Trembling With the Strings

“Gracie!” Marcy squealed, running up to me. She glanced over to Darius and smiled. “Hey, Dray!”

“Cute. Really, it is,” he mumbled, pulling me away from her.

“Hey!” she whined, following us and falling into step beside me. “We’re going riding. Want to come?”

“No,” Darius snapped, rolling his eyes as he led me to the counter. He seated me on a stool and sat beside me. Marcy sat on my other side.

“I knew you wouldn’t. I was talking to Grace. So, Gracie, do you want to come?”

“She’s not going, Marcy,” Darius told her.

“Why not? I’ll take good care of her, I promise. Please, little brother. Please?” Sometimes it was easy to forget that she was older than me. She darted from her seat and to her brother, tugging on his hand.

“She’s not yours to play with. Tell dad you want a pet and he’ll go get you one. You can’t have mine.”

“But I want Gracie!” she groaned, stomping her foot twice on the floor firmly.

“And I don’t care,” he mocked, rolling his eyes. “Yvette, come here!”

“You’re not fun! Let her come! She’ll love it, I know it. Darius, loosen up!”

A girl came running into the room, her red curls bouncing with her. Her green eyes shone with a light that made me wonder if she knew that she was looking at Darius the Dreadful. She was probably around my height: rather short. I could assume she was in her early twenties.

“Yes, sir?” she asked, so much politeness in her voice.

“Grace is hungry. Make her something.” Darius’ voice was so rude. I rolled my eyes.

“Dray,” Marcy whined again. Darius grumbled something under his breath.

“Maybe next time. She needs to learn how to ride without dying first.”

“Fine!” Marcy pouted, storming away from him and over to me. “Later today I’ll let you come out, alright?” she whispered in my ear, smiling brilliantly. I nodded, grinning. That’d get me away from Darius. She bounded away from me and out the back door, flipping her long hair as she skipped outside.

“What did she say?” he asked softly, watching as Yvette scurried across the kitchen. I shrugged. “That’s not an answer.” There was a snarl in his voice.

“She said maybe she could teach me to ride sometime,” I whispered to him, watching the red-head practically fall over as she tried to work fast enough. I winced as she slipped.

“Stop being a klutz!” Darius called, rolling his eyes. “Why do you even want to ride? It’s stupid and you’ll just get hurt.” I shrugged.

“It sounds fun.” I heard him sigh, but I ignored it as Yvette came rushing over to me, setting a plate before me. “What is this?” I asked, poking it with a fork. It certainly looked a bit...odd.

“C’est un crêpe,” Darius told me, smirking. I stared at him, confused.

“I, um, what?”

“It’s a crêpe, love. Just eat it. It’s not going to kill you.” I sighed and hesitantly stabbed it with my fork. I raised it to my eyes, staring it down. If it was going to move, I wasn’t going to let it surprise me! “Just put it in your mouth!”

“That’s what he said,” I smirked, stalling.

“Oh, God,” he mumbled, rolling his eyes for the twentieth time. “Look, just eat it. I swear it’s fine.”

I shoved it in my mouth and waited for it to explode...But it didn’t! It really didn’t taste too bad either. It had strawberries, blueberries, and banana inside it as well as whipped cream and chocolate syrup on top of it. I smiled before taking another bite. I wasn’t used to such good food. Usually I was lucky to get expired milk for breakfast!

I was enjoying the strange, yet absolutely delicious food when I jumped. I glanced down and saw Darius’ hand on my thigh, his thumb rubbing it gently and absentmindedly as he glanced around the room. I jumped every time his thumb moved, but he didn’t seem to care. I finished despite the constant interruptions and he finally glanced over.

“Done?” I nodded. “And you’re alive, are you not?”

“I do believe I’m breathing,” I smiled. He smiled slightly, but his face fell as his eyes darted to Yvette.

“You can go now!” he hissed, glowering. Her eyes filled with fear and she nodded quickly, stumbling as she tried to leave soon enough. “I remember when the help used to actually do their job and mind their own business.”

“You don’t have to be so hard on her.” His glare turned to me and I shrunk into myself. “I’m sorry.” He relaxed.

“Come on.” He stood up and grabbed my hand, helping me up.

“Where are we going?” I asked softly, allowing him to pull me down the hall.

“I have band practice in ten minutes.”

“Oh.”

Hopefully he didn’t suck half as bad as I expected him to!