Chapter 3
1115 Words
Chapter Three
"Jane? Is everything ok?"
The surname the man mom wanted to marry was Vance.
Calm down, Jane. Vance sounded like a pretty common surname and this town was huge. He might not even be from here, maybe he drove to come see Mom from out of town.
I shook my head and zoned back into the conversation. "Sorry mom. There's people in my school with that surname."
"Oh, that's nice! So you may already know his boys. Which is good because he loves them, talks about them so much. It's cute."
I was beginning to get a bad feeling. "Them?"
"Yeah, twin boys. Two peas in a pod. Seriously though, I haven't been able to tell them apart. Maybe I'll have better luck when I see them in person-"
It could still be a coincidence. They weren't the only identical twin boys in existence. "What are their names, Mom?" I cut in.
She blinked, redirecting her thoughts. "Let me think. I know they sound alike too. If I ever had twins I was going to name them-"
"Mom! Please, what are their names?" I yelled.
She startled looking, a little concerned but I didn't care. I needed to know. "Mom!"
"Jesus, Jane, what has gotten into you. It's Darrex and Darren."
You have got to be kidding me. You simply have to be messing with me. Darren and Darrex, my step brothers? No f*****g way! It must be a big fat joke.
But it wasn't. Two days later, I sat in mom's jeep, staring unblinking, as we drove into the house Darren and Derex lived in. I still couldn't believe it. How has my life gotten to this?
It was a two storey house, built with bricks. It stood tall and solid, overlooking the gravel driveway where I now stood.
Luther met us outside, smiling down at mom and leaning to kiss her. "Hello darling. Hi jane."
I waved. He turned back and yelled. "Don't just stand there boys, come help the ladies with their bags!"
There they were, standing at the door of their home. It was actually them.
The boys smiled and shuffled down the steps. They stepped in front of my mom, who I was now cowering behind.
"A pleasure to meet you, ma'am," Darren said and I peeked around her to see him kiss her hand.
Darrex leaned in and kissed her cheek. Mom laughed. "Oh, I like you boys."
"What can I say, I raised them," Luther said, smugly.
"You did a good job. My daughter said that y'all had already met at school."
She glanced beside her but I wasn't there. I brace myself as she looked behind her and found me. I almost yell at her not to step out of the way.
Their eyes fix on me.
"Ah, yes. Jane." Darren said with a smile and walked forward. He slings his arm over my shoulder and beams at Mom. "Yes, we've met. We're even friends, right Rex?"
"Right."
"Come on, let me show you to your room."
I couldn't say a word before Darren grabbed my hand and one of the bags beside my mom and dragged me off into the house.
I tried tugging my wrist from his grasp but he tightened it even more. So I dug my feet into the ground at the base of the steps. He pulled but I braced against the bannister. He stopped pulling.
"Jane, you have two options right now," he said, slowly, "one, you move your cute little feet up the stairs or two I'll know you're throwing this tantrum because you want me to carry you. You want to be in my arms."
He would literally never let me live that down. When he'd tell this story, and he would at the most embarrassing time ever, it would seem like I went on my knees to beg him to take me in his arms.
The last time he'd given me his jacket, I was snickered at and called desperate in the girls bathroom. The jokes lasted for a whole week and I heard he started a few of them himself.
So I moved. "Good girl."
He brought me to a room at the end of the second floor. It was a messy blue space but it was big. It wasn't dirty, it just seemed like someone had lived here recently. I was about to ask if he could leave now when I felt myself falling.
A small scream escaped me as I landed face first on the bed. Darren had pushed me! Why had he pushed me?
I rolled around to face him, and that's when the flash of a camera went off.
Darren laughed, a full belly laugh as the smell on the bed registered in my brain. The owner had been in my personal space a s**t ton of times.
This was his room and he now had a picture of me sprawled out on his bed.
Oh God. My heart fell. He had something over me again. The second time he had something that would make the school laugh, point and snicker at me, I didn't realize when I began to beg. I couldn't deal with it, I didn't like being seen and especially not like that.
He agreed, on the condition I would do anything he asked of me, for a time we agreed on.
From then henceforth, anytime he had something embarrassing against me - that usually involved him because he orchestrated it - he gained a little errand girl. Maybe that was why he made these situations.
"Darren-"
"Three weeks."
I swallowed. Three weeks was a lot. "No, one."
"Three weeks."
My shoulders fell. He knew what he had, that picture was worth three weeks. It was worth however much he said because I would never live it down.
He jumped on the bed and I promptly got off it. "Get going, Doe, you have some math homework to do before tomorrow. They're on the table."
I knew Darren was good at math, but he made me do it because I absolutely despised math.
And for good reason too, it took me till dinner to be finished. I wasn't even hungry by the time I closed his books. I just never wanted to think about another number again.
I jumped into bed and fell asleep.
The next day, I wasn't woken up by my alarm clock, I was woken up by a knock on the door.
I groaned, intending to ignore it but it was so insistent I couldn't go back to sleep. I dragged myself out of bed, and opened it squinting against the light.
It was Darrex.
- Writer
