Little Sister

Chapter III

Sneaking into the convention had been way easier than she thought. There hadn't been any guards, except for one guarding the pompous businessman that was strutting around the room. He had walked past her once or twice already, clearly rehearsing for some sort of speech. Mia decided to stay in the backstage area: to be certain Klaus wouldn't see her. From there, she also had quite a good view of the back of the stage. She watched a group of workers perform a song.

"Startup, start-up, don't be stupid, don't be lame" they sang and danced to the beat. They definitely looked silly, and Mia rolled her eyes. Still, the beat was kind of catchy. Then it was time for the big reveal; who had won the contest for the best slogan of the year? The host stepped up on the pedestal and announced it to everyone: Carmina had won. Somehow it didn't surprise Mia at all. Carmina's family always won all sorts of things. Mia felt a sting of jealousy but pushed it down. Carmina was a great person; she definitely deserved it.

"The price is 10 minutes of conversation with the famous Tronald Dump!" announced the host, and suspenseful music began playing through the speakers. The businessman walked in on a red carpet, smugly waving at the crowd. He placed himself in front of the microphone, and Carmina's ten minutes began. She began explaining how she didn't know what she wanted to do with her life. Dump listened attentively and quickly interrupted her.

"Yes, sadly, it seems like you don't have the prerequisites to become a model or to marry rich. Prerequisites -0!"

"So everything about me is kind of a zero?" That couldn't be true. Mia scrunched her nose. Carmina wasn't a zero; she was so much better than Mia at everything. Mia was the zero.

"A zero can become number one" Dump continued. "You will become number one!" Now he had caught Mia's attention.

"Reach for the pine-tree, dig a ditch, put cows in there, so many that they start to laugh!" Mia didn't quite understand the metaphors, but she felt like they must have been very clever, so she reached for her phone to write them down, so she wouldn't forget. This man clearly knew how she would get attention: how the zero could become number one. She dug around in her purse but couldn't find the phone. She looked around the room, but it was nowhere. This time she had actually lost it. She needed to find Klaus. Quickly she made her way out of backstage.

"I've lost my phone!" she cried out. Everyone went silent, and the eyes turned to the little girl who was suddenly standing in the middle of the red carpet. Klaus's exasperated eyes caught her attention, and he then proceeded to shout at her.

"No, you haven't!"

"Yes, I have!"

"I'm so tired of your issues."

"I had in my purse just a minute ago, and it's gone. Could you please call it?" Reluctantly he dialed the number and pressed the call button. It didn't take long before a familiar pop song began playing on the other side of the room.

"Who is Klaus?" said the businessman and took out a pink phone from his coat.

"You're the one who stole it?" Mia exclaimed in disbelief.

"This is yours? You shouldn't walk around with your purse wide open like that." He held the phone out in front of him for her to retrieve it. Mia walked over and tried to grab it. For a couple of seconds, he didn't release his grip on the phone, and they just stood there while he watched her creepily. Then he let her go with a wink. Deeply disgusted and a little frightened, she rushed back to Klaus.

Everything felt like a blur; she was barely conscious of the conversation happening around her. They were discussing something, probably nothing concerning her anyway. She hung around still, too afraid to leave the safe cover of her brother. The creepy man could come back, any moment, and she wouldn't want to face him alone.

"Are you still here?" Klaus had turned to her, and his annoyed voice woke her up from her thoughts. "Don't you have anywhere else to be?" he let out with a raised voice.

"No." He knew perfectly well, she didn't have anywhere else to be. Why was he yelling at her?

"Go play with your friends or something." Suddenly there was something grim and cruel in his voice that there hadn't been before. Mia felt she was close to tears.

"I don't have any of those!" she screamed and ran off, quickly so that nobody else would see the water welling up in her eyes, threatening to drip down. She ran without a destination because she truly didn't have anywhere to go, not anymore.