Friday

Has nothing to do with Rebecca Black

It was Friday afternoon, and Anju had done nothing with her morning but sit at the table and drink some coffee. She had a rough time sleeping the night before thanks to Spoorn and his offer. It was two days before her wedding, and yet she wasn’t sure if she would marry Lance. When he proposed to her, she had been sure he was the only one that could ever love her. Spoorn had proved otherwise. She felt like their budding relationship had happened so fast, but it seemed like a fairy tale her mother would read to her as a child. Perfect. You know, besides the fact that they were both undead and she was getting married to another man in a few days.

Anju sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She took a sip of her coffee before setting the mug back down on the table and closed her eyes.

“Anju?” came a familiar call only a few seconds later. Anju’s eyes shot open and she sat up straight in her chair. She blinked the sleep out of her system in just enough time to see two of her soon-to-be step-children walk into the kitchen.

“There you are!” squeaked the girl, “I couldn’t find you! Do you know where Dad is? He said he’d take Ivan and me to the park!”

Anju smiled at the two children. They were Lance’s third and fourth born children. The two were twins and both resembled their mother quite a bit. The girl, Belarus, had long silver hair like her mother that was normally pulled back in a braid, as well as silver eyes. She looked like a young version of her mother, when her twin brother, Ivan, looked a bit like both of his parents. His eyes were silver like his mother’s, but his hair was a light blond like his father’s, although Ivan’s could almost be mistaken as silver.

“No, I haven’t seen him all day,” Anju told the children politely, “Aren’t you old enough to take yourselves to the park?”

The twelve year olds looked at one another before turning back to their step-mother. Both shook their heads and Belarus replied, “Nope! Well, we are, but Dad says he doesn’t want us to go out by ourselves, since we’re Ithacan.”

An angry fire passed through Anju’s eyes briefly before she recovered and smiled at the twins again. “Alright, well how about I take you instead? I just want to stop by my parent’s house first.” She suggested. Anju has gotten an idea, and she figured she could kill two birds with one stone. She thought it was ridiculous that these poor, sweet children would get picked on- or even worse- just because of where they were born. And unfortunately, when Belarus brought that up, it reminded Anju about Spoorn.

“O.K.!” Belarus exclaimed excitedly, though her brother just shrugged his shoulders, “Why are we going to see your parents? I don’t think they like us. I’d rather go to the park.”

Anju refrained herself from rolling her eyes at the talkative kid and instead patted her on the head. “I need to talk to my mom,” she explained, “And we can go to the park after that. You can play with my little siblings while we’re there. And it’s not that my parents don’t like you! They love you, all of you, they’re just not sure how to act around you. They don’t really know you.”

Belarus looked content with that answer, but Anju knew it was only half of the truth. Her parents didn’t like Lance, even though Lance was Anju’s mother’s adopted brother. They had never liked him, and it just got worse when Lance got her pregnant. Of course, Anju was never going to explain that to two twelve year olds, so instead she ushered them out of the kitchen and said, “Go wait by the door while I get ready!”

Within the next half an hour, the group was standing on the doorstep belonging to one Mr. and Mrs. Heights. Anju got her last name, Wise, from her mother. Heights was the last name of her own father, as well as her step-father. Anju was fairly certain she was an accident, since her mother had given both her and her twin brother her own last name rather than their father’s, but she didn’t like to question her past. It was confusing, even to her.

Anju knocked on the door. When she didn’t get a response, she knocked again. She pounded on the door as hard as she could when she was still ignored.

“No one’s home,” Ivan said quietly, staring up at the door, “Maybe we should leave?”

Anju sighed, “I hear the T.V. My mom wouldn’t have let anyone leave with the T.V. still on. They’re just ignoring me.”

With that said, Anju pushed the door open to find it unlocked. She stepped inside the house to see her three younger half-siblings sitting in the living room watching T.V. The younger twins, Ayu and Junior, were only toddlers. They both stared at her with wide, green eyes before Ayu decided to wave. Anju waved back before turning to her other half-sibling who was sitting on the couch.

“Storm!” she chided the eight year old, “Why didn’t you let me in?”

The young boy frowned but didn’t turn his attention away from the television. He replied, “I’m watching the twins. If I opened the door, I wouldn’t be able to see them.”

Anju rolled her eyes at the brown haired boy before asking, “Where’s mom?”

Storm shrugged his shoulders, but when Anju didn’t leave he sighed, “Working, I think. Dad’s in the kitchen. Or well, last time I checked he was.”

Anju looked toward the kitchen. She could see the lights were off, but she figured she might as well check before yelling at Storm. Her step-father was weird, and sleeping in the kitchen would be something he would do.

“Alright,” she said as she walked toward the kitchen door, “Amuse Belarus and Ivan while I talk to your dad. You are their uncle, after all.”

She heard her brother grumble, but didn’t bother to scold him. She wanted to know when her mom would be back from work.

“Uncle Ayuoh?” She asked as she stepped into the kitchen, flipping on the lights, “You in he-AHH!”

Anju’s words fell into a scream before she clamped her hands over her mouth. In the corner of the kitchen, her uncle was stuck to the cupboards by a steak knife through his shoulder. There was blood staining his shirt around the wound as well as dripping down onto the floor. Blood never bothered Anju, but she was disgusted to see one of her own family members murdered in her family’s kitchen.

“Uncle Ayuoh?” she asked again in a small voice. She stared at her uncle for a few seconds and jumped when his hand gave a slight twitch. The brown haired man slowly lifted his head up and stared at Anju blankly, blinking his green eyes a few times. He smiled when he recognized her and pulled the knife out of his shoulder with ease.

“Really Anju?” he said before the girl could say anything, walking toward her, “I thought you were your mother! I ruined a perfectly good shirt for nothing!”

By the time the man made it to stand in front of Anju, his shoulder wound had completely healed. He wiped the blood off of his knife and onto his shirt before tossing the knife into the kitchen sink with a clatter.

“Uncle Ayuoh! What were you doing?” Anju hissed, narrowing her eyes at the eighteen year old immortal.

“Haha,” Ayuoh laughed, scratching the back of his head, “I was waiting for your mom. She was supposed to be off today, so I took the day off, and then she was called into work. How dare she choose work over me! So I thought I’d freak her out when she got home.”

Anju smacked her forehead with the palm of her hand. She never knew how to react to her step-father’s pranks. He was so childish, but no one could blame him. He’d been eighteen for thirty years.

“Ignoring that, do you know when my mom’s getting home?” Anju asked.

Ayuoh frowned in thought before replying, “Eh, maybe an hour or two? I thought you were Emma coming home early. I’m disappointed now.”

Anju rolled her eyes and continued, “Well, can you mature for a second and tell her I was here?”

“Sure!” Ayuoh replied, brushing the insult off, “If I remember! What were you here for?”

“Ah, that might be giving you too much to remember. You’d better just stick with my message.”

“No, I can do it!” Ayuoh replied, pumping his fist in the air. Anju just sighed at her uncle and shook her head. This caused Ayuoh to whine, “No! I can!”

“Fine! Can I trust you with something?” Anju asked in an annoyed voice. Ayuoh bobbed his head excitedly so Anju walked over to the kitchen counter and sat down. She motioned for her uncle to follow. Once he was sitting down next to her, she explained, “Well, I’ve been having some…doubts about marrying Lance.”

“That would make Emma happy,” Ayuoh interrupted with a short nod of his head.

“I don’t care if it makes mom happy or not, it’s my life!” Anju retorted in an almost hurt voice before recovering and adding, “I mean. I care about mom. But I’m old enough to do what I want.”

“Yeah, I get it,” Ayuoh said, “but go on. Why don’t you want to marry Lance anymore?”

When Anju only looked away, Ayuoh giggled, “You met someone else, didn’t you?”

Anju clamped her hand over her uncle’s mouth and whispered, “Quiet! I don’t want the kids hearing any of this!”

When Anju released him, Ayuoh added slyly, “I was right though, wasn’t I?”

Anju just sighed and nodded her head.

“Well,” Ayuoh told her, “Just do what I do! Take the pro’s and con’s of the situation! Pro to marrying Lance, you won’t have to change your last name!”

Anju found herself rolling her eyes at her uncle once again. She replied, “Funny. But I don’t think that really matters. I know it seems kind of weird, but it’s not like Lance and I are blood related! Besides, I’m staying in the immediate immortal family so we don’t have to tell any mortals about us!”

Ayuoh nodded his head before saying, “So, I’ll take that as two pro’s. What about the other guy? Is he mortal then?”

“No,” Anju said with a shake of her head, “He’s immortal. Mom wouldn’t be happy with our relationship either though…”

Ayuoh gave Anju a look through narrowed eyes before asking, “Anju, are you hitting on me?”

Anju’s eyes widened but she didn’t get the chance to respond before Ayuoh blurted, “WHOA ANJU! Calm down! I mean, sure, I’m pretty irresistible to men and women alike, but I’m your uncle and your step-dad! I would never leave your mom like that stupid brother of mine did!”

Anju stared at Ayuoh in disbelief before she smacked him across the face. Ayuoh grabbed his cheek and gave Anju a shocked look as if he wasn’t expected it. Anju just shook her head and told him, “That was for jumping to conclusions, not for my dad. I know he’s an idiot, especially if he let his twin brother take his girlfriend.”

This wasn’t a conversation about Ayuoh though, and Anju was determined to not let it turn into one. “Anyway,” she said, “I don’t know what to do, and you aren’t helping me in the least. I guess I’m going to go. I said I’d take the twins to the park today.”

“Wait!” Ayuoh exclaimed, putting his hand out to stop her from jumping off the counter, “I’m kidding! I’m focused now, I swear. I want to help!”

“Fine,” Anju sighed, making herself comfortable again, “but I don’t know how you’ll help me.”

She didn’t have faith in her uncle. He wasn’t the brightest person in the world. If she was lucky her mother would come home so she could talk to her instead.

“Well, you said you didn’t think Emma would like your new guy? I doubt that. Emma loves you, and she really is trying to accept the idea of you and Lance. I don’t think you could pick a worse guy than Lance either. Not saying anything bad about him, of course, just your mother doesn’t want you marrying him. Especially after, you know, Soren.” Ayuoh ranted.

“You both love Soren!” Anju gasped.

“Yes! I adore him!” Ayuoh said quickly, “I just meant. You know.”

Anju frowned at her uncle and replied, “The fact that Lance got drunk and raped me?”

Ayuoh winced before saying, “Yeah. That.”

“Uncle!” Anju exclaimed, “If I can accept that, you guys can too! I don’t remember that night at all. Who knows, maybe it was consensual? No matter what, Lance is making up for it now, O.K.? He went back to his wife before he even knew I was pregnant, and when she died he came back to me. He’s trying hard to keep me happy and be in Soren’s life while taking care of his other kids too! They need me, and Lance means a lot to me, and I know I mean a lot to him.”

Ayuoh snickered, “Well, I guess you answered your own question.”

Anju’s eyes widened in shock when she realized that her uncle was right. She had, in fact, answered her own question. She knew what she needed to do now. She had to talk to Spoorn, and maybe even Lance too. One person she didn’t need to talk to, though, was her mother.

Anju hopped off of the counter and headed toward the door. Over her should she called, “Thanks Uncle Ayuoh! I’ve got to go now. Tell mom I said hi!”

“See you Sunday!” Ayuoh called as Anju left the house, pushing the twins out the door with her. 

Author's Note

Whelp, here it is. Sorry it took so long! Thanks to my friend Tiny, who would ride my ass from time to time! This story only has two chapters left, and MAYBE an epilogue. And Maybe I'll even do a sequel, if it is in popular demand and I find time.

I hope this chapter explains all of the questions you had about Anju and her life/past. If it doesn't please let me know. I wanted this to be the explaining chapter. Sorry if it was a little boring, I put Ayuoh in it so it wouldn't be that drab.

By the way, Tiny, I did the Ayuoh thing for you. You know what i'm talking about.

And feel free to proofread! Please review, I love constructive criticism! Even if I don't get that, I like to know people are reading!

Reviews

[Mary Evans]

The pacing seems good but the style needs polishing. Else, I find that the exposition vs. action in this chapter is good, not too much, and not too little. Although I’m not sure it’s a great idea to present that many characters in details for such a short time. Overall I find it’s a good chapter with enough substance and things going on.

[Meat of Dog]

There's an obvious transition here in Anju's feelings. She went from fear and loathing of Spoorne, to being unsure if she even wants Lance, which is a big change. I can see how she's torn between a family life and indapendance with Spoorne, but is the grass greener on the other side?

I was surprised when Anju said that her parents didn't know Lance's children well. That seems to put an even bigger divide between Anju's life and Lance's. At first I wondered why the whole family hadn't been aquainted yet since they were soon to be married, so the fact that they were in the same family was a shocker. If my brother got my daughter pregnent, adopted or not, I'd be pretty upset myself. I got a good laugh at Ayuoh's sense of humor; I can tell already that he's a character I'm going to like. I would imagine that if you were virtually invincible you would eventually develope gallow's humor.

It was nice that she was able to confide in him about her situatuon. Having her admit the pros and cons of marrying Lance was satisfying for me as a reader because while I had developed my own opinions about the situation, I didn't know how she felt. I snickered when Ayuoh accused Anju of being into him, so presumtious. It gives a good demetion for his maturity; despite being immortal, he would retain some of his eighteen year old mindset if he became immortal at that time.

This was a good chapter for getting to know the characters better. I felt like a got a good look into Anju's head and her situation. Now I'm even more curious to see which way she decides to go, despite her justifications for Lance's behavior. I beleive that she loves him, but I wonder if her family will come first.

[Dearantlers]

I'd give you constructive criticism, but I couldn't find anything wrong, but honestly, I wasn't looking that hard. The story was really good! And it did answer a bunch of my questions! Way good write!

[Black Cat Fever]

A very enjoyable edition to your story. I really enjoyed this. I hope you do more, but I' m sure you are!

[Tina Kline]

Very enjoyable chapter, not a bit boring tome. I did rather enjoy that little trick Ayuoh played thinking it was her mom. That was rather funny.