Gem

Chapter 3

Over grown grass and accumulated trash was all that could been seen from the sidewalk, a complete contrast from how the home used to look when an old couple used to live there. 

As the two girls maneuvered their way through the unkempt yard, Sapphire grabbed a hold of Ashley's hand, she looked down and kicked items away as she walked. A rock here, a stick there. 

"We should have stayed at school" Ashley muttered and sighed as she pulled Sapphire behind her. The two of them were careful as they made their way towards the front door. Although they had cleared a path from the rusty gate to front door, the leaves kept covering it up as the wind blew. 

"Do you think Aunt Tracy is going to make us clean up when she finds out that we ditched school?" 

Ashley laughed and rolled her eyes at the thought of her mother. "Probably, but I'd rather clean up than be in that bitch's class" 

"Ashley" Sapphire whined. "Stop being mean, ignore the fact that we got kicked out,  you do realize that we would have been out of her class by now anyway" 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, let my hand go, I have to unlock the door" Ashley dug through a small part of her school bag for the house key, she wasn't the type of girl who carried around a purse. Plus, what would she keep in a purse anyway? She didn't like makeup, She didn't carry around her drivers license, why would she when she didn't even have a car yet. Her mom said that all they - being Ashley and Sapphire did cause trouble, so until they got their act together they would be walking to school during the summer and getting dropped off during the winter when it was too cold to walk.

 Ashley knew that was all bullshit, her mom couldn't afford another car but she knew how hard her mom worked to provide for her and sapphire, plus on top of that a nice senior care home for their grandmother. So, all she needed was her cellphone and some cash. 

She pulled the house key out of her bag and was about to place it into the lock but before she could the door swung open by itself, hitting the wall behind it. A cloud of dusk formed around the doorway. 

"Oh my gosh, Ashley what did you do, why are you so aggressive?!" Sapphire asked as she fanned away the cloud. 

"Seriously?" She turned to look at her little cousin. "Did you not just see that?" 

"See what? See you slam the door open?" 

"No, I didn't slam it. I didn't even have time to put the key in!" 

"Alright, you don't have to yell" Sapphire pushed passed Ashley and into the house. "Maybe...the door was already unlocked and the wind blew it open. It is kind of windy out here" 

"Sapphire. That door creaks open every time we open it. Mom was here this morning when we left, she would never leave the door unlocked" 

"She...forgot" 

"Whatever" Ashley paused and took a slow step into the house. She looked around, nothing looked unusual, the house looked the same way it always did when they came to visit their grandparents. It's just now, this was their home and their grandma and grandpa wasn't around anymore. It was also cluttered with moving boxes, and missed place furniture. Soon it would be out with the old and in with the new. The house was inherited and vacant for almost three years now. "Mom never forgets" Ashley mumbled but it went unheard by Sapphire who was now walking around the living room opening up all the blinds. Some of the windows needed to be replaced, and were boarded up with two by fours, still, enough light traveled through the room that no lights needed to be turned on. 

Sapphire walked over and sat on the sofa that came with them from their old home and pulled out a notebook. 

"What are you doing" questioned Ashley

"Miss Jade's home work" 

"How are you going to do that? We don't even know what she taught when we left the classroom, and YOU don't even know what she was teaching while we were in the class room. You were too busy being a weirdo" 

Sapphire turned her notebook to Ashley and pointed at the paper. Ashley was too far away to see so she just crossed her arms over her chest. "I copied the notes off the board this morning. I'll just write about that. We can work together if you'd like" 

"Nah, I'm just going to go upstairs and nap until Mom gets here and yells at us for skipping school" Sapphire shrugged and began writing as Ashley walked forward and began to walk up the stairs.

As she stood on the first step, she noticed the light in the upstairs hall turn on. Her body froze but her eyes immediately found the light switch which was at the top of the staircase. It was currently turned down in the off position. "It's just faulty wiring, that's all. Maybe the wires run under the stairs-" She mumbled to herself. 

"Ashley, did you say something?" 

She took a careful step down off the step and the light turned off. "I think I'm just going to take a nap next to you on the sofa. I know how much you hate being alone" 

"Thanks" Sapphire smiled and scooted over so that Ashley could have space.