ocelot101 , shoutout to you for the beautiful cover up there!

    The phone vibrated beside the sofa she sat on, indicating a new message. She snatched it from jthe charger and swiped it open.
Kate : Hey. So are you free this afternoon?
      A morbid satisfaction run through her veins. Of course she would want to hang out with me after what I have put her through, pathetic.
  Hannah: I don't know. Why?
Kate:  Thought maybe we could hang out or you could come over. Or I could come over to your place?
     Hmm. Let me see. I could just ask her to come ov- No, I can't do that. Well-
She waited for a good ten minutes before she typed out her response.
Hannah- If I were to go out today, I would go to the mall and then the movies. But I am not sure.... text you later?
   Kate: Sure. Nothing is wrong right?
  Hannah: What do you mean?
  Kate: Nothing. Just thought that I would ask. :)
   Hannah plugged her phone back into the charger and continued gazing out the window.
     "Lunch is ready everyone. Come downstairs." The sing song voice of her elder sister found its way into her ears and she got irritated. She trekked across the lush carpeted floor of her room and started for the stairs. Mouth watering aroma of oven baked food wafted throughout the hallway and all the way to the source.
    Hannah descended the first flight of stairs and stopped in front of a big family portrait. It has always been there but today the afternoon sunlight is reflecting off of it in a captivating way. Her fingers caressed it gently before lingering on a slender,delicate nose. She stared deep into the blue-green eyes and took in the honey blonde locks cascading down a heart shaped face. Everything about the statuesque girl in front of her was perfect.  Hannah looked at her with scrutiny and finally found a flaw. Her lips were too big. Like Joule's. A snickering voice inside her head chimed in. It was right, the lips were also strangely appealing. She huffed, frustrated, jabbed the thin slender neck of the feminine figure gazed upwards to the man and woman gazing adoringly at the blue-green eyed ballet champion. The man had a light brown hair and a startling blue pair of eyes. The woman was blonde and eyes the exact replica of her daughter, the ballerina. Then, there was little Hannah, with a toothy grin and blonde hair tucked away in perfect pigtails. She looked so innocent. Underneath the picture signed by four different hands was The Hardys' .
     She remembered the day they posed for the portrait. It was the day her elder sister, Phoebe, won her first ever award at ballet school.
"Phoebe darling! We are so proud of you!" Martha Hardy exclaimed with ecstasy as she engulfed her daughter in a tight hug. She took the glass-encased award from the small girl carefully and headed towards the car.
   "Steve, what are we going to do for our baby? I hope you came up with something good because I couldn't find anything good enough."
    "Hannah, stop lagging behind."
   "Yes Mum."
"What about that pony farm you have been talking about eh, Phi?" Steve Hardy asked his little champion with laughter in his voice.
   "Daddy! Are you,really? Are you going to take me there?!"
       Little Hannah looked at her elder sister and laughed. She reminded her of a bunny she once saw which had one too many carrots. She then sighed. ' I will make mummy proud someday too.' She thought.
   "-Hannah! Hey, where have you been? I was calling your name really loudly." Hannah's head jerked to the voice she immediately put a face to with distaste. An older,taller and prettier version of Phoebe was standing on the landing of the last staircase with cocked eyebrow and curiosity.
    "I am coming geez!" She walked past her sister and into the living room where a magnificent chicken casserole and other dishes were set on the table. She flopped herself  into one of the fancy high back dining chairs and started fiddling with her jacket strings. She didn't wait much. Two voices resonated into the room before Mr and Mrs. Hardy came into view.
    "Martha, just trust me in this one. I know it will work."
  "You know I trust you Steve. It is just it is too soon to launch it."
   "Hello, girls."
"Hey daddy." Phoebe chirped.
Hannah grunted incoherently. After they all took their seats, Steve laid grace and all of them started to dig in.
    "Phoebe darling, how long is your break?"
"I have two more weeks ,Mum."
"Good! Tomorrow we will drive to the company. I have to show you the latest software we are going to launch. I want your opinion on it."
    "Sure, Mum. I will be happy to."
Hannah witnessed their exchange with a bitter taste in her mouth. Her mother and elder sister continued their conversation about Phoebe's life, blissfully oblivious to the cold fury directed their way.
    "Hannah, how is school?" Her dad's voice shook her back from her own hell and she blinked up at his shrewd and apologetic expression. He is sorry,is he?
  "Good."
"Anything you want to share? Exciting or extra ordinary that happened to you?"
  "Nothing."
Now the two women were also listening in on their conversation and Hannah couldn't wait for this lunch to be over. Both of them had different faces. While Phoebe looked indifferent and almost haughty, her mum was displeased.
    "Young lady, that is no way to treat your father." Her mum said coldly. Steve sent a warning glare his wife's way but it was too late. Hannah had already reached her eruption point.
   "Neither is this- she gestured her around the table wildly ambidextrously, - the way to treat your daughter!" She snapped back so sharply her mother flinched. Then she continued eerily calm, "But I am not complaining am I? Excuse me." She scraped her chair backwards and left the stunned table without a backward glance.
   Hannah picked up her phone and started texting.
Hannah: Meet me at the mall on the other side of town in an hour.
  Kate: Will be there. :)
   After a cold shower which did nothing to extinguish the fire from lunch, she rummaged through her walk in closet and pulled out a neon pink top with a scandalous plunge at her cleaves. The white trouser was so tight it made out her buttock curves. The Timberland combat boots did not help smooth down her edginess.She grabbed her credit card and keys before leaving her room.

     On her way out, she almost ran over a disgusted Phoebe who inquired frantically if she was going out looking like that.
                ~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~

     Zara had sat dazed on the sofa in the cozy drawing room for the past two hours after she received the call. Nathanael sat on the love seat across from her, glancing at her worriedly.
     After their little heart to heart in the morning, he knew he had to tell her everything about his family. Now, her family too. He wanted to show before he told her. He wanted her to understand. He was ready to blurt out everything. He really was. But as always something stood on his way. This time it wasn't his feeble reasoning of wrong moment or his baseless fear for the family's safety. Or the fear of Zara's reaction towards the Paynes' afterwards. It was Zara's goddamn phone.

    He was rummaging through the dusty boxes kept beneath the book shelves as she stood somewhere behind him. Then he heard her cellphone ringing. She didn't pick it up.

    "Aren't you-." He turned his face and trailed off, "-gonna get that..." Her face was pale and she looked like death. She was shaking like she was having a seizure. The ringtone sounded ominous to his ears. He took a step towards her but she retreated and with shaking fingers, she pressed the phone to her ears after picking it up.

     She didn't speak and after about two seconds, she pocketed it and landed on the sofa behind her.
   "Zara, what is wrong?"
      Silence.
  "Is someone threatening you?"
     Silence.
"Is it from school?"
    More silence.
      He sighed ,dejected, and left the room to bring his sister a glass of water. He brought it to her lips. After the wetness spread across her dry skin, she snatched it from his hands and gulped the whole thing down greedily as if it was her last drink.
  And she hasn't said or done anything else ever since.
How can I trust her when she hold a lot of things back? There. He said it to himself. That thought had lingered in the dark shadows of his mind, lurking and waiting for him to pull it to light. He doesn't trust her.
   Nathanael was normally a very trusting person and almost completely altruistic. At least until everything that happened, the definition of chaos. He grew wary post chaos and a bit cynical now that he came to think of it.
   He glanced at the perfect stranger he so desperately called sister and willed her to be one. But he was mistaken. This is not his sister. She isn't Zara. Zara is gone.
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   Vote and comment and most of all SHARE IT WITH YOUR FELLOW READERS. That would make me really happy and ALSO drive the big, bad writer's block away. I will again be busy for the next couple of weeks (2 to be precise) and I will try to upload a chapter at some point but if I can't I will definitely upload one after my erm...busy-ness. Until then......