Risky Woohoo

6 | Oh! You Pretty Things

1957, April
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I had nearly forgotten all about the necklace.

It still lay on the window sill, reflecting light onto the ceiling. I lifted my hand to reach for it, but someone beat me at it, snatching it from its place and burying the jewel into their hand.

I grabbed the sheets and prepared to leap at the the thief, squinting my eyes in the morning light, not quite being able to see properly yet. The person stepped back and chuckled.

"Give it 'ere, William." I spoke through my gritted teeth. Silence. I reached my hand towards him, not wanting to leave the bed, it was far too warm and snug. He snickered, and that's when I noticed the window being wide open.

The figure threw it's hand behind it's head, signalling their plan of throwing the necklace out of the window. I nearly screamed. "Don't!" I yelped helplessly. I had a terrified look on my face, I could just imagine how stupid I looked there, in bed with my hair tossed around my head and shoulders, probably looking like a troll, and my hand blindly reaching out.

"And why would I not?" A mischievous voice crept inside my ear and lingered in my head. I gulped. Off course he would to this. William, that bastard. Revenge would be sweet, I could already tell.

"'Cause Paul got it for me, you git!" I was nearly shouting. To loose that pretty thing, which only after a few months in my possession already held so much value to me, would honestly break me in the end. Paul got it for me. Even though it was mandatory. He bought it for me. He picked it out for me. He thought 'maybe Ann would like this'.

My stomach dropped when I saw an arm jerk towards the window. I could only stare. I gazed out to the spring morning in disbelief. William was a dead man walking at that moment. I sprung from the bed and leapt out to my disgraceful brother.

My face was red in anger as I stepped towards him. "You-" My pointer came up to his face. My breathing became heavy of want to scream at him. I blinked hard in an attempt to make my vision come back to normal. And it did. William's face so close to mine came into view. His eyes, those droopy, sweet eyes. And that nose, little, perky nose. And his devilish grin.

Something blinded me. The necklace appeared in between us, dangling from Paul's suggestive middle finger. I looked at it, indeed it was Paul's necklace. I sighed, defeated.

"April fools." He calmly said, the smirk never disappearing form his lips. I huffed as I took it from him. "Bastard."
I muttered. He chuckled and flopped back into his own bed, the gesture making me notice he was only in his briefs. He didn't seem to care, with him taking a hold of his guitar and loudly singing "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand that'll be the day..." I sighed, this would be a long day.

I walked towards the window and shut it closed. "Hey, I want it open." Paul whined from his bed. "I'm not taking any chances." I muttered, still sour after his little trick.

I went to the mirror and placed the necklace on the little shelf beneath it. My theory was correct, I did look like a troll. I brushed some of my hair behind my ears and tried to make it look decent, but to no luck. I grabbed the necklace again and went to the bathroom instead, ready to make myself look presentable for school with Paul's screeching as background music.
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Arriving home from school, Jim was sitting at the dining table, his hands folded under his chin and a traumatised look on his face. Paul and I stood in the doorway just staring at him, none of spoke a word. Jim didn't nudge until William forced his way past us and plopped his book bag on the table. "What's wrong, Jim?" He asked disinterested as he bent down to rummage through the fridge.

The older man cleared his throat and looked up to meet my eyes. It was as if he was telepathically apologising for something before turning to face Paul. "Da?" His son asked worriedly. My eyes went from one guy to the other. Suddenly Jim stood up from his seat and sauntered over to the younger version of himself. "Paul, let's go upstairs." He mumbled. The boy beside me looked surprised, but proceeded to follow his father down the hallway and up the stairs.

I turned to William. He was staring out into  the hallway with half a sausage in his mouth. I looked at him and he looked at me, a shared confusion running through us.

Silence. For hours it seemed. I stood like a statue, not knowing what to do. Jim, always so calm and polite. Never had I seen him so worried. Where's mum?

A loud bang. Heavy steps coming down the stairs. Jim appeared towering beside me with his head low. "Will you sit please?" My brother and I obeyed, sitting down at either side of the table with Jim at the end. He cleared his throat as he slowly raised his head to us.

"Your mother-" he carefully began. "She-" His voice got caught in his throat. He put his hand over his mouth, running it up to his eyes and down again, ultimately dropping it to the table. His eyes were red and his bottom lip shook. "Oh, Sophia!" He winced. He jumped out of his seat and began thundering towards the living room in one aggressive motion. After the sound of glass breaking a yell was heard.

"She's dead! Dead she is!" A cry of mourning, anger and helplessness.

With tears running down my cheeks and a big lump of grief stuck in my throat, I muttered: "April Fools?"
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Story's gotta have a plot right?

This was short and downright shit, but at least there's some action??