Catastrophic

Seven years later, Vespera and I were sitting in our room, now remodeled with two twin beds. We lived in a small, one story townhouse with one room connecting to the living room, and the living room connecting to the kitchen. A stairway led down to the basement, where Vespera and I lived. We got the whole basement to ourselves, and it even had a full bathroom. The walls were painted blue with red and black splatters across them. Half of the room was covered with Paramore, The Used, All Time Low, Three Days Grace, and Good Charlotte band posters. The other half was covered in My Chemical Romance, Lostprophets, Green Day, and Muse.

“I still don’t understand why you hate painting your nails...” Vespera mumbled from her side of the room, painting her nails a bright blue and silver. I rolled by eyes jokingly, trying to focus on the texts I was receiving. My kitten, Rue, rubbed up against me, leaving her tabby fur on my black jeans. I discarded the phone and picked her up, placing her on my tummy and petting her.

Vespera and I have always been close, even as kids. We were each other’s play mates in grade school, best friends in middle school, and even got closer in high school. We were inseparable. If you wanted one of us, you’d better be willing to deal with the other. In the 9th grade, some of Vespera’s new friends jumped me because I insulted Justin Beiber. Crazy fans jumped me after school, bearing a baseball bat. Two cracked ribs later Vespera came to my rescue, carrying a hammer she had to use in Simple Machines and threatened to bash a skull in. The next day, I came to school with some cracked ribs, but one girl came to school two days later with a broken arm and black eye. Another came to school with a broken ankle, and multiple fractured bones. Later in the day we found out we had gotten expelled, and the other girls had gotten a three week suspension. Double standards.

To say the least, we had each other’s backs.

“Because the fumes... okay the fumes aren’t that bad, but it makes my hands feel like lead.” I answered stroking Rue. She purred, rubbing her head against my hand.

“.. Weirdo.” Vespera replied after a few seconds, then blew on her nails to make them dry faster. Her chihuahua, Jinx, yapped at her from the floor. I grinned, laughing.

“Girls!” Our mother called for us, sounding frantic. We looked at each other, then both jumped up from our beds, running for the stairs. We repeatedly bumped into each other as we ran up the stairs, laughing. We stopped in our tracks when we got into the kitchen, when we saw our mother face as she gripped a piece of paper.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, breaking the silence. We walked over to our mother, trying to get a good look at the paper.

“We’re moving.” She replied blankly, setting the paper on the counter. Vespera snatched it up first, her eyes scanning the paper.

“To... Forks, Washington?” Vespera asked, confused. She handed the paper to me as I read it next. Apparently our uncle had died, and was in the real estate business. He had just bought a new house in Forks, planning to fix it up and make sell it for more value. He died in a car accident on his way there. We were inheriting the house.

“Uncle Ron?” I asked. “The uncle who used to hand out fifty dollar bills whenever there was an event?”

“The uncle who clearly favors us because he’d give us a hundred dollar bill?” Vespera asked. “That man helped me pay for me jeep...” She sniffed, tears visible in her eyes. I frowned, sighing, tears coming to my own eyes.

“He gave me my motorcycle just three months ago...” I added in another memory. “That man was loaded with money...”

“The funeral is being held in three days, and you girls are going to help organize it. We ARE written in his will, you know.” Our mom told us. “And you’ll be packing all the way until that day. The next day we leave for Forks.”
~
The next three days were hectic, with all the packing and planning. We stayed up all night on the day of the funeral, making sure everything was smoothed out and did our last minute packing. At five am, we collapsed onto our beds, and slept for five hours before we had to get up and get ready for it.

The opening song as we entered the room that was holding the funeral was “Helena” by My Chemical Romance, just as we planned. We got some dirty looks on the choice of the song, but it was actually fitting. We took our seats at the front, waiting for the services to begin. Once they did, the pastor did his thing, then my mom got up to say a few words. It was short, but full of love, care, and sorrow.

The pastor reclaimed the spotlight, and started to read the will. His car was given to his sister, our Aunt Connie, and his house was given to his parents, our grandparents. Next he gave his furniture to an old friend. The pastor finally reached the last people after a few more minutes, which was us.

“And to my favorite sister,” The pastor read, “I give her and her kids my savings account, which has over 90,000 dollars in it. She will inherit the house in Forks, Washington from me, and the 10 acres I bought with it. Her daughter, Vespera, will get the thousand dollar free gas card I won last year, since she’s got a gas guzzler of a car. Charlotte will receive my three vintage bass guitars. The sisters will share a fund I set aside for fixing up the house, so they can either redo their rooms or redo the houses rooms, if the decide to move.” I zoned out after that, actually daydreaming of the bass guitars. Even though my uncle just died, I couldn’t think of anything besides the guitars.

The service ended, and we watched them bury Uncle Ron, six feet under. They shoveled the dirt over the shiny black casket, soon reaching ground level. We were the last to leave, and were directed to where we’d pick up what was given to us. We were given the guitars, the card, the deed to the house, and a roll of money. Our mom was given the accounts name and password. We left after that, heading home.

“Go pack those things.” Our mom told us tiredly, going to her room after a second. I went to put the basses into the moving truck, next to my own bass, then doubled check to make sure they were away from anything harmful.

Once I got back to our room, I bent down to pick up the little kitten I had gotten a week a go, and curled up with her in a sleeping bag. Vespera was already in hers, and Jinx has fallen asleep at her feet.