After we finished up at the café, I went straight home. My mother wasn't home yet, and strangely enough, Thalia wasn't either. She had been staying out late these past couple of days.
"I wonder what's up; maybe she has a boyfriend," I thought to myself, but then the memory of how she carried herself around the house welled up in my mind, and I quickly shook my head, dismissing the thought. "Probably not."
[Tomorrow your training will resume as usual; you're free to just rest today,] Alexa suggested, but for some reason, I couldn't sit still.
I decided to go for a jog. I ran the same 10-mile distance the system always ordered me to. Afterward, I found an empty park and decided to do some shadow boxing, followed by some of my usual workouts, which included sit-ups, push-ups, and planks.
A few people walked by and stared at me as if I were crazy, but I ignored them and continued with my training. By the time I finished, I was drenched in sweat from head to toe.
When I got home, I glanced at the clock in the living room and saw that it was currently 8 PM. My training had lasted longer than I intended, and Thalia still hadn't come home.
I decided to give her a call, but she didn't pick up. Feeling frustrated, I threw my phone on the couch and decided to take a shower. When I got out, I noticed Thalia still wasn't home.
I contemplated going out to look for her, but I decided to make dinner for everyone instead. I wasn't much of a chef, so I decided to use whatever ingredients we had available, along with the guidance of Alexa.
Eventually, I ended up making a simple rice and chicken meal, with fresh vegetables on the side. By the time I finished, it was now 9:30 PM, and Thalia still wasn't home. I wrapped her meal and decided to wait by the dinner table until she got back.
Hours passed, the rice got cold and she still wasn't home. The only sound was the ticking of the clock. I watched it like a hawk while tapping my fingers on the table over and over, feeling my frustration bubbling. Every once in a while I would hear a car and peered out the window to see if she might've taken a taxi or is being dropped of by someone. But it was never her.
"Of course not."
After a while, I began to feel even more frustrated. I opened my phone and stared at the screen. I had called her 37 times and was currently contemplating calling her again.
"If only she would answer her damn phone then I wouldn't have to worry so much."
Sigh
"Is this is how my mother feels waiting for me to come home whenever I was out late?"
I threw my phone back into my pocket and got up from the table. It made more sense to go out looking for her rather than sitting at home worrying, but just as I was about to exit the house, the door burst open, and Thalia stepped in.
The first thing I noticed was the crop top she was wearing, which left her stomach exposed. When she saw me staring at her, she quickly zipped up her jacket, but then my eyes diverted to the short skirt she was wearing which was all the way up to her thigh. An unexplained feeling of anger welled up inside me, and I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth.
She attempted to ignore me and run up the stairs, but I quickly grabbed her by the arm.
"Are you an idiot?!" I didn't mean to shout, but I couldn't stop myself, nor could I control the harshness in my voice. "You know better than to go out dressed like that! What the hell is wrong with you?!"
"Let go of me!" she screamed.
Instead, I dragged her back down the stairs by the arm. She tripped over her own feet, almost falling, but I caught her just in time. I didn't want to be that guy, the guy who resort to harsh words and violence to get what they want.
But my emotions were too raw, too strong to keep in check. Some thing about seeing her like that made me feel ashamed. Like I had completely failed in my role as an older brother.
My little sister Thalia....
I was meant to protect her, to shield her.
How could I let things fall so far out of place. I needed to fix it, to make things right.
She stared up at me, and tears immediately flooded her eyes. "What gives you any right?! What gives you any right to treat me this way?!"
"You're 14 years old Thalia; you know better than to be out so late. And the way you are dressed is not appropriate—"
"Why do you care?! You're never home anyway, and whenever you are, you only ignore me. Don't try to play the big brother now." Her voice cracked from all her shouting, and suddenly she broke down completely. Tears flowed down her face like a broken dam.
"It's like I never existed for you, no matter how hard I try, and now…" she cried. "I hate you!"
Her words caught me off guard, but before I could say anything else, she pulled her hand away and stormed up the stairs. The sound of her door slamming shut echoed through the empty house.
What she said… Does she really believe that? How could I make her feel that way? She was right; most of the time, I didn't even acknowledge that she existed until this one time I got home and she wasn't here. I had no right to act like her big brother now, after everything.
"Make her feel safe," my mother always said, even if I had to bullshit my way through it.
But somehow, I managed to make her feel the opposite.
How the hell do I even make her feel safe? I don't even know how to be a decent person.
[Try not shouting at her for one. Then try not ignoring her emotions.]
"Her emotions?"
Alexa sighed.
[Your sister cares about you, which means your words hurt her more than anyone else's. From what I've witnessed, every time she shows a little interest in you, you always brush her off like a bug. Stop being selfish for once and think about ways you can mend the fractured relationship between you two. If you don't develop a healthy sibling bond, you'll regret it for your whole life.]
Alexa was right; I knew that, but still… What could I do?
I decided to leave her alone, at least for tonight, and went to my room. The next morning, I tried speaking to her, but she stormed into the bathroom and closed the door immediately. When I told my mother what happened, she suggested I leave her alone for a while and said that she would talk to her.
That morning, I continued on as usual and went for my 10-mile run. To clear my head a little, I did 12 miles instead and then proceeded with some light workouts. When I was finished, I decided to go home to get ready for school.
When I got to my house, I was hit by a sense of déjà vu at the sight before me. There was a girl waiting outside my house, wearing my school's uniform. What was different from last time was that this girl had blonde hair.
It was my classmate, Kiki.