Two Lovers One Kiss

CHAPTER 14 - DEATH

Genevieve awoke. Sluggish and listless, unable to drag herself out of the tender, softening blows of the bed. Being forceful, she pushed herself out of bed, down the stairs into the kitchen, to the cupboard and fridge for the sweets that rested untouched, sparkling with it sugary glory in her eyes. The rest of the Sterlyne family peek the corner of the archway leading to the kitchen, watching as their sister and daughter consumed chocolate slowly. They thought it was quite peculiar because, in all of their lifetime, they never saw Genevieve Sterlyne eating away multiple chocolates. They all know she is not much of a sweets person, more of the 'always eats healthy' person. Staring at the staggering scene in front of them, they decided to join her and for breakfast this once, was sweets.

Their mouths were smeared with chocolate and their eyes popped with what looked like a quick sugar rush in the morning. The Sterlyne Family had wonderful time-consuming chocolate after chocolate, gummy candy after gummy candy, different types and brands of junk food and junk food wrappers, all strewed on the table. Realising it was 8:24, they knew it was time to prepare for the minutiae of life. Genevieve and her 7-year-old brother, Alex vied whimsically over the bathroom, with Genevieve as the victor of course. The bath for her ran solace through her body. The curse sign on her shoulder glowed a light crimson red and she winced at the slight pain. She felt Luke warm water. It splattered against soft tender skin. The droplets shimmered in the light of the shower, it highlighted her curves so well when the water drizzled, slipped, bounced and skidded across her voluptuous body. When done with the shower, Alex was next. All excited for no apparent reason, just behaving like a 7-year-old. Bursting with energy. While Genevieve laid in her towel on her bed, she thought of the clouds, the plants, the trees, the animals in the trees, the animals around the world...she felt the drowsiness at this very moment and was about to drift off, until she realized she was still wrapped in a towel on her bed.

Now being ready in her uniform, with her socks and shoes left to put on, her ears moved just a bit at the sound of her brother's salutation. She scurried to the front door to say her farewells until tonight.

"See yuh later you adorable troublemaker, love you" accompanied by a smile she hugged him and he embraced back.

"Bye sis, love you too!" happiness was all he was. Genevieve gently perched her lips in preparation for a soft kiss on the forehead to her little brother. A crimson spark flashed between the connection as her lips with his forehead. Alex ran to the door and she stayed crouched on the floor and thought
*What was that spark of light I saw? *She shrugged it off as nothing worth her time and worry, fixed on her socks and shoes and headed to the humdrum college with the humdrum subjects she needed for her exciting career as a chemist. The best part of the day was seeing her friends while the worst part was the workload of this day specifically. Project after project, homework after homework, lunch is spent in class, the light-headed thought of a peaceful, sleep-filled night faded as the load of work inundated her head.

Now relived as the voice recorded message spoke, she jogged to the door of the class when the teacher stopped her and reminded her that today was the day they would all stay behind in college to push the work. The Geography class was behind the other students and they needed to catch up. Finally, the day was concluded and Genevieve with an ashen expression walked the pavement of Belfore Street to her home with slouched shoulder and her bag swung on her shoulder. She said to herself,

*No work tonight, I'm going to sleep, I'm too tired for this, I feel a bit depressed. If I had just spent some time with Liam, I'm sure I'd feel a bit perky, but no, Mr Lactori just had to keep us in for lunch, and for what! I had already finished my load of work, why should I be punished for what the class didn't do, but as they say, 'One rotten apple spoils the whole barrel'...that rotten apple being Jose. Though the Spanish name is nice, he isn't. I really hope this gets better tonight. Maybe I'll come home be surprised with an ice cream cake! Or a box of pizza. Yuh know I just realized, Pizza, is in a square box, in a circular shape with triangular pieces.....I just can't handle anything else today*

What a wearying day she experienced. She was frazzled. However, her day only became worse. She thought the worse part of her day was staying back in college, but when she saw her house in the distance, blue and red lights flashed and glowed in the humid atmosphere soaked with tension. She felt sick with apprehension. When she arrived at her house on the public road of Belfore Street, she noticed a bevvy of cars, all blaring for attention. The ambulance and the police. She saw her mom sitting dead-faced in a chair on the front patio. She saw Karry. She smiled just a bit, but her facial expression screamed, horror, sadness, worry. Genevieve wanted to know desperately what had happened. Why were the police here? More importantly, why was the ambulance here? They were only contacted when there was an injury or someone died. She turned her face to scan the area. A white tarp picked at her eyes and she decided to examine it. She saw a small body under the tarp, small enough to be a 5-7-year-old person. Genevieve forced herself to walk to the vibrant tarp. Her hands were trembling, her temple dripped perspiration. She was terrified to see who was under the tarp. Her fingers brushed across the white plastic, her fingers curled around it, and as she raised it up slowly, blonde hair was visible within a second.
Then a forehead, and the pale peacefully closed eyes. The entire face was revealed to her, and there, she saw her little 7-year-old brother, Alex on the freezing hard ground....dead.