Crossing Worlds

Chapter 8: Cooper's Hysterical POV

Pata.

     Pata pata.

     Footsteps sounded on the dark wood floors as I walked. The shuffling of feet, creaking of the floorboards, and crackling of ice as I touched the black and white of my surroundings seemed really loud compared to how they would normally be in my daily life.

     It didn't make sense at first. But then, I remembered, this is Jodie we're talking about here. Nothing's impossible if she puts her mind to it. I was amazed when I was five that she hadn't raised our parents from the dead with her skills, but then I realized, nothing impossible is possible. It sounded stupid when I came up with that resolution, but when I really thought about it, it sort of made sense.

     And then, I came home from school today. And I saw the impossible. I believed again, that my sister was amazing. Not that I stopped or anything...

     The normally just "clean" house, became perfection at its finest. Pickett fence being white and not a chipping gray. The roses took on a new sheen, and the floor became a clear shade instead of a muddled brown.

     I didn't mention it, but my room, which was usually a storm of books and papers because of my teacher's insanity, was clean. Abnormally clean. Like, really clean. I'd never seen the floor in some areas, and my bed was made. She tried to hide it, but there was no way that was happening with the stark difference between the usual and how it was when I came home.

     For some reason there were splinters on wood in the pillow...

     I was really grateful, but Darian was just skeptical. How? When? Why? After all this time, just deciding to do a mass cleaning...was he worried that she might see a certain something? I'd wandered in his room once and found it, completely by accident, but I never said a word. That's not the type of thing you tell your older sister about, just to be glared at over the table for the rest of your life. There was no way I was sharing a petty secret of his for that.

     I mean, Darian isn't the physical type so he wouldn't beat me up or anything, but that cold stare is like snakes biting down on you in your sleep. The only thing that made me more scared was when Jodie went into blackmailing mode, extremely angry, and went on the hunt for anyone that unknowingly tried to mess up her ideal life.

     I'd followed her once, just to see what she did that made people so scared.

     I regretted it and couldn't look her in the eyes for two days. She was suspicious of me and loved on me even more. It gave me chills to think that sweet smile could spit out such scorching words, that kind gaze could sharpen like a dagger so fast. I wouldn't let her get close to me and needlessly avoided her however I could for that time. She still didn't know why I did that.

     Jodie had changed like a demon. Her usual smiling face and perfect nature flew away like gravity ceased to be. Even her girlish ponytail seemed evil, while her lips parted and rounded up into a belittling smile, a cat playing with a toy. Her words, which were normally lilting, melodic, and attractive to all the people around her, became edged with spikes.

     If I said a word, one thorn would prick me and rub hard the salt it carried into my wound. It felt like I was going to be harassed just for breathing. My mind made me think I had done something very bad, even if I hadn't. I started shaking beneath the window sill I had crept up to, and by the time it was over, I knew I never wanted to follow her again.

     The scariest part was, once the guy she had dealt with left the room, she walked over to the window sill I had been under a few seconds before and looked outside. Just after she got up from her seat, I crawled like an army man on the grass under a broken part of a fence and scampered down the block.