Markings

Aibell not looking forward to that evenings dinner, and she sure wasn't looking forward to leaving her house. What ever was going on, she didn't want a part of it. She made sure her arm was completely hidden underneath her long sleeved shirt and hurried down the hall as her father called for her.

In the hallway stood a young woman, with dark brown hair, and blue eyes. She looked to be maybe 18 or 19 years old, but Aibell wasn't sure. She was biting her lip nervously.

"My parents couldn't make it, I'm afraid, so my brother and I will be filing in for them," she said, sounding more confident than she looked. Obviously, this was the first time she'd had to go take care of this kind of thing without her mom and dad.

"And where is your brother?" Aibell's father asked impatiently.

"He should have met me here, but... well, he has a tendency to be late..."

Just as the words fell from the girls mouth, there was a knock at the door. Ash hopped up from where he was sitting at the kitchen table and walked to the front door to answer it. Aibell heard the door open, and someone walk inside without even being invited in.

Right in front of Aibell's family stood Tom, from the bus ride home. He wore a smile on his face and had his hands in his front pockets. Aibell's father groaned, as if he was hoping he wouldn't be seeing Tom.

"Hello, sir, great to see you again!" Tom said, shaking Marcus's hand enthusiastically. "It's been quite some time, hasn't it?"

"Not along enough time, Thomas," Marcus mumbled to himself, snatching his hand away from Tom's and looking at his sister, who seemed as though she wanted to speak but couldn't find her voice.

"Okay, so let's get this started, yeah?" Tom insisted, walking over to the table. He sat next to Ash and nodded at him in greeting. Ash stared at him like he'd just sprouted another arm.

"What exactly is going on in this little meeting?" Aibell asked, stepping off the bottom stair and directly in front of her father, who seemed to have not noticed she was there. Tom gave her a wink, causing her brothers to frown and Tom's sister to roll her eyes.

"Oh, Aibell," her father said, giving her a timid smile. "This is Alice and Thomas. They are going to-"

"Take me away, right?" Aibell finished, looking at her feet. "Can we just get this over with?"

"I'm afraid that we won't be leaving until tomorrow, when my parents are able to get away from... work," Alice explained, giving Aibell an apologetic smile. "Tomorrow you will be able to go to school, say goodbye to friends. I'd suggest giving them a story like... you're going to stay with your grandparents, or something. You shouldn't really be out of school that long."

"How long?"

"Two weeks at the most."

Aibell accepted the fact that she'd be gone only two weeks. She was expecting to never come back, but, whatever they were planning on taking her away for, she felt better that it would only take two weeks.

"What about everything I miss in school for those two weeks?" Aibell asked, avoiding her fathers face. She was too angry with him to look at him.

"Well, we have a personal teacher at the Institute, which is where you'll be staying. Tom is going to pick up all of your things, and the teacher there will gladly help you with anything you don't understand," Alice said, placing her hands on her tiny hips. "Now, we need to discuss the situation. How long have you had these markings?"

"Since this afternoon, after I woke up," Aibell told her, still hiding her arm underneath her sleeve.

"May I see the markings?" Alice asked quietly, stepping towards Aibell. She almost looked excited. Aibell rolled up her sleeve and stuck out her arm, and Alice gasped, her face lighting up and her hands reaching for Aibell's arm. The moment that Alice's fingers touched the markings, she jumped away.

"What?" Tom asked, getting to his feet, a worried look on his face.

"The marks burnt me," Alice whispered, staring at her red palms. "Well, anyway..."

Alice had recovered from the incident like it had never happened. She began to explain how they'd be taking Aibell up to this institute and teaching her some things. Then, Aibell would have a choice whether to stay or come home, and Aibell was sure she already knew what she'd be doing. There was no way that she'd be staying at this institute longer than necessary.

"Well, let's get to dinner, shall we?" Aibell's father suggested, turning to what he'd cooked. Aibell didn't even pay attention to what she was eating as she took small bites. She was giving Tom short glances, just waiting for him to do something stupid. He seemed the type that could mess up things pretty easily. But, much to her relief, Tom was quiet as he ate.

"Dinner was lovely, sir," Alice assured Aibell's father as she helped to clear off the table.

"Thank you, Alice. Now, Ash, Ollie, go show these two where they will be sleeping. Aibell, you go as well," Marcus said, proceeding to wash the dishes. Aibell followed her brothers down the hall, Alice and Tom shortly behind them.

Aibell expected that Alice and Tom would simply sleep on mattresses in the living room, but as they passed the living room and kept walking all the way down to Aibell's room, she began to feel her face grow hot with anger.

"They're sleeping in my room?" Aibell asked, stopping so suddenly that Tom ran into her and made her stumble forward slightly. She regained her balance and set a dark glare on her brothers, who looked like they found all this funny.

"Yeah, and you'll be staying on the couch!" Ash informed her as Ollie chuckled. "Better get all you need for tonight while you can! Including Mr. Fluffykins!"

"Who is Mr. Fluffykins?" Tom chuckled.

"Her teddy bear," Ollie stated, shrugging his shoulders.

"She sleeps with it, all wrapped up in her arms," Ash finished, giving himself a hug and smirking.

"Shut it, I do not!" Aibell yelled, face red with embarrassment. She pushed past her brothers to step into her bedroom and walked to her bed, where she tore off a pillow, and hid Mr. Fluffykins in it so nobody saw.

"I'll be in here in a moment to get ready for bed, so nobody intrude in my bathroom!" Aibell demanded, glaring especially at Tom.

"You have such a nice apartment, to have bathrooms in the rooms," Alice noticed, examining the bedroom.

"Actually, the bathroom is connected to our room next door, so we share," Ash explained. "Aibell just spends more time in it than we do! Leaves her clothing all over the floor, too! We can barely see the floor most of the time-"

"That's enough," Aibell snapped. "I'm going to put my pillow in the living room, and I'll be back."

Aibell hurried to wash her face and brush her teeth so she should leave her bedroom. Tom was sitting on her bed, discussing things with his sister, when Aibell walked out of the bathroom.

"You know," Aibell began, "for brother and sister, you two sure don't look alike."

"We're not biologically related," Alice explained, smiling. "I've known Tom my entire life. We just consider ourselves siblings."

"Oh. That's neat," Aibell mumbled, rolling her eyes. She never understood why people would call someone their brother or sister just because they're close to each other. It was something people seemed to do often.

Aibell sat in the living room that night, unable to sleep. She'd plugged up her alarm clock in the wall, right next to her head, so she could wake up early for school the following morning. But, after all the weird stuff that had been happening, she wasn't too sure that she could even handle another day at school.