by A.L. Bridges
Cheza was going through the same thing I did and I wasn’t about to try and break her nose to see if she would snap out of it. With no alternatives, I simply fell into the part of the dutiful big brother. A few days later I asked Uncle Eric about her hair, having never seen that color before. “She has Waardenburg syndrome. It is characterized by her hair color and blue eyes,” Uncle Eric said and that was enough of an explanation for me.
After about six months, Cheza was moving around and her eyes appeared alert, but she still didn’t speak or show any emotion. To try to counteract this, Sara told her to write down the things she wished to say in a notebook, but it didn’t take. My guess is that Cheza took what Sara said too literally and she didn’t have anything she wished to say so she didn’t write the things that needed to be said.
Then one night, eight months after she’d arrived, I awoke to find her standing in my doorway wearing sky blue pajamas with white clouds and holding her pillow. Tears were streaming down from her terrified blue eyes as she hyperventilated. I got out of bed (finding the house to be a little chilly for a t-shirt and basketball shorts), and hugged her until she calmed down because I was too tired to show any other form of concern. After that, I went back to bed.
A few moments later, I felt a tug on the sleeve of my t-shirt so I turned over to look at Cheza, who was holding her pillow to her chest. I caught on a few seconds later so I moved over to make room for her and then turned away from her to go to sleep, but I ended up staying awake until I was sure she was asleep and alright. That night repeated itself as I felt Cheza tug on my sleeve every week to two weeks for the next few years, slowly decreasing in frequency. Cheza started to show more facial expressions, but she still couldn’t speak. She had, however, started to write things down.
A week before her twelfth birthday, Uncle Eric asked “What do you want for your birthday, Chezarei?”
Cheza got out her three by five inch aluminum covered notebook, which I had given her as a birthday present the previous year, and wrote ‘I want to go to school with Cole’.
I was finishing middle school in two weeks, after having turned fourteen a week prior, on April 30th. Since I would be starting high school, normally there is no way Cheza and I would have been able to go to school together, considering that she could start in seventh grade at most.
Uncle Eric knew this, and he knew that I knew because there was no way I was concealing the sadness in my eyes about crushing this girl’s birthday wish, yet he still said “I think I might be able to arrange that.”
I watched in horror as Cheza’s face lit up like it did when she watched fireworks, and I pictured the fall from her high that would happen when she eventually discovered the truth. Uncle Eric looked at my horror-stricken face and smiled which immediately made me think that he knew something that I didn’t know, so I remained hopeful. The next night when Uncle Eric said “I’m sorry Chezarei,” I cringed in response.
“I talked to the school and there isn’t any possible way for you to be admitted at Cole’s school, but if you attend school this year, you can be transferred to his school next year,” Uncle Eric told her.
Cheza looked downtrodden, wrote “Okay,” then she turned to me and wrote “At least we get to go to school together next year!” The combination of her misguided hope and poorly concealed disappointment caught in my throat, so I just smiled and nodded. Cheza retreated to her room and I became furious at Uncle Eric.
“Eric,” I started through gritted teeth, leaving off the Uncle part of his name to demonstrate my seriousness. “Would you please explain to me what in the hell you think you are doing!? Lying to her twice when both times you’ve known damn well what the situ—”
“Do you love her?” Uncle Eric interrupted.
“—ation is,” I finished. “Of course I love her, she’s my little sister!”
Uncle Eric smiled at my response. That knowing little smile was really starting to piss me off.
“Would you go to school with her if you could?” Uncle Eric asked.
“Absolutely, but it’s impo—”
“Good,” Uncle Eric interrupted, stood up, and walked over to the hall closet by the front door. “It’s a private school that covers grades seven through twelve. Here’s your new uniform and your class schedule is in the breast pocket.”
The new uniform that Uncle Eric displayed for me was a beige coat, beige slacks, white dress shirt, and a red plaid tie. I just stared at him for a moment before asking, “Why?”
“The more disappointing the purposed outcome is, the greater the surprise. All you have to work on is the presentation! Besides, I already bought her a smartphone to match yours,” Uncle Eric told me as he started to walk away.
“And your sacrifice to her will mean more than anything I could do…” I thought I heard him say as he walked away, and then he stopped. “Oh and by the way, the girl’s uniforms… the skirts…” he said before pointing at mid-thigh.
“Seriously!?” I asked, suddenly ecstatic about my new transfer.
“HAHAHAHA NOOOOOOOOPE!” he responded while walking away.
‘Well it’s nice to see that he’s having so much fun at my expense!’ I thought.
I’m not sure how Uncle Eric managed to get us into a private school without any sort of testing, but I assume he made it possible through his connections with the school. That or he just had Tia go and threaten the school’s board.
It had never been clear to me what Tia did before becoming a maid for the Vaele household, but given her extensive combat training, I think it is safe to say that she was some sort of bear assassin…or at least that’s the only explanation my mind came up with to explain why, every time I’d gone to the zoo with her, the bears are never in sight. And I mean all bears: black, brown, Kodiak, polar, panda and even red pandas which aren’t actually even bears! They’re a type of fox! But obviously they didn’t want to take a chance at being mistaken for their name-sharing cousins, by the bear assassin!
It was August and time for Cheza’s first day of school. I exited my room to find her already awake and sitting at the kitchen table dressed in her new uniform that included the standard knee-length pleated skirt. Mid-thigh skirts… Pfft! How the hell did I fall for that? The red plaid skirt and tan blazer didn’t exactly suit her 4’9” frame, or her chin-length silver hair. I went into my bathroom for a quick shower and walked out of my room fifteen minutes later. Dressed in my new uniform, I walked toward the kitchen where sweet smell of bacon was waiting.
Uncle Eric was at the stove cooking bacon, wearing an apron and basketball shorts. He liked to cook breakfast for everyone when he was home. He glanced back at me and winked as I entered the kitchen before turning back to the stove. I sat down and started eating after glancing at Cheza’s barely touched food, and I waited. I counted to nine (while eating three strips of bacon) before I saw Cheza do a double take out of the corner of my eye and heard the sound of wood sliding against tile as she quickly stood up. I looked up at her and gave her my best ‘why, whatever could be the problem, sister dearest?’ expression in response to her shocked face. She responded with a glare before punching my left arm so I stood up, hugged her, and softly said “Surprise!”
“Whoa, look at the time!” Uncle Eric exclaimed. “You two need to get going or you will be late! Chezarei, grab your English muffin. You can eat it in the car. I won’t have you going to your first day of school on an empty stomach!”
While Cheza quickly grabbed her muffin, I started towards the plate of bacon. I got about half way before Cheza, muffin protruding from her mouth, grabbed my arm and started pulling me towards the door. I stumbled backwards while fighting against the ninety-pound tractor beam that had me in her grasp. With my hand outstretched towards the plate of bacon, I prayed to the bacon gods that they would magically deliver the bacon into my hands. I stared unblinkingly as two strips magically floated off the plate and started slowly traveling towards me before plummeting to the kitchen floor. All of a sudden, a golden retriever
came out of nowhere and scooped up the bacon in his mouth before bolting off while shouting something about not having thumbs. 2
I blinked several times before realizing that it was just my imagination. Man… Fuck hallucinatory golden retrievers!