Upon reaching the kitchen, Chris looked out the window for the hooded figure who had been staring at him moments ago, but he could only see his other neighbor, Mr. Irvin, walking their dog. Was I imagining them? The lack of anything out of the ordinary somehow unsettled him, but he was not about to run out into the streets to look, so he dropped it for the time being.

  Like many aspects of the house, the kitchen was dingy. Cheap tiling covered the floor and the cupboards were stained yellow from cigarette smoke from back when Evelyn used to smoke; she had intended to repaint but was always to busy to get around to it.

  A thin L shaped wall separated the kitchen from the hardwood floor in the living room. At the table sat Liah; eating cereal, and humming along to energetic pop punk tunes. Beside her sat boxes of various cereals, all sugary, and she had left the milk out; yet another bad habit of hers.

 Chris and Liah had barely spoken about the crash. Normally her carefree attitude would have annoyed him, this time he was concerned. No way she wasn’t bothered by the events of last week. It wasn’t normal for them to talk to each other about their feelings, but this felt different, like it was something that should have been brought up at this point.

  “Good morning!” Liah’s greeting caught Chris off guard; jolting his heart within his chest.

  “Jesus Christ!” Chris shouted, catching his breath. “Don’t do that!”

  “Do what? I was saying good morning.”

  “Oh…... well, Ummmm…. Never mind.” Chris turned to the counter.

It was already 8:10 a.m, he barely had enough time to make breakfast let alone argue. He threw a bagel in the toaster before starting a pot of coffee; he pulled out a thermostat from the top cupboard so he could drink it on the way to school. 

  Liah rolled her eyes and went back to her breakfast, wiping the milk that dripped from her mouth with her sleeve. Why is she such a slob? Chris stared at the paper towel that sat across from her. It’s literally two feet away, is she really that lazy?

  “Ogg ooomm mmghg ahh oo wrgrga” Liah voice was muffled by a mouth full of cereal. It took a few moments for her to realize why Chris was looking at her perplexed. Once she did, she swallowed her food and repeated herself. “I said, you nervous about mom going back to work today?”

  “Um, no. I didn’t even know till now” replied Chris in disbelief.

  “She only told me late last night.”

  “What were you doing up?” Chris asked disinterestedly.

  “I have a math test today and I been stressing out about it.”

  “So, you were up studying, got ’cha.” Chris replied, this time sincerely. Maybe Liah's finally starting to grow up.

  “Actually…. I planned to...... but instead I stayed up marathoning Godzilla movies.” Liah earnestly replied “Stupid math, why do we even need it past middle school. Like, I already know how to add and subtract, isn’t that enough?”

  Never mind. All Chris could do was shake his head at her. Is that really all that was bothering her? A math test she could have easily studied for?

Thump!! 

   The sudden loud noise came from upstairs and was followed up by Evelyn shouting “Dammit!” Neither Chris or Liah was startled as they both knew what that meant, Evelyn slept in and was now rushing to get ready for work…. again.
   

  Thump!! Thump!! Thump!!

  This time, Chris was startled as an un-expected knocking came from the front door. “If you’re a Jehovah's witness, go away. God’s not real and no one likes you!” he shouted indignantly.

  “That's kinda rude, don’t you think?” Liah asked, giving him a look of condemnation.

  “It’s necessary, otherwise these freaks will never leave us alone" But his harsh words did not stop the thumping. In fact, it continued, increasingly getting louder and faster with each knock.

  “Can one of you please answer that?”  Evelyn shouted from upstairs.

  Liah raised one hand high; the other clumsily shoveling cereal into her mouth. “Not it!”

  Chris sighed and then reluctantly headed towards the door. The closer he got, the more his body stiffened. His palms got sweaty, and his fist clenched on their own. If it’s that creepy asshole I’m going to knock his teeth in.

  He felt relieved when he answered the door and was greeted by Anna, Liah’s best friend. She was slightly taller than Liah, had long wavy black hair, and a black hairband with a big red bow on it. Anna came from wealth; her parents were big shot corporate lawyers.

  Chris never understood his sister's friendship with her, even if you eliminated their difference in financial status, they were opposites. Liah was loud and energetic, whereas Anna was quieter and more reserved in contrast.

  “Good morning, Chris.” Anna greeted him in a flat, dry tone; barely letting Chris greet her back before walking into the house as if she owned the place. Other than the past week, she was over so often that she might as well have been living there. Immediately she headed towards the kitchen and was horrified at Liah’s choice in breakfast. 

  “Umm… What are you eating?” Anna asked, looking at all the cereal boxes Liah had left out.

  “Cap’n charms” Liah rejoiced.

  “Excuse me…… what?” Anna asked, bemused.

  “Cap’n charms. I couldn’t decide what I wanted, so I combined my two favorite cereals.”

  “Riiiiiiggggghhhhhtttt…. Are you trying to give yourself diabetes?

  “No, but I’m willing to risk it.”

  “You say that, but knowing you, it would destroy your soul.”

  “Oh yeah, for sure. I’d have to end myself. Goodbye cruel sugarless world.” Liah replied in an overly dramatic show of sadness.

  “Exactly and if you die who am I going compare study notes with.”

  “What notes? I've been home all week.”

  “The ones I brought over the other day.” Anna answered, confused. “Wait, do not tell me. You have yet to look at them.”

  “.............Maybe.”

  An irritated sigh escaped Anna’s lips “Well… Guess I'm going to have to help you power study before class…. Again.” Her words were laced in a snippy attitude. “Come on, we should probably get going so you can have at least some time to study.”

  Liah apologized, then quickly finished her cereal, tossed her bowl in the sink, and headed out the door with Anna. As they were leaving, Evelyn had made her way downstairs, and wished them a good day at school.