The Dark Side Ep. 01

I looked out the window on a snowy street and sidewalk. Kids were coming from schools, alone, in packs with friends or classmates, or parents. People rushed after gifts before Christmas was here. I imagined how we - me and my boyfriend Intar - would spend this year's Christmas and New Year's Eve. One day these will be our kids - Intar's and mine. I just need to wait six more months till I'm fully done with high school. Or... Or maybe we could...

My dreamy thoughts were interrupted by vibration and sound coming from my backpack. I unzipped it and fished my phone out of it. As soon as I saw the caller's ID on the screen I lit up. It was a video call from my boyfriend.

"Hey," I said after picking up the call. I immediately regretted using my cheerful birdy tone when instead of my boyfriend there appeared someone else.

An expressionless blondie with some pinkish strands in her hair, looked at me with her dark blue eyes. She was chewing something. A bubble appeared between her rosy-red lips and got bigger, and bigger until it blew.

"Hello," she said in a monotonous voice after sucking leftovers of the blown bubble back into her mouth and resumed chewing. "Do you know him?" The blondie turned the camera and for a moment I saw my boyfriend Intar, who smiled at me.

"Yes..." I answered slowly, not understanding what's happening.

"You see," she turned the camera back to her. "Hehas committed a crime. A very serious one. As a punishment, he must be confiscated."

"A crime... What kind of?" I asked in surprise. My brain was going nuts, running through memories of what I've seen together with my boyfriend, or have heard from him, to figure out what he could possibly have done.

"Yes," blondie answered in her monotonous voice and blew another bubble between her lips. "A very serious one. But, he is right on a phone call before his sentence takes place."

Before I could say anything, she turned the camera away and my boyfriend appeared on screen in front of me.

"Here, jackass. Don't be long. I'm starving," the blondie said in the background and made Intar smile a bit uncomfortable.

"Hey. Sorry for that," he said.

"Who's that?" I asked, still trying to solve the equation of a committed crime.

"Oh, that's my sis," Intar was surprised. "I thought you recognized her."

Then it dawned on me that it was just a joke.I sighed with a sigh of relief. If truth be told, I've met his sister only a few times in the recent years, but must admit that I never paid attention to her. It was only Intar on who I always focused on. Anyway, she has never been around much. When I met Intar about 7 years ago, she was already in high school - studying a little bit by day and working by night. As I've been told by Intar, she worked a couple of years prior to that as well. When she was in sophomore year of her high school, no one knows how, but she got a chance to study in a US high school for one semester, as an exchange student. Even bigger surprise came to her family, when they learned that she'll be studying in a US high school as a fully admissioned student in her senior year. She successfully finished that year, not only over there, but also passed all necessary exams here in Latvia.

"No," I shook my head. "I haven't seen her since... I think... She left for uni. Emmm... Three years ago?"

"Not really," he shook his head in response. "Don't you remember Paris last year?"

"Oh," I gasped, as I recalled that trip to France. And really, when I go past the most meaningful memories from that trip, I blurry remember her. Yes. Sorry, fell out of my mind for a sec," I tried to not wound him. Still curious about the crime thing and wanting to change the topic I came up with a question: "So, what's about that crime thing, she said, you have committed?"

"That's nothing. Really," he said, smiling a bit painfully. His sister said something off the camera and I couldn't make it out, since she probably was far from where Intar was with his phone. "Sorry for that," he continued after a moment. "My sister gets like that when she's bored or no one pays attention to her. Anyway, it's really nothing. She landed a few minutes after my midterm test started this morning, so I couldn't meet her at the airport. When the test was over, I rushed out, but she was already waiting for me in a taxi, next to the university building. She wasn't dressed properly for a walk, so we took that taxi to ride home."

"What do you mean - not dressed properly?" I was a bit surprised.

"I mean," Intar continued, "she was dressed properly for walking in Los Angeles in December, from where she flew in, but not for walking in Latvia in the winter."

"Oh," I gasped again. "So the crime is not meeting her in the airport?"

"Yes and no," Intar again smiled painfully. "When we stopped next to our home, she said that I must pay the driver. Well, I couldn't. The bill included driving from the airport to the university, waiting next to it, and riding home.Then she lectured me on being unappreciative and cried for some time, sobbing that even her own brother wasn't waiting for her. When the driver's patience was over and he was ready to call the police on us, she took out her credit card and paid the bill. After that she said that not caring about your own sister is a federal crime in the US and as a punishment I must be confiscated for a certain time, to learn a lesson."

"I see, it sounds really serious," I grinned. "I forgot, what is she studying over there?"

"I'm not sure," he said, taking a pause to think about the question. "She studies in the University of California, Los Angeles campus, faculty of Theater, Film, and Television, but it's very hard to tell what she's actually studying there, because they have majors and minors over there. We don't have such a thing over here. But, I guess it has to do something with acting or something of that sort."

"Looks like she's an easy A," I said,giving out a reference to a movie which we saw a few years ago.

"Speaking of grades, how was your morning?" Intar asked.

"Not as entertaining as yours," I laughed. "You know, a concert in the morning, then class with our head teacher where she handed out our mark reports, and then local lesbian expert explained how to recognize a lesbian."

"O, who's that?" Intar asked. I couldn't tell if he was just faking interest in the subject or genuinely was interested in it.

"That's my little Robbie, he read an article somewhere and now all in wings about it," I said, widely grinning.

"Cool. I should take some courses from him on the subject," Intar teased. "What's your plans for tonight?"

"I don't know," I shrugged shoulders. "Dad is taking us somewhere."

With that said, the world around me appeared again. I peeked through the window: the car wasn't moving. Engine was turned off and suddenly it felt eerie silent there. I glanced to the left, to see my siblings staring at me. I looked back at my phone's screen. Intar still was there, looking back at me.

"I think we have arrived," I said, trying not to give out my embarrassment, as the realization of having a conversation on loudspeaker with my whole family next to me, hitted. "I don't know at what time I'll be home."

"That's ok," Intar smiled. "Sis anyway wants to go out tonight."

Few more words, good byes, and promises to see each other later, until we ended the video call. After slipping my smartphone back in my backpack, I looked back at Marta and Robbie, who still were staring at me.

"What?" I gave them a confused look. They just blinked. Before I could say anything more, my dad turned a bit in his seat and clapped hands.

"Family! Meeting!" my dad said,looking at us in the back seat, over his shoulder. Marta and Robbie finally got out of their hypnotic stare at me and looked at him. "Some announcements first," he continued, seeing our full attention. "We - me and your mom listened carefully to what Robbie said earlier. First, I want to come out to all of you and say that I'm a lesbian."

"Dad, you can't be,"Robbie protested.

"Why not?" Dad pretended to be surprised. "I have short hair, I wear shirts, and pants, but what's more important - I'm in love with the woman. The most beautiful woman I ever met. Your mom." That said, he leaned in \and kissed our mom.

"Dad, but you're a man, you can't be a lesbian," Robbie kept protesting.

"I'm a male lesbian. This is the 21st century,Anyone can be what and who they want to be," dad said, as soon he leaned back from kissing.Mom quietly giggled. I couldn't catch the reason, but I assumed that she was taken by surprise when dad moved in to kiss her in front of us. "Anyone else wants to come out, have a question, or comment?"

Marta glanced at me, but ended up lowering her eyes, her phone which she still held in her palm, but said nothing.

"ok," dad continued after a brief moment of silence. "Next. We decided to change our cable TV service provider."

"Hey!" Almost in choir, all three of us in the back seat bursted out with disappointment.

"That's not fair," Robbie added.

"Life is unfair: minorities set the rules," dad calmly answered.

"But you can keep it, if you can pay for it," mom added.

None of us could argue against our parent's decision, because we couldn't afford it on our own. None of us three were working.

:If there's no more objections, comments, or questions, we can move to the information part," dad said after a moment of silence.

"Company where I work organizes a Christmas party for employees and their families in that guest house," mom said, waving with her hand towards the building on the opposite side of the parking lot.

* * *

The event or "party" as mom called it, went well. Younger kids spoke shorter and longer Christmas themed poems next to the Christmas tree in exchange for a present from a girl named Santa and her caged rabbit Rudolph. The girl with her caged friend disappeared shortly after all the kids got their presents, started opening them and decided to share candies and other snacks from their packages with the fluffy friend. At the same time, we older kids were separated into a few teams, based on our age, and sent to escape rooms to solve various Christmas themed mysteries. Since all teams solved their assigned mystery, each of us also got a Christmas present which consisted of cookies, candies, chocolate, and relatively fresh mandarins.

While we were busy, adults also had some fun activities. Afterwards, everyone could grab something to eat from the layed out tables, while everyone who felt like singing could give a Christmas themed karaoke performance on an improvised stage. The event finished with a multi-story cake.

On our way back home, we didn't talk much. Mom and dad asked us about things we enjoyed and shared their excitement. I think Robbie fell asleep as soon as he climbed back into the backseat of the car. Marta was tired enough to not bother with her Instagram feed or phone at all. At first, she just rested her head on my shoulder and engaged in our chat with mom and dad, but at some point, she just went silent and the only thing I could feel was her head on my shoulder and a tight, loving, sisterly hug.

At some point all talks in the car stopped and the only sound was silent breathese of ones who fell asleep, the car engine, and sounds of bypassing cars. At the time of our journey back, it was already dark and street lights were on. Streets also were much quieter than on an ordinary day, since this was a night before Christmas. I rested my head on Marta's head and looked out, through the window into the darkness and passing by street lights.

I remembered the joke Intar's sister played on me. That thought led to the next thought about what he's doing. One thought led to another and soon enough the world outside was a blurry background in my dreamy gaze about my boyfriend and our future. I couldn't imagine studying somewhere away from him. Even for one semester. I wondered where that school which Ms. Pine suggested actually is located.

"It should be in the city center. All prestigious schools are there," I thought. The most prestigious one that came into my mind was State's First Gymnasium. "But on the other hand, it's a public school. Ms. Pine said this one is private," my brain kept running a thousand miles per second. I assured myself that in the worst case the school could be on the outskirts of the city, but that idea seemed too impossible for me.

All my thoughts led me to a rock hard decision - I'll give a website a try. If the school is too far, too hard or expensive to get to, or there are any other slightest things which I won't like about it, I'll give it a hard pass. Overall, it's just an average mark in my diploma which I'm trying to improve. Not improving it by 0.17 points won't do me any harm, but I couldn't afford losing Intar. He's the best I have. There won't be anyone else like him. So sweet, so loving, and so caring. He would never do something to hurt me and I shouldn't hurt him by choosing a school or my marks over him.

Ride home was short. Actually, every ride is short when you bury yourself in thoughts. Since we were in various states of "tired" and "asleep", in another quick family meeting, we agreed on not having a family dinner that night. With that decided, we disappeared into our rooms.

Our house isn't big, only with three bedrooms.Mom and dadof course have their own room, then there's a room for Robbie, and a room for Marta and me. When I entered it, Marta had already finished taking off her daily make-up and was changing her clothes. Since we share one laptop, I decided to use this chance to check the website Ms. Pine gave to me.

I walked to the desk, on which it was laying and dropped my backpack on the chair. I opened the lid and powered on the laptop. While it booted up, I fished the note from the bottom of my backpack and placed it on the desk, under the computer mouse. Seconds later, my backpack landed on the floor, next to Marta's.

I looked towards our two story bed, where Marta, legs crossed, was getting comfy on the bottom level bed.

"Hey! You're on the wrong level, don't fall asleep there," I said with intention to sound funny. Probably I didn't. Marta just looked at me and weakly smiled.

"I'm okay," she said, waving her smartphone in the air. "I'm just tired, that's all."

"Good," I said and kneeled next to my backpack, to unpack it. "We don't have an elevator, so you'll have to climb up yourself," another sentence from me with the intention to sound funny. Since my back was turned toward Marta, I couldn't see her reaction. But, judging by the sounds coming from her phone, she was already back on Instagram or Tic Toc.

I took out the Christmas present which I was given at the event, placing it on the desk, next to Marta's identically looking package with candies, cookies, and mandarins. Then followed my mark report and some other papers, which I sorted in respective folders and put into their place in the bookshelf. As I was looking at the backs of the books in our bookshelves, to decide on a read for the night, a loud exsasperated "Fuck" came from the bedside and drew my attention. I turned exactly to witness the moment when Marta slammed her phone into my pillow.

"It just died," meeting my confused look, Marta explained in her most disappointing tone I've heard so far. "Can you plug it in and bring me a tablet?" She grabbed the phone from the pillow and held it in her hand towards me.

I crossed my arms and stared at her. "Firstly, grammar young lady," I said in a dissatisfied tone, tapping lightly on the floor with my right foot. "Secondly, I'm not your maid."

For a moment she just stared back at me and blankly blinked a few times in confusion. Finally she breathed out: "Ok. Annie, please. I'm tired."

"I can, but should I?" I said.

"Argh," Marta grouled in dissatisfaction and closed her eyes. A moment longer and I would assume that she had fallen asleep, but then she opened them and in a birdy voice asked: " Annie, my lovely sister, could you please plug in my phone?"

I exhaled an unwillingness, but stepped forward and took the phone from her.

"Thank you," she said, as I plugged in a charging cable into her smartphone and left it on the far end of the desk to charge. "Could you please now bring me a tablet?"

"I don't see the tablet here," I said, after sliding my gaze over the desk and other surfaces, which I could see from the place I was standing. "But, I can bring you a book of your choice from the shelf."

"Fuck, no!" Marta exclaimed, now dropping her head onto my pillow. "Could you please go and look for it?"

"You know,Missy, I'm tired too. I can bring you a book," I said. "If you want the tablet, you must go and look for it yourself," I crossed my arms in a dissatisfied pose. It was a needed spark to blow up usually quiet and calm Marta.

"Don't missy me!" sister shouted at me. "Ibarely slept last night, because I had to polish the script for today's concert at school. Alone. Someone who promised to help me, last night hung out with her boyfriend and forgot about her actual family member."

I closed my eyes. There's a truth in her words, but it wasn't her first time preparing and hosting an event in school. The script was already written, the only thing she wanted to do was to polish the sentences for better sounding. She's perfectionist and that would mean long hours of rewriting, arguing, and rehearsing. But I choose to spend the time with my love, my fiance, my future husband and father of our children. I reminded myself that she's just sixteen and will understand my choices when she'll meet that special person herself. Yes, she's my family now, but also a family that I'll leave to make my own, together with Intar.

"Besides, I was on foot all morning," Marta continued, slowly calming down. "I helped add final decorations to the hall in school, and surprise, surprise - I hosted the concert and introduced the performers, while you sat on the back row in the hall and fantasized about your fairytale prince."

I opened my eyes and glanced at the laptop's screen. It still was booting up. The white letters on the dark background said: "Installing updates... 39% done." It's usual for Microsoft Windows to do such things. Especially when you're in a hurry. One of the unwritten laws about Windows says that the more urgent it is to log in and do the things, the longer the process of installing and configuring the updates takes.

"You can live in and according to the books," Marta kept talking. "But, I don't want to live there. I want to live here, with real people. With actual people, not some fictional characters in some imaginary worlds.So, no - I don't want a book. I want to know what others are doing and thinking. It's easy for you, you're finishing school, but I have to know the newest gossip to study in this school."

"Fine!" I exclaimed a bit louder than I probably should, unable to bear her talking anymore, and raised my hands in the air, to show my defeat. " I'll find the tablet," I said and left the room, unintentionally slamming the door behind me.

First, I went to Robbie's room. It was dark and silent. I slowly and as quietly as possible opened the door of his room and looked around it. The dim light coming from the hallway helped me to see everything I needed - the tablet wasn't in there. In the same quiet manner I closed the door of his room and descended the stairs. Downstairs, in the living room, dad was watching "Panorama" - the evening news on local tv.

"Last man standing, huh?" I said to dad, with a smile in my voice, while looking around the room for a desired object.

"Sitting for now," he replied, not taking eyes off the screen, "but your mom is in shower. If you're looking for her."