Sister.

19

Martha Zamani  had just got back from the airport and was jet lagged. Her job as the personal assistant to the CEO of a fast rising company meant that she was always on the road, travelling to different parts of the world with her boss. Her job was a demanding one, but it paid well, and she got to travel around the world. But her boss gave no room for rest, Martha often thought the woman was on steroids, how else could she go on and on like she did, especially at her age.

Martha had been awake for the last nineteen hours, the plane ride had offered an opportunity to rest, but she woke up feeling worse than before.

She fished around in her bag for her keys, she did tend to be careless sometimes, she could have left the bunch in a restaurant in Japan. As ridiculous as that sounded, she’d once done exactly that, but in Spain.
She found them in one of the many small pockets that riddled the inside of the bag. Why the manufacturers saw the need to put in so many of them she did not know, she was just glad to have found her keys. These were the last copies, there were no spares left. Precious would give her an earful if she showed up at her house because she’d lost her keys again.

The house was just like she had left it, the air was stale. She noticed the answering machine flashing, but didn’t get it. It was most likely Precious. She’d get it later, all she wanted to do right now was fall into her bed, and sleep the next two days away. Precious could wait, she thought as she took off her shoes, then earrings and finally her dress. She let out a sigh of relief when she was finally free of them. She got into bed, and in no time she was soundly asleep, snoring lightly.

Martha did not sleep for two days, but she did sleep for more than half a day. When she woke up, feeling much better, she took off her remaining vestments. It was time to wash off the sweat and dirt from her body. Most people would cringe at the thought of getting into bed without first taking a shower. Well, most people weren’t as weary as she had been.

The water  felt good on her body, and when she felt she could not get any cleaner, she got out of the shower. It was now time to listen to her messages. She tied the towel over her chest, and proceeded to the parlor.

The first two messages were from her Ex. She quickly skipped those, not interested in hearing whatever nonsense he had to say this time. The third message however, she listened to.

“Hey girl, this is Angela. I don’t know if you’ve heard since you’ve been  away, but Precious died. Call me when you get this.”

She had listened to the message five times, and still could not make sense of it. This had better be  one of those silly pranks Angela liked to play, she hoped. And when she confirmed that it was, she was not going to stop Precious from doing whatever it was she was going to do. Heck! She might even join in. One did not make joke of such things.

She picked up her phone and first dialed Precious' number, it did not connect. She tried it a second time, and It still did not connect. At this point she was beginning to panic, and decided to call Angela.

She picked on the third ring
“Hello?” came the high pitched, nasal voice.

“Angy, this is Martha.”

“Martha. how are you, when did you get back?” she asked in that voice that Martha always thought  sounded more like a prepubescent girl, rather than the twenty six year old woman Angela truly was.

“I’m good, and I just got back, What’s this about Precious?”

“Girl, I’m still in shock. Precious died, and of Drug overdose. Her body was found in a hotel. Can you believe it? Precious, doing drugs?”

“No, I can’t,” said Martha.

“Well, I can. I always knew there was something about that girl. Always feeling like the rest of us were beneath her-”