Awakening (8-chapter challenge)

- Two -

It was well past midnight when Gabriel staggered into the tiny three-bedroom home he shared with his family. Nights had grown colder but the beer kept him warm as he fumbled with his keys to unlock the door.

Every time he saw Ingrid, his anger was difficult to wrangle. How often had she manipulated him, was still manipulating him, with money and promises. When Liu came to him with the job, Gabriel refused to acknowledge how little it took for him to accept the contract. How easily Ingrid knew how to get him to say yes. All it took was dangling his family's well-being before him.

With a sigh, Gabriel eased his way down the hall, not as careful as usual to avoid the spots that creaked and groaned. The light in the kitchen flicked on as he passed and Gabriel caught his sister leaning against the kitchen counter, watching him. She was still in her scrubs, and the dark circles under her large eyes, her dark hair sagging, and the crinkle in her cloths told him it must have been a long night for her too. A plate of tinfoiled food sat behind her.

"It's late," Keisha said, coolly.

"Can we not do this now?" Gabriel muttered. He scrubbed a hand over his face. "I need a shower and bed."

"Yeah, you do. You smell like a distillery." She tilted her head. "Where were you?"

"I'm really not in the mood for this. I had a long, shitty day and—"

Keisha pushed away from the counter. "You promised you were going to take Taylon and the twins out for dinner and a movie. Where were you?"

"I was at Wendell's."

The words were sharp and terse but Keisha didn't bat an eye. She had given up taking his crap a long time ago. She grabbed the plate and strode up to her brother. Despite only coming up to his chest, Keisha had a way of making Gabriel feel like a child. She had her reasons for the distrust, but she reminded him a lot of their mother before her illness.

"You'd better be fucking telling the truth," she said, shoving the plate into his hands, "but I'm not the one you need to apologize to."

Gabriel clutched the plate, which had long turned cold, the heat seeping from his blood. How could he have forgotten his promise? A reward for doing their homework and chores without complaining. A reward and Gabriel failed them.

Not that it was the first time.

Hot dogs and Kraft Dinner. The food their mom used to make when she had to leave for work. Back then it had just been Keisha and Gabriel, while Taylon was nothing more than a pea-sized embryo. Gabriel stared at the dinner and sighed again. Taylon made the meal on purpose. He was telling his brother that he was turning into an absent parent, just like their mom. Nothing like bitter familiar disappointment to sober up a person.

After warming the meal, Gabriel sat at the table and pressed the palms of his hands to his eyes. Exhaustion and a headache replaced the haze and as the haze started dissipating, memories began seeping through. The conversation with Ingrid, her contract for that bizarre mansion, and the strange woman who watched him during the freak storm.

His thoughts caught on her, her beautiful blue eyes that shone like sapphires behind thick glasses. She wore bulky clothes as if to hide herself, but Gabriel saw her clear as day. Her skin was unblemished and, he imagined, soft.

But there was a nagging, a ceaseless nagging that he knew her from somewhere. His headache sharpened into needles boring into his skull. Try as he might, however, Gabriel couldn't remember. It was impossible, however. She hadn't really been across the street. She had had a faded look to her, like she had been a ghost—