Trapped

06.

I woke up in the morning naturally without any alarms. I couldn't believe my parents were actually sending me back to school again. Alex must be happy, I smirk to myself, getting packed up. Mom and I had gone shopping last night and gotten some notebooks and pencils. There wasn't much, considering the fact that it's mid-November already, but I'll have to make it by. I highly doubt my sister would let me borrow anything of hers, that's for sure. I throw my book bag on the floor near the front door and enter the kitchen. I rummage through the pantry until I found a box of corn flakes. Good enough. I turned on the TV and sat back on the couch. Some show about how the world will eventually end in a massive ball of flames comes on. Dad must've been watching it before he left for work this morning. He has a two-hour commute, so he had to wake up insanely early to make it on time.Why does my dad even watch this ridiculous garbage anyway, I wonder, flipping the channel. This time, a B-grade horror film comes on, the kind with a lot of blood and cheap effects. It'll do for now.
"Good morning, sweetie!" Mom chirps from the staircase.
"Morning," I reply less cheerily.
"Excited for school?" she asks.
"Eh, maybe a little," I reply.
"You'll make a lot of friends, don't worry."
The truth is, I don't really want any friends. That's more of Alex's thing. Speak of the perfect angel.
"Mom, do I have any clean pants?" she yells from upstairs.
"In the dryer," my mom shouts back matter-of-factly.
I hear her footsteps from the stairs.
"Good morning," I greet her. No response, as usual. That girl can really hold a grudge.
I hear the bus honking outside. My sister, Bryce, and I run outside. Mom watches us go from the window. I sat all the way in the back in a two-seater by myself, while Bryce and Alex shared one in the middle. I stared out the window, and no one bothered to sit next to me, which I'm totally fine with. My locker was right next to my sister's, since it was sorted by last names. I bet she misses the extra space. I don't even try to talk with her and grab my stuff for Science. Turns out I sit two rows directly behind her. Great. When the teacher turns her head, I flick pencils at my sister. When she turns around to glare at me, I give her an evil grin and wave. I can tell she's getting mad at me. Whatever. I go through the rest of the day with no other classes with Alex. The bell rings and I silently pack up and sit in my same spot in the back of the bus, thinking about ways to tick my sister off.
I get of the bus feeling mischievous and run to my room. I check the dresser for my box of tricks. I slide the other boxes of assorted junk out of the way to find that my box is gone.
"Oh she's really going to get it now," I growl under my breath.
I advance towards my sister's room and peek in. It's empty. All the colors in here made me sick. I started pulling out drawers and moving countless shoes from the closet. I can't find the stupid thing anywhere! I can hear my sister coming up the stairs. I shut all the drawers in record time and dart to the bathroom across the hall.
"Mom!" she hollers.
"Yeah, hon?" I hear her reply from the living room downstairs.
"What happened to my shoes?"
"I don't know."
I hear her sigh and start to put the shoes back in order.
I run back to my room when she's distracted and sit on my bed, staring at the wall. I know it's her, and maybe my brother too. But it does not matter.
They'll both pay.