• Chapter 1 Angelica and Sabrina (Rival sisters)

    Sabrina was one of the Hudson sisters that Angelica had the hardest time to deal with. She was that kind of person that just couldn’t shut up. She always had to spoil out secrets or things that she had heard but that weren’t really her affairs.
    In fact, all the sisters had a hard time with Sabrina.

    First of all, she did have mental issues. They didn’t knew where it had come from since none of her living relatives had that stage of depression (she was self destructive) in her depressive cycle. But admits all this, they had placed Sabrina in the same class as all the Hudson sisters went in.
    Just to keep an eye on her. They knew that she could explode any minute and they had a hard time to deal with that problem too. Sabrina’s self destructive behavior had also led to that when she was five years old; she had tried to cut out her left eye. This resulted in a huge scar and that she was nearly blind on that eye.
    Angelica was the good one of the sisters; she never argued and liked to discuss if they had a problem to tackle. Unlike the other sisters, she was unique.
    She felt bad about it, but since none of the sisters knew about this, she was ok with it. Her parents tried to keep it secret, but when the sisters looked away, they usually gave Angelica a look, saying “hey, good job“.
    Angelica was sleeping with her head over the school bench.
    Sabrina looked at her. She wasn’t sure if she was going to wake Angelica up or not. She had seen Angelica study.
    If only she could have that amount of self discipline…
    She had decided to not wake Angelica up. After all, she would excuse her self to the teacher and ask what she had missed.
    If she didn’t do that, she would just catch up with the other students. Angelica enjoyed studying. It was a good time killer.
    She didn’t really have any hobbies on her spare time.
    She had friends, but those came second. She wanted to finish her school first with the best grades possible.
    Hopefully, her wish would come true. The room smelt coffee and wood dust. It was lit up by one single pipe of light.
    It was quite small and had room for 15 students.
    “Angelica!” the voice yelled. Angelica woke up.
    “What is it?” she said, trying to strife a yawn.
    “I’m tired…” Angelica said. Her blonde hair cascaded around her eyes.
    “Well, stop staying up so late at nights and sleep instead of studying! You’ll have plenty of time to study daytime!” Sabrina said.
    “I’m trying to get perfect grades.” Angelica said.
    Sabrina shook her head, as for saying “that’s my sister”.
    Angelica rose from the chair and spread out her arms.
    “Have you recovered?” a voice asked. Angelica turned around, startled that it would be her teacher. Mary looked at her. She had brown, curly hair and green eyes.
    “Angelica, you lazy bum!” she said.
    “Mary… You’re giving me the creeps.” Angelica rubbed her eyes for a moment. Mary would show up in the places where Angelica least expected. Sabrina laughed.
    “Stephanie and Julie have already left. They’re seeing our parents. Are you coming with us?” Mary asked.
    She waved to a boy with black, shortcut hair. He smiled and waved back.
    “So… I want to hear it all!” Angelica clapped her hands together to show her excitement.
    “What do you mean?” Sabrina asked. But Sabrina knew what Angelica talked about. She giggled.
    “Oh, that… That’s…Nothing!” Mary laughed. She was starting to get nervous. She hated this kind of talk.
    “Is it going to be a date or not!?” Sabrina asked, pretending to be ******.
    “W-Well… Hey, you have nothing to do about it!” Mary tried to hit Angelica in the face, but Angelica avoided the hit. She took Mary’s English book and held it outside Mary’s reach.
    “Give it back!” Mary yelled as Angelica held the book. Sabrina was twisting her self of laughter on the floor. Angelica laughed too. She handed the book to Mary. She hit Angelica in the face. This time, Angelica wasn’t prepared for it.
    “Ouch! Why did you do that for!?” Angelica blurted. Sabrina tried to stand up. She held her stomach. It hurt after all the laughter. She still giggled.
    “Let’s go…” Angelica gave Mary a pat on the back. Mary coughed. Sabrina laughed again. They waved good-bye to the teacher and left.
    Angelica, Sabrina and Mary sat on the school bus. She watched through the window as the bus made a U-turn in the corner and left for I-35 main road. Angelica had her face pressed to the window.
    “Are you okay?” Sabrina asked. Angelica didn’t hear Sabrina.
    “Earth reporting to Angelica!” she said and tickled Angelica. Angelica giggled.
    “Stop that!” she said.
    “I tried to talk to you but you didn’t answer!” Angelica looked at Sabrina and then she stared out the window again. The sun shined on the sky. It was a cloud-free day.
    “So, are you seeing our parents?” Mary asked.
    Angelica’s stomach twisted around. She felt bad.
    Mary had talked about their parents. She hated it.
    They were lying in a disease. There was no cure for it.They had to wait for their parents to die.

    When they brought up the subject, Angelica just wanted to cry.
    She held her hands in front of her eyes.
    “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to…” Sabrina gave Mary a harsh look as for saying “why did you bring it up? You knew she was going to react this way!” and hugged Angelica.
    Angelica cried. But she was scared someone would hear.
    She stopped and tried to wipe the tears away with her arm. She had her school uniform on. She actually liked it.
    It was a simple blue skirt (a pair of shorts for the boys) and a white shirt.
    “Want to go down to a shopping mall?” Mary asked.
    “Sure.” Angelica said.
    Thunder roared from afar. Angelica had her face pressed towards the bench. She was sleeping. Lighting struck from the sky. Another thunder roared. This time it struck near the roof. All the lights went out. Angelica woke up.
    Rain poured down on the window like needles.
    She dropped her pen on the floor. Angelica looked at the clock.
    2.30 AM. Angelica decided to get some sleep.
    She went to bed and closed her eyes. The sound from the thunder was so loud that Angelica thought it was a gun shot.

    Angelica never slept that night; she was lying on the bed, looking up. She listened on the clock ticking. This time, it came from her head. It was the time from her parents.
    The time she had to listen to it. It was driving her crazy.
    Angelica waited to the sun to rise so she could get up and get a cup of coffee. She was only nine but drank coffee. Her grand parents didn’t have a problem with it. They knew that Angelica studied late at night and needed the caffeine so she could focus. Her grand father looked up at her from the paper.
    The headline said “Worst storm of the year hits Florida!”

    Angelica thought the worst had passed but apparently not.
    Her grandmother stood over the frying pan and sang.
    The smell of coffee and bacon filled the room.

    Angelica’s sisters came down ten minutes later.
    “Good morning…” Stephanie said. She yawned as she came down the stairs.

    “Sleepy head…” Sabrina said.
    Angelica sat and drank coffee. It was warm but it tasted nice.
    Sabrina twitched her nose at the smell of coffee. Unlike Angelica, Sabrina hated coffee.
    “Morning sunshine…” Stephanie said as she looked out the window. Their grandmother walked to the kitchen table with the frying pan and placed it on the middle.
    Angelica, Stephanie, Mary, Sabrina and Julie sat in the school bus. Angelica had her face pressed towards the window.
    She was worried about the storm. Did her parents know about it? She watched as the bus turned around to the 5th Morgan Avenue and took the I-35 main road.
    “What’s the matter?” Sabrina asked and looked at Angelica.
    “Oh, nothing…” Angelica said.
    “Look, you have sisters around you. We are your family.” Stephanie said. She was playing with her long, black hair.
    “I’m worried about our parents. I don’t think their house can…”
    “I’m sure they’ll be okay. They’re strong. Remember?” Angelica didn’t have to remember. She knew that her parents were strong. How did she think her parents could survive through something like this when they were strong?
    Angelica laughed nervously. She took up her History book and started study.


    Angelica, Stephanie, Mary, Sabrina and Julie walked their separate ways as they came to school. Angelica looked around.
    She had a test to do. Angelica waited for Stephanie, Mary, Sabrina and Julie so they could go to the class room together.
    “Hey, I got some sandwiches to us so we have something to eat later today.” Stephanie handed the sandwiches to everyone.
    Angelica put it in her school bag. Then they went in to the class room. She then remembered something very important. Something that didn’t have anything to do with the test.
    Something about…
    “As you are now, so was once I. As I am now, so will you be. So be prepared to follow me.”