Obsession.

I wonder why some trees have fruit, some have flowers and some have nuts. And why don’t any grow vegetables? Do the trees decide what they’ll grow?

A cat ran across mine and Connor’s path and I jumped. It was a tabby cat. A very fat tabby cat. All stripy and brown. I liked cats. This one sat down on the path a few metres away from me and stared with big green eyes.

“Look, that cat has the same eyes as us,” I told Connor, crouching down in front of it. I started making kitty noises, and it padded over to me, purring as it rubbed its head against my knee.

Connor smiled and stroked its head. “What’s her name?”

“’Her’?” I repeated.

“Yeah, cats are always girls unless proved otherwise. Like dogs are always boys unless proved otherwise,” she said simply. I nodded, instantly believing her. My sister knew everything.

“Well, okay then,” I murmured as the cat licked the back of my hand. Her tiny tongue felt like sandpaper. “Her name is Bells.”

“Hello Bells,” Connor said obediently.

I laughed. “Can we take her home?”

“No, Jamie, she’s got a tag. Bells belongs to someone else. Come on, we’d better get home. Mum said she has a surprise for us, right?”

I wondered what it was. Maybe it was cake. But that wouldn’t be all that great, ‘cause Mum can’t cook. It’d be a shop cake, and shop cake isn’t exciting. Not to Mum anyway. Maybe it was Christmas? A second Christmas, seeing as it was February. I love Christmas. I always get sugar on Christmas. Usually I’m not allowed sweets. Or chocolate. Especially when Mum is in the house, because she gets headaches and Connor says I’m one of those things – like television or loud screaming – that give people headaches and make them worse.

I never get headaches. Not even when I play on a game for two days straight – which I have done before and is very fun. Connor and I were trying to complete a new xBox game before anyone else on this gaming website we’re on – first person to create a valid walkthrough wins a year of Premium membership. It’s solo campaign, so we took it in turns: play until you die and then swap over. It’s a FPS, so it was more my domain than Connor’s, which is probably why she probably fell asleep after twelve hours. We didn’t win, unfortunately. Badmann1990_ won. He completed it in forty-six hours and forty-eight minutes, THIRTY-ONE MINUTES FASTER THAN US (me).

“Jamie, come on!” Connor called impatiently. I was a few metres behind her, having played the ‘don’t step on the cracks’ game. It’s serious business, that. If I break Mum’s back she’ll never forgive me.

I ran after Connor, and caught up just as she pushed open the gate to our front garden. Our front garden is very small, with the path at the side and the garden just big enough for a tree. The tree is a cherry blossom tree. Our big sister was the only one alive when it was planted, so she chose the stupid girly tree. Connor and I both agreed we would have gotten a conker tree, because they have a really spiky outer shell that we could throw at Katherine. She’s really stuck up, mean, and vain. She liked pretending we were adopted. When Dad died though, she was nice for a while and even acted human – crying and stuff – but then she got really angry at Mum and left to travel the world with her fiancé. She’s not back yet, but none of us really mind.

“Mum, we’re home!” She called, dropping her keys on the sideboard in the hall.

I took off my bag and coat and dropped them on the floor by the stairs, which Connor automatically tripped over as she stepped towards the kitchen, stepping onto my coat which slid from under her on the wooden floor. I burst out laughing and she gave me the evils.

“Hey, guys!” Mum called.

“Mum, Jamie tripped me over with his stupid coat again!” Connor yelled. I was still laughing, so I couldn’t defend myself.

Appearing from the living room, she gave me an apprehensive look and leant against the doorframe. “Jamie, you ought to hang your coat up where your sister can’t fall over it.”

“She’s so useless though!” I giggled. She’d fallen down the stairs yesterday. And the day before that she’d fallen out of bed.

“Yes, I know, that’s why you need to be more considerate of where you put things she can trip over.”

“Like the floor?” I said, then burst out laughing again.

Connor smacked the back of my head and stomped past me into the living room. Mum smiled and gave me a wink, following her. I composed myself and hung my coat up, and then jumped into the living room too. The sudden movement made Connor jump, which just set me off again.

“Mum!” Connor complained as I rolled on the floor, crying with laughter. “He’s so doing this on purpose.”

“Jamie, stop being annoying or I can’t talk to you seriously. I’ll have to get Connor to listen and then tell you when she sees fit,” Mum said seriously. I could tell it was her serious voice because she was speaking quickly and sharply. Mum was an actress, so she showed emotion easily – easily being able to show when she was mad or happy. Almost over exaggerating them, which is probably where I get it from. Connor was like Dad – she didn’t wear her heart on her sleeve and kept her emotions in check – like she didn’t lose her temper or burst out into tears or anything. It was nice having a sister that didn’t get all emotional and annoying. Unlike Katherine, who liked throwing hissy fits if you didn’t put the cap on the toothpaste, and bursting into tears at soaps. She was very emotional for someone who wasn’t technically human.

“Okay, okay, sorry. What’s the surprise?” I asked, crossing my legs.

Mum frowned at me and pulled her legs up on the armchair. “What surprise?”

I cocked my head to the side, mirroring her frown. “You said that you had a surprise for us.”

“No, I said that I was surprised Connor wasn’t with you in the kitchen and that I needed to talk to the both of you,” she said, pulling a face like she was amused at my mistake. I stared at her, my lip wobbling.

“No second Christmas?” I said, standing up.

“Hold on a sec’, Mum, I’ve got him...” Connor grabbed me from behind, threw me on the sofa, and then promptly sat on me. I scowled at her, but she made me forget about second Christmas so I stayed quiet.

“ANYWAY,” Mum said loudly, making her hair wobble. Well, the only long bits anyway. Her hair was a black bob, and it was very sharp and short all around, except these long bits at the front which went down to the middle of her neck. “At the theatre, we’ve just started a new play. Not all the cast are going to be particularly... professional, so I’ll be needed there a lot more than usual. This means that you’re going to have to try and fend for yourselves for a few months. I’ll do what I usually do, leave a recipe on the fridge and a twenty pound note next to the telephone, so you can try to cook, and if it all goes wrong, just order pizza or something. Just remember you won’t stay skinny forever, so don’t have too much pizza.”

“We could order Chinese instead,” I suggested. Connor nodded thoughtfully. Mum sighed.

“You’re both gonna get fat and spotty,” she warned us.

“Morbidly obese in fact,” Connor said. It was one of her favourite sayings.

“Whatever,” Mum said, giving up. She stood up and ran her hands through her hair. “Oh, by the way, I bought a game for you two to play, because I do feel awful about leaving you for so long. It’s something like... The Undead Bite... Something...”

“The Undead Bite Back?” I asked excitedly, pushing Connor off of me and sitting up. Mum shrugged, bent down for her handbag, and pulled out a plastic bag. She threw it to Connor who opened it quickly.

“OH MY GOD IT’S THE UNDEAD BITE BACK!” She screamed. I ripped it out of her hands and raised it to the sky.

“IT’S LIKE THE SECOND CHRISTMAS I’VE ALWAYS DREAMED OF!” I said, pretending to cry.

“Baby,” Connor muttered, shoving me.”You’re so not mature enough to play this game.”

“Noob. You’re so not good enough to play this game.”

“Bet I can kick your ass.”

“Language!”

“Bet I can kick your ass.”

Mum began rubbing her head. “Headache...” She moaned.