My Life is Horrific Chapter 3 — My Little Sister Might be a Grown Woman (Patreon)

I sat at the dinner table with my fork in my hand, pushing mashed potatoes around my plate insmall circles. I hadn't taken more than three bites since we sat down, I was so focused on the food I didn't even realise Esther was talking again. 

"So then Mrs. Carter said my drawing of the family was really detailed," Esther said, swinging her legs under the chair because they didn't quite reach the floor. "She asked if I wanted to put it up on the bulletin board for the Day, and I said yes because it has all of us in it. James, me, you, and Daddy. I made your football jersey blue like your real one, James."

"That's sweet, honey," Mom said, smiling across the table at her. "I'm glad your teacher noticed. You've been working so hard on your art lately."

Dad nodded while he cut into his chicken. "Sounds like you're the star of the class again. Good job, kiddo."

Esther beamed at him, then turned those big dark eyes straight to me. She didn't blink for what felt like forever. I felt the stare settle on the side of my face like a hand pressing down on my neck. 

Needless to say I kept my gaze on my plate.

I was sitting six feet from a serial killer and a full-grown woman who looked like a child and who, I was pretty sure, wanted to climb inside my skin and live there. 

At least that's what her gaze felt like. 

My pulse was thudding in my ears. Every time I swallowed it felt like forcing a rock down my throat. I kept telling myself to act normal, eat something, don't stare back, don't give her any reason to fixate harder. But my brain wouldn't shut up. Dad could decide tonight was the night for one of his rituals. Esther could decide tonight was the night to stop pretending to be a little girl and do whatever it was she really wanted to do with me. 

Man I really need to figure out my power...

Dad cleared his throat. "You've been quiet tonight, James. Everything all right?"

I looked up fast, forced my mouth into what I hoped was a normal smile. "Yeah, sorry. School was just exhausting today. I'm fine."

Mom tilted her head a little. "You sure? You barely touched your food. And you've got that big bruise on your forehead. Did something happen?"

"I tripped in the parking lot," I said. "Hit my head on the curb. No big deal. Nurse checked me out. I'm good."

Dad studied me for a second longer, then shrugged. "Kids bounce back fast, you'll ve good as new tomorrow."

Mom turned to him. "Speaking of tomorrow, are you really sure he should go? It's a four-hour drive each way, Arthur. And with that bruise..."

"He's eighteen," Dad said, waving his fork. "He's not a baby. A weekend with his friends will do him good. Fresh air, lake water. He needs it."

Mom sighed but didn't argue. She looked at me instead. "So tell us about this lake house again. Tyler's family place, right? How many of you are going?"

I nodded, glad for something else to talk about. "Yeah, Tyler's cabin. It's got eight bedrooms, a big deck over the water, dock for swimming. About eight or nine of us total. Tyler, me, Casey, Stacy, Michelle, a couple others from the team. We're bringing food, some soda Tyler's cousin got, and there's a fire pit. Nothing crazy."

In my head I was already counting the hours until I could leave. 

Esther hadn't stopped watching me. Every time I glanced up she was staring with her fork paused halfway to her mouth, her eyes locked on mine like she was trying to read my thoughts. She smiled when our eyes met, the kind of smile that should have been innocent. 

It wasn't. 

I've been looked like that by lots of girls and none of them were because they wanted to do anything innocent.

Dad wiped his mouth with his napkin. "Speaking of trips, I'll be heading out again next week. Three, maybe four days. Another work thing."

Mom's fork clinked against her plate. "Already? Arthur, but the church is doing the outreach dinner on Thursday, and then the youth group bake sale is Saturday. I was counting on you being here."

"It can't be helped," Dad said, calm as ever. "The client needs me on site. I'll be back before you know it."

Mom pressed her lips together but nodded. "Fine. Just... try not to make it longer than you said."

Dad turned to me. "While I'm gone you'll need to handle a few things. Mow the lawn. Clean the trash out the shed. Check the mail every day. And keep an eye on your sister. Make sure she gets her homework done and doesn't stay up too late."

"Yeah," I said. "No problem. I've got it."

Esther piped up then with a smile. "James is really good at helping me with homework. He explains things better than anybody. Last night he helped me with fractions and I got them all right on the first try."

Damn this wasn't good, why the hell was she so obsessed with me. I mean I know I'm a pretty handsome guy, but come on.

"That's great, sweetie," Mom said, reaching over to pat Esther's hand. "I'm glad you two are getting along so well."

Esther's smile got wider. She never looked away from me. "We get along really well. James is my favorite."

Dad chuckled like it was the cutest thing he'd ever heard. "See? Family's doing fine. Everything's under control Martha."

I forced another bite of chicken down but it tasted like cardboard. My mind was screaming. Under control. Right. Dad was about to leave town to murder someone. Esther was counting the minutes until she could get me alone.

Yeah it's all under control. 

I finished forcing down the last bite of chicken that actually made it into my mouth, then pushed my plate away. Dad stood up first, grabbed his coffee mug, and headed into the living room without another word. The TV clicked on a minute laterx and some old Western rerun turned on. Mom started clearing plates, stacking them quietly by the sink. She didn't ask me to help tonight, which was fine by me.

I got up fast, muttered a quick good night to nobody in particular and headed straight upstairs. I shut my bedroom door behind me, turned the lock even though nobody ever came in without knocking, and leaned against it for a second. I crossed the room and dropped into the desk chair and let out a long sigh that felt like it came from somewhere near my toes.

Dinner could've gone a lot worse. Nobody pulled a knife. Nobody started talking about their long dead sister. Esther didn't crawl across the table to sit in my lap. Still, the whole thing left me feeling like I'd spent an hour sitting on a landmine that hadn't gone off yet.

I shook my head hard. Enough. I couldn't sit here spiraling all night. I needed something else to focus on.

I pulled open the top desk drawer, grabbed a ballpoint pen and one of the spiral notebooks I used for notes, flipped to a fresh page, and started writing at the top in big block letters: 

HOW TO GET FILTHY RICH QUICK (SECOND LIFE EDITION).

It was late eighties. I had decades of future knowledge sitting in my head. Time to use them.

First, long-term investments. Stuff that was dirt cheap right now and would explode later.

I started the list:

- Apple stock. Buy as much as possible before the Mac really takes off. They're still recovering from the Newton flop years from now, but hold through the nineties and you're looking at billions eventually.

- Microsoft. Windows 3.0 is coming soon. Buy in, hold forever.

- Amazon. Won't exist for another six or seven years, but when Jeff Bezos starts selling books online, throw everything at it, or better yet just start Amazon myself. 

- Google. Even further out, but once they go public in 2004, buy a majority of it. If rich enough just buy the whole platform. 

- Bitcoin. Not even invented yet. I'd have to wait until 2009, mine the shit out of it early, or just buy when it's pennies. One coin would be worth hundreds of thousands later.

I kept writing, underlining the ones I could actually act on soonest. Apple and Microsoft were doable right now if I could scrape together enough cash from odd jobs or convince Dad to "invest" some of my college fund.

Next page: inventions I could try to beat to market.

- Portable music player like the iPod. Call it something else. Get the patents filed before 2001.

- Smartphone basics. Touchscreen, app store idea. Way too early for the hardware, but maybe license the concepts.

- Social media. Facebook doesn't hit until 2004. I could start a college-only networking site in the late nineties.

- Streaming video. YouTube is 2005. Start something similar beforehand, like sharing home videos online.

I paused and tapped the pen against my teeth.

I could become a singer too. I remembered hundreds of songs from my old life. Nirvana, Green Day, early Eminem, Britney Spears, all the way up to stuff that wouldn't drop for twenty years. I could write them down, record demos, shop them around. Hell, I had a decent voice I'm sure I could improve if I tried.

Books were even easier. I could write Harry Potter right now. 

A decade early.

I grinned for the first time all night and circled "WRITE HARRY POTTER" twice.

I kept scribbling, page after page, losing track of time. My hand started cramping. The ideas were coming faster than I could write them down.

A knock on the door jolted me upright.

"James?" Mom's voice came through the wood. "Someone's on the phone for you."

I capped the pen closed the notebook and shoved it under a textbook. "Coming," I shouted back.

I unlocked the door, headed downstairs. The living room was dim, just the blue glow from the TV. Dad was asleep in his recliner with his arms crossed and his head tipped back meanwhile Mom pointed toward the kitchen wall phone.

I picked up the receiver. "Hello?"

"Yo, Mitchell, it's Tyler."

"Hey, man. What's up?"

"So listen, last-minute change for tomorrow. Claire Bennet's coming to the lake house."

"Claire?" I said, trying to sound casual. "Oh is she that cheerleader?"

"Yeah, her dad finally caved and said she could go. But my van's packed solid. No room. Is it cool if you drive her up? You've got the Mustang, right? Plenty of space."

I rubbed my forehead, the bruise still tender under my fingers. "Yeah, it's cool. No problem."

"Sweet. You're a lifesaver. Pick her up around nine? She lives over on Maple, the big white house with the wraparound porch."

"Got it. Nine."

"Awesome. See you tomorrow, dude. Don't be late. We're leaving at ten sharp."

"See you then."

He hung up. I stood there holding the receiver for a second then set it back in the cradle. 

That was going to be awkward, he didn't really know Claire that well, from what he did know she was in Regina's crowd. Now he wa going to be in a car with her for four hours. Meh it wouldn't be too bad, he was sure they'd get along fine. Plus from what he remembered she was pretty sexy. 

Or maybe he just had a thing for blondes. 

I glanced up at the kitchen clock. Almost eleven. "Time to go to sleep," I muttered to myself. I turned off the kitchen light and headed back upstairs.

I pushed open my bedroom door, flicked on the desk lamp, and kicked off my shoes. I stripped down to my boxers, pulled on an old pair of gray sweatpants and a faded t-shirt from the laundry basket, then turned off the lamp and climbed into bed. I lay on my back staring at the ceiling for a minute, listening to the house settle. I closed my eyes and tried to shut my brain off.

Sleep came fast and ended equally as fast as thunder woke me up.

A loud crack rolled through the sky and rattled the windows. Rain hammered the roof like someone was dumping buckets on it. Lightning flashed bright enough to light up the whole room for half a second.

 I sat up in bed and swung my legs over the side and walked to the window. I pulled the curtain back and looked out. The streetlight down the block flickered on and off. Trees bent sideways in the wind. It looked bad out there. Pretty cool if I was honest. I liked thunderstorms, they were so cool looking even if they were pure destruction. 

I let the curtain fall back into place and turned toward the bed. Another boom of thunder shook the floor. I climbed back under the covers and pulled the blanket up to my chin.

Knock

Knock

Knock

I froze with one hand still on the blanket. The knock came again, three quick taps. I sat up slowly. I stared at the door for a second before I got out of bed and walked over to it. I turned the knob and pulled the door open a few inches.

Esther stood there in her pink nightgown with the little white flowers on it. Her hair hung around her shoulders and she looked up at me with those big eyes.

"Why aren't you in bed?" I asked her.

She hugged her arms around herself. "The thunder scares me. It's really loud tonight. Can I sleep in here with you?"

I felt my stomach drop. "You should go back to your room or ask Mom and Dad. They're right down the hall."

"I already tried," she said right away. "I knocked on their door and Mom said I was too old to be scared of storms and Dad told me to go back to sleep. They sent me here."

I doubted that was true. Mom would have let her crawl in with them if she was really that scared. Dad might have grumbled but he never turned her away. Still I couldn't prove it without going to check and that would just make everything weirder.

I didn't want her in my room. Not tonight. Not ever again now that I knew what she really was. This wasn't the first time she had asked to sleep here. Back when I thought she was just my little sister I had let her a couple times. She would curl up on the bed and fall asleep fast. It felt normal then. Now the idea made my skin crawl.

But if I said no flat out it would look strange. Mom and Dad would hear about it tomorrow. They would ask why I turned her away when she was scared. They might think I was being mean to my new little sister. I couldn't risk drawing attention like that. Not when I still had to live here.

I sighed and stepped back. "Fine. Come in."

She smiled and slipped past me. She ran to the bed and jumped onto it. She giggled once while she pulled the blanket up over her legs and patted the spot next to her. "Come on James. It's cold."

I closed the door and locked it out of habit. I walked over and got in on my side, keeping as much space between us as the mattress allowed. I lay on my back with my hands folded on my stomach. I stared at the ceiling again.

The moment I settled she reached over and grabbed my hand.

Her fingers wrapped around mine.

The second she touched me everything went white.

***************************************************

Esther was sat on my lap straddling me. She had makeup smeared around her eyes like she had been crying. She was naked. A long knife was in her hand. She pressed the blade against my throat just enough to sting without cutting. Her face was close to mine. She smiled and let her tongue hang out slightly. "I love you so much James," she whispered. "You're mine. You'll always be mine."

***************************************************

I jerked back into my body. My hand was still in hers. My heart slammed against my ribs so hard I thought it might crack one.

Esther looked at me with her head tilted. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I mumbled. "Just tired."

I rolled over fast so my back was to her. "Go to sleep."

She didn't say anything else. I felt her shift closer under the blanket. Her breathing evened out after a minute.

I lay there wide awake staring at the wall. 

What the fuck was that? My Shining? Some kind of warning? A flash of the future? Whatever it was I didn't like it. Not one bit.

I'm

Going 

To 

Die

A blue box the popped up in the middle of my vision.

_____________________________________

[Day 1 survived.]

[Achievements:]

Used Shining ability.

Survived close contact with a serial killer. x2

[Rewards:]

$5000 deposited to your personal account. (Tax Free)

Intermediate CQC

_____________________________________

I blinked at the text floating there. "Oh damn," I said under my breath with one eyebrow raised.

(AN: So we have James using his shining ability though I wonder what it is? I've left some hints but who knows. Also Esther is the main antagonist from Orphan. In the film she tries to seduce the dad. Anyway hope you enjoyed.)