Forced

"You know, for someone who barely has friends, you sure sneak out a lot." Rocky said, his eyes bloodshot and his hair slightly droopy.

Alicia certainly hadn't disappeared into the abyss, nor was she lost in the universe. Where she was though, could possibly be hell because it was incredibly uncomfortable and unbelievably hot and humid. It's funny; Alicia once read that there were lots of scientists in hell. Surely they would have found a way to create some air conditioning by now, right? Or were they still wallowing in the depths of their sufferings and punishments?

Alicia had actually appeared on the roof of the house because of that wretched portal. With her turquoise cloak and her grey dress, her skin slightly moist and what with being on the roof, she looked like something out of a fairytale....or a Halloween party gone wrong. And naturally, Alicia had to slide herself over the roof to hold on to a brick jutting out of the house and balance one foot on a tree branch swinging perilously and slide open the window, which of course, she had to throw herself into using the momentum of the swaying branch to propel her in. Not fun at all.

But on the bright side, she really felt like a fitness/climbing goddess afterwards.

But with her luck (or lack thereof) her sneaky, party boy brother was of course, waiting for her in her room. Lovely; she'd never hear the end of this.

"You know, for someone who likes going out so much, you're sure home a lot." She replied drily, placing her cloak in her wardrobe.
"I had to cover for you. Mom came by. You'd think you'd be a lot more grateful. What are you even wearing? Do you theater now? Because if you did, you could have told us." 

Maybe it was the heat, maybe it was the fact that she could have died and there wouldn't have been any body to bury but right now, she was on absolutely no mood to deal with Lucian or anyone for that matter.
"Oh Thank you Rocky. None of your business and get the hell out of my room." She hissed.

"I'm not going until you tell me what's going on." He said, folding his arms.

She sighed.

"Nothing's going on, Lucian. Relax."

"Alicia, look. I know you're way smarter than me, and that you barely even need to go to school, but I was never completely dim either. I know something's going on. What? Is he older than you? Dad's age? Is he, like a drug lord? Is he blackmailing you? Or maybe a serial--"

"Gosh Rocky, I don't have a boyfriend. And like I said, none of your business."

"Well then, it must be drugs; you've always been a little too mellow for my liking. It's drugs, right? Or are you back to smoking cigarettes?"

"I'm not mellow!" she frowned in indignation.

"Are too!" 

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am no-- look, we won't keep arguing like kids. You don't have to know this." She said as she sat at the edge of her bed, folding her arms tensely. Of course the portal couldn't have deposited her somewhere more convenient like in her bathroom where she could have pretended to fall asleep or something.

"Ah-ha! So there is a something." Rocky said in excitement.

"Thank you for establishing what we've already established." She said drily.

"So are you gonna tell me?"

"It's not like I have a choice. Is mom and dad home?" She asked, standing up to check the drive way for their cars.

"Nope," he replied popping the 'p' as he ran his hands through his shortly cropped hair. "Why? Wanna tell us all at once?"

"No, I just wanna make breakfast and talk, that's if you still wanna know."

"Nice try sis. But I do. And great, make breakfast for two."

"What?" she said as she unbraided her hair, walking towards the door ", Casey didn't hit you up with some breakfast?" She asked with sarcasm.

"It's Clair now. Casey's the girl from last week. And if you must know, it's me. I was the breakfast."

She looked at him. "You're really disgusting, you know that?" Alicia frowned and wrinkled her nose in distaste and Lucian simply laughed.

The two siblings were soon in the kitchen: Lucian sat by the counter facing his sister, who was on the other side of the kitchen counter making some waffles, a cup of coffee on his hand.
"How come you're home?" she asked him. "You never come home after a sleepover."
"You know how Mom and Dad don't like me sleeping out. I had to sneak in and pretend I was sleeping the whole time. What's your excuse?"
Alicia put down the flour mix.

"I don't want to tell you. You won't believe it one bit. It's a long story."

Three excuses not to tell him but Rocky wasn't taking any of it.
"Tell me anyway," he stated. "Besides, you're a terrible liar and its Saturday, I have plenty of time."

"Won't you have to meet Chloe?"

"Ha Ha, very funny. It's Claire and nope: we didn't make plans. Also, quit changing the subject please. It's giving me the whiplash."

"Why are you so persistent? It's annoying."

She sighed.

"Where should I start?"

"Well start by explaining the disappearances. It's not the first time and you know it. "

"Are you sure you're ready for this? Of course you won't know what this is, so you can't really judge if you're ready, can you? "

"Yessss I'm ready. Gosh Alicia!" Lucian said exasperatedly.

She slammed her cup of tea on the counter in frustration.

"Well dammit. Fine. Here is goes.."

~~~~

😬 thanks for keeping up.