagine what went wrong with my speculation.

"I...I'm sorry, Tom. I didn't know that this was gonna happen",

I said as soon as I was able to gather pieces of my mind that had stopped working for some time.

"This is terrifying. I knew it was going to be like this. It's going to take a whole week to clean up this mess",

"Fifteen days maybe",

"Fifteen days? That's over half of the month already!",

He exclaimed in sharp surprise.

"Hey, we can't help it. The previous owners probably left a heap of mess in here on purpose",

"Are you saying that they had no room to keep this all this junk?",

He questioned.

"Just saying. I have no idea if the other rooms were not good enough to keep this stuff. But from the look of this, they definitely had other intentions",

"Intentions like what?",

Tom asked curiously.

"You saw it right, that those rooms we came across were empty except for the attic",

"Yes, we both saw it. I guess they kept the whole stuff hidden in here and left the rooms empty as if it was a new one",

"Maybe aunt knew about this",

I said in doubt of the fact that there was something amiss.

"How can you tell?",

"Because no one buys a new house only to find bunch of old stuffs hidden in the apartments",

"I don't understand",

"You won't because you're too young to know this. The estate agent in charge of this property must have known that this house was used before we moved in today and aunt...",

I deduced.

"Might have known as well",

"Exactly, that's my point. She could have known this unless she was cheated by the dealer",

I explained folding my hands and rested myself against the wall at the entrance of the attic.

"Maybe she indeed was cheated. Mom can be gullible at times when it comes to buying stuff from people",

"Which explains the dust in the house and the old pictures we saw way back",

I said to myself but Tom kept quiet ruminating deeply about the whole scenario. Then I continued,

"I don't really know for sure but I think it's better to ask aunt herself to find out if she knew about this the whole time",

"That would be probably be the best solution to solve this situation, I think"

We took a slight pause and peered around the attic searching with our eyes, something that wasn't there amongst the rubbles of old cartons compressed underneath the old furniture. I shook my head in dejection and wanted to leave badly. I felt more betrayed by my earlier opinion about the whole house and didn't know what to say at this point when it was lucid to us both that the house had been fairly used before we had come.

"Let's get going then. We've seen quite enough",

I ordered and we were about to leave when a fat furry rat bolted out of the old cartons when Tom's feet accidentally hit a carton of old kitchen utensils.

"Ah! It's a rat! Get it away from me!",

He screamed loudly in frightful dread of the incoming rodent that suddenly thrust itself into another rat hole close by. It had disappeared but Tom had scurried past me and he was long gone, running down the stairs in complete fear of the already disappeared rodent. I barely could stop him from squeezing himself past me and I ran after him when he left even though Tom had already climbed downstairs.

"Tom! It's gone! Stop running. You'll only get into trouble!",

 I shouted as I went after him and soon heard someone tumbling down the stairs accompanied by the sound of someone groaning in pain.

Before I got to the scene of the accident, aunt whom I presumed must have heard Tom screaming in the attic while back, had left Nora alone in the room to see what was happening in the cubicle much closer to the corrugated rooftop than any other room in the apartment and she hadn't gone far ahead to the staircase that led to the attic when Tom encountered a problem in his frantic flight from the upper room. His leg inevitably missed a step on his way down the stairs and then, he tumbled twice before landing on the smooth floorboard. 

Then he began clenching his ankle that must have consequently twisted as a result of his uncontrollable speed to avoid some repugnant creature whom aunt already knew he was afraid of after she found him groaning in pain first. 

We all knew Tom had a phobia for rodents especially rats and squirrels and has always kept him from places where he would not encounter one anywhere outside our former house particularly the park where trees are prevalent and the appearance of tree animals like squirrels and chipmunks are mostly borne.

I found him hurt with superficial bruises on his left when I left the attic but my aunt suddenly appeared out of nowhere and got him first before I did.

“Oh, what happened, Tom?”

She questioned as she flung herself over him and grasped his knees, searching for places where the injuries on his legs were obviously bleeding but not too much blood flowed out of the wound after she had turned his legs over.

“No…thing, Mom, I only slipped and…fell from the steps”

“You are fond of getting yourself, aren't you?”

“It…was an accident. 

“I have told you countless times to stop running down the stairs”

“Sorry, mom….Ouch! It hurts”

Tom squealed in pain when his mom’s fingers found the bleeding sore on his knee.

“Well, you deserve it. Where’s Rosalie by the way? Wasn’t she with you when you fell down?”

She inquired, still looking at the wound. Tom couldn’t say where I was but he soon saw me watching from the stairs above. He didn’t mention to aunt anything about my whereabouts nor could he utter any word since he was in anguish and I could see tears of agony gathering in his eyes. Aunt seemed to have forgotten about me since her attention to stop the bleeding had taken control of her as she crouched in front of her son trying to figure out how severely he got damaged from the fall earlier.

“I’m right here, aunt”

I said with guilt in my throat after much silence had elapsed. She turned around as soon as she heard me and gave me a disheartened look. I wanted to hide myself from the guilt which was staring hard at my face in spite of the fact that I truly wasn’t responsible for Tom’s accident but there was nothing I could do to convince aunt that I wasn’t the culprit. 

“You were standing there the whole time and poor Tom got himself injured”

“Mom, it isn’t her fault”

Tom pleaded in my defense as he wept. 

“Yes, it is. I blame her for it even though I know you did this on your own” 

“Mom, please don’t be too hard on her. This only happened because I was scared”

“Scared of what?”

“A rat we saw in the attic”

At that moment of Tom revealing the truth, aunt became furious and she clearly showed that she was angry. Tom could barely look at her in the face and I as well, who was coming down the stairs, felt more nervous about getting to where she was. She frowned and stopped massaging his bruised flesh covering his inner fibular with her arms before glaring at me from whence she was at Tom’s feet.

 I felt like a cold mouse shivering from a cold in a sewer after getting wet by the rain as her eyes met mine and I didn’t know when I glued myself to the wall as though it would cloak me with its concrete. Deep down, I realized that she was mad that we didn’t lend her a helping hand while she was getting most of our stuff ready in the rooms like we ought to have done since we just moved in. 

“I thought you guys have been getting your things ready in the empty rooms but you two have been fooling around the whole time I was with Nora”

“Aunt, let me explain. I……”

“I don’t want to hear anything from you, Rosalie. You really disappointed me this time. I thought you would help me get things ready before the dustman comes but you have been playing with Tom. I’m sure it was his lazy idea to roam around the house looking for things to play with”

“He’s innocent, aunt. I’m the one to blame since it was my idea”

“Really? You just have to screw up big time. I can’t believe you let me down when I thought you could still handle some responsibility”

“I’ve been trying, aunt”

“It’s not good enough. Now Tom got himself injured and you didn’t even come to help”

“I….”

I couldn’t speak and suddenly became bereft of words. Her words had weakened my confidence drastically and sentenced me guilty without having to listen to my defense which seemed rather unfair to all of us. I didn’t realize how mad she was about leaving the whole packing thing to herself and it was then that it dawned on me that we had spent a lot of unnecessary time exploring the house for the attic which of course we would eventually come to discover as time progresses during our stay here in the apartment.

 My earlier intention to ask her about the kind of deal she made with the house estate agents who showed her this only available house in Houston had vanished from my mind completely and was now replaced by a guilty conscience that had wrought me grief like a murderous criminal. 

With enough will that I had left inside of me to climb down the stairs, I slowly went down till I met aunt right there tending to Tom’s wounds and I couldn’t even look at her in the face. Then I decided to leave them alone and continue to unpack our things into the house starting with the first luggage I left by the door of the first room in this part of the second corridor. 

The luggage belonged to Tom and I wasn’t sure which of the room's aunt would want it to be kept but I chose to put the bags in the same room my aunt kept the other bags. After keeping the bags in an empty closet that was already there situated near the window, I left the room careful enough not to wake up Nora from her slumber because I didn’t want another situation to arise from disturbing the young kid which would attract more wrath from aunt who was already furious with me neglecting my duties while playing around with Tom.

It took me fifteen minutes to arrive at the bottom of the staircase where the last bag was left stranded without anybody to watch the bags and I found that the door was still wide open the way aunt had left it. I was indeed lucky to have found everything still intact when the door had been left ajar and it would really have been hell in the house if aunt found out that got missing from the bags and I would have been blame for it if someone entered the house through the door which was open the entire time while we were still upstairs. 

I shut the door after seeing that the boot of the car was closed and went back to carry the bags from where I had briefly left it. It turned out that the last bag was actually mine and I didn’t had the courage to face aunt after being reprimanded for my actions so I took my things to the other hallway, to the empty room where Tom had seen the sculpture and took some time to picture how my room will look like in the next couple of weeks. Though I felt excited that I will be living in a new neighborhood henceforward, I was a bit sad leaving some good friends behind in Georgia and had myself standing by the window peering outside the house with my hands tucked in my sweater. 

It was then I recalled that I needed some music  to keep my thoughts busy but I couldn’t hear a single sound from the earpieces I had stuck on both ears beneath  the hood  I still wore on my head. 

I checked my cell phone only to find out that its battery had hit rock bottom and it had powered off. Feeling upset that I couldn’t relax my mind with some good mp3 music, I went out of the room and shut the door behind me, not too concerned if I had left some rumpled clothes on the bed.  I strolled back wanting to find something to eat for lunch but I decided to assist aunt in arranging things first in order not to get on her bad side.

 Returning back to the other upper hallway, I found  them  in the room and Tom was silent  as ever as aunt neatly brushed the bleeding with a cotton wool she got from a first aid kit among the pile of things she had taken to the room where Nora was. 

As I approached the room, I kept hearing Tom grumbling inside the room as I got closer to the door but I didn’t go in when I arrived there and took a peek to see what was going on inside. I was surprised to see Nora already wide awake from her sleep sitting on the bed which appeared a lot neater without any of the large polythene cloth that was used to cover it earlier, while watching aunt tending to Tom’s bruises with the cotton wool and some little bandages near the open window. 

“Hold still and be quiet”

“Mom, are you done yet?”

“No, Tom, I still got to apply a little bit of iodine on it so it won’t get swollen”

She replied carrying on with her first aid treatment and dribbled a little amount of the iodine solution into the wound. Tom felt a sharp pain as soon as the liquid came in contact with the wound and frowned at aunt but he soon felt relieved after some minutes when the effect wore off.

“See, I told you it won’t hurt”

“I… no longer feel the pain”

“That’s how it usually feels, dumb-head”

This time, it was Nora who spoke.

“Mom—”

“I don’t want to hear that from you, Nora”

Aunt intervened. 

“But…”

“Not one word!”

Aunt ordered diffusing any form of argument that may arise from her two kids. Tom was happy about what aunt did and he pulled out his tongue at Nora who got irritated at him without aunt realizing what Tom did behind her back.

I was careful enough to reveal myself as I stood at the door which was slightly ajar but Nora somewhat took notice of my figure by the door without me even finding out that she had seen me already since my attention was focused on the patient and his nurse.

“Rosalie, come join us!”

Nora suddenly said, blowing my cover. Aunt and her seven year old patient quickly turned and looked at me standing by the doorway and I was taken aback by their stare except for Nora’s smiling face which somewhat gave me a glimmer of hope to move inside. I pushed the door open and my complete stature was exposed for them to see.

 Then I took two steps forward and walked inside but stopped halfway when my confidence to face aunt was dwindling. Ironically, she didn’t shout at me but rather got up from where she was and came towards me with Nora following behind her leaving Tom to cater for his wounds. 

“Rosalie, I want to have a word with you outside”

She said and walked away. Nora and I followed her to the corridor and I shut the door behind us. Nora was tugging on my jeans playfully but I ignored her and kept my focus on Aunt who stood right in front of me with her hands tucked in her trousers.

“Listen carefully; I need you to watch Tom and Nora”

“Where are you going?”

“Uh…I need to get the dustman. There’s a lot of dust in the house and we need to lessen it for us to sleep comfortably when it gets dark”

“I’ll take care of them but what will we do about the electricity?”

“For now…Um...We can’t do that just yet”

“How long will it take?”

“Let’s say two weeks, I guess but it could be more than that. For tonight, we’ll be using candles to see our way around the house”

“I don’t think that will last us for a week”

“I know but until the lights are fixed, it’s what we have to put up with till then”

“Okay, aunt. I’ll do as you ask”

“That’s good. I’ll be leaving now to gather some groceries for supper this evening and breakfast tomorrow but if you have any suggestions to make things easier for all of us, please don’t hesitate to tell me”

“I will if I have anything good in mind”

I responded by trying to push Nora’s hands off my trousers. Aunt soon noticed her bugging me and glared at Nora.

“Stop that!”,

She barked and Nora reluctantly obeyed feeling bad that I wasn’t in the mood to play with her like I was with Tom.

“Oh, I just remembered”,

“Be fast with what you have to say. We don’t have much time ahead of us”

She checked her wristwatch and folded her hands to listen to what I have in mind.

“We didn’t talk about the water”

“Oh, shit...I didn’t think of that. Thanks for the reminder”

“How do we solve it then?”

“I’ll figure it out on the way back to the house”

“I guess you’ll be leaving now”

“Yes, I am… right, I prepared some sandwich and two burgers back home for everyone and there are in Nora bags so do well to eat them with the kids”

“Got it, anything else?”

“For now, we are done here. I just hope my credit card won’t mess things up”

She replied and gave angry Nora a kiss on her forehead and walked away heading downstairs till she was out of sight.