Burning Desire

Family Drama

Walking through the front door of my flat on Friday morning, I threw my car keys down onto the side table, and slumped against the door. It was good to be home, last night's night shift had been long and tiring. A three am call out to a storefront fire had been a nightmare to extinguish thanks to the owner's rather large stock of alcohol and lighter fluid. We'd all barely made it back before Blue Watch began their shift. I kicked off my boots, and had just stepped back when there was a knock on the door behind me. I groaned, my eyes fixed ahead already mentally searching the fridge for food, my brain contemplating ignoring the door.

"I know you're in there Bane." A familiar, female voice called from the other side.

Rolling my eyes, I turned, reached out and unlatched the door, coming face to face with my sister, Marya.

"You realise that I've been home for about twenty seconds, right?" I said irritably.

"Well I guess that explains why you're covered in soot, and absolutely stink." She bit back, strolling past me.

"Yup, come on in." I called after her, swinging the door closed and following her inside, "Always a pleasure."

I joined her in the kitchen, the daylight streaming in through the window, bathing the modern fixtures, laminate, wooden flooring and cappuccino coloured walls in white light. She strolled to the table and threw her handbag on top, then proceeded to the fridge, pulling out a couple of bottled smoothies, and tossing one through the air to me.

"So what's up?" I asked, catching it and unscrewing the cap.

"I just needed to get away for a bit." She shrugged, dropping into a chair and sipping her smoothie.

I nodded my head, not believing a word of her lame excuse. I knew what this was about.

"What's he done this time?" I asked, rounding the table and walking towards the kitchen counter.

I stood the smoothie on the marble counter and reopened the fridge, searching through the contents for something I fancied eating.

"What makes you think that he's done anything?" She asked innocently.

I pulled a pack of chicken breasts and some salad ingredients off the shelf then placed them onto the counter, before turning back to my sister, immediately feeling my annoyance beginning to subside. She was only two years younger than me, yet she had the appearance of someone in their early twenties, with her unbelievably innocent face, cute dimples, and rich brown, harmless puppy dog eyes. She wore a pretty, baby blue sundress, with gold, gladiator sandals that wound up her legs, with her long, chestnut brown hair flowing in waves down to her waist, the sides pulled back and clipped in place, leaving two strands framing her soft features. I was never able to stay angry with her for long, she was precious to me, and I'd always been protective over her, even when she was being a pain in the ass, or making stupid decisions. She was only one when our mother walked out on us, leaving my dad to raise two young kids all by himself. It made me and my father overprotective, but I still think that Marya had us wrapped around her little finger at the end of the day.

"Perhaps the fact that you're invading my home mere seconds after I got back from work, and it's not my birthday for another ten months."

She sighed, her eyes rolling skywards with attitude.

"Fine." She snarled, dropping into a chair. "Ced is being distant again, I can't think why." Her pitch rose with emphasis on the last three words, clearly trying, and failing, to disguise the pain that it was causing her, as she spun away from me in her seat and buried her head in her hands.

Ced was Cedric Seaton, Marya's boyfriend of the last two years, and a huge prick. He worked at the same company as her, where Marya was a personal assistant to the CEO, and Cedric was in the finance department. They met at a work function and became involved shortly afterwards, but I hated the way that he treated her, since being together, he'd skipped out on their date nights, abandoned her, on numerous occasions, when he was supposed to meet, and she even saw him kiss another girl three months into their disastrous relationship. I'd encouraged her multiple times to dump the asshole, but he was smoothe, always buying her back with excuses and romantic gestures, gifts, flowers, dinners and minibreaks. It had all got a bit messy the last time I saw him, she brought him to a family dinner, and upon acting like an ass in front of me, I promptly decked him with a swift punch to the jaw. It caused an argument when she then stood up for him and left early, leading to a week of me pleading with her to talk to me again, and agreeing to keep myself out of their relationship.