This post is part one of five of Rania Seid’s fiction series, Abnormal. When more chapters are published, they will be linked here. Part Two

“MARTHA, GET DOWN HERE!” 

“COMING MOM!” 

There goes another morning at the Alvadera house. I dash downstairs, knowing that she was gonna say I left my socks up on Benishki. That’s the name of my mom’s sofa. I know what you’ll say: “Why do you have a name for your sofa?” Well, we’ve just grown up calling it that because my mom said it. Well, technically, it’s not her sofa but no one ever sits there. The rest of my family prefers leather sofas. 

“What is it, mo-.” My eye moves over to look at an odd sight that happened to be on top of Benishki. “What the heck! WHY IS THERE AN EYEBALL THERE?” 

My mom smirked. “This is probably one of your brother’s pranks. Call him downstairs, will you?” 

I nod my head eagerly and run upstairs to lecture Bruno, my twin brother. “BRUNO, YOU LITTLE BRAT! GET DOWN HERE!”

“I’ll call you guys in a bit- WHY, MOOMOO?” yelled Bruno.

I ignored him because if I told him what the problem was, he would probably go back to playing his stupid video games.

“Ok, I’ll be back guys.” Bruno hung up on his friends, trudged towards me and rolled his eyes. “WHAT.”

 I glared at him. “You know exactly what I’m talking about! Stop pranking us! I’m sick of waking up every morning in fear of being pied or something and it’s annoying because this is MY house. I should feel SAFE!” 

Bruno’s eyes widened as if he’s realized a tragic truth. He then proceeded to shove his video game controller on the floor and ran downstairs. I was confused. He never acts this way. His typical reaction would be a snicker or two and then he would go back to eating Cheetos or playing video games. I followed him back downstairs, bewildered. 

“Mom, can I go to my friend’s house after school, please?” says Bruno. My bewildered brain scattered even more as he spoke those words. Bruno has no friends, although if you count his technically non-existent video game friends, he has two. But never in his life has he asked to go to a friend’s house. This was sketchy: first an unexpected reaction from my realization of his pranks; and second, this sudden need to go to a friend’s house. It was also weird that he never told me about this new friend. We tell each other everything.

“A-A friend’s house?” stammered mom. “O-of course you can go!” You see, my mom has always attempted to get Bruno a friend but he was bullied a lot for his height. 

Bruno is in 9th grade, though his height doesn’t match the other boys around him. Bruno is 6’7 and because of this, he’s an outcast at school. Bruno and I go to a school where everyone there is either average-sized or short. Thanks to genes, I’m also tall for my grade level. I’m currently in 9th grade (Bruno and I are twins) and I’m 6’6. Especially since every girl at school is a petite volleyball player, I’m a giant compared to them. 

The only reason I have the pass to not getting bullied is because I’m the president of the debate club and I demolish everyone in it. Well, obviously not literally demolishing them, but you get the point. I’m great at achieving victory in arguments and debates. Another reason people don’t bully me is probably because of my status. I’m the president of a club, so people assume that I’ll get them in trouble. Ever since I’ve become the president of the debate club, people have reduced the amount of taunting they do to my brother because they’re scared of me. Believe me, I’ve already reported the bullies; but we can never gather enough evidence to actually get anyone into trouble. The principal is very biased and irrational. He loves the social, popular kids. This sounds like it’s from a movie, but he has clear favorites. That’s why Bruno hasn’t gotten his justice.

“Really?” said Bruno, looking up from his feet. 

“Yes! But whose house are you going to, honey?” said mom.

“Wait, Bruno. Why have you never told me about this? I thought we did everything together? Why are you all of a sudden independent?” I asked, the emotions of perplexity and hurt stirring around in my heart. 

Bruno’s ecstatic expression dropped and all of a sudden his feet became a particularly interesting object. “W-well, this friend is a first of mine and…yeah, I HAVE TO GO! See you at school, Moomoo! And, by the way, I’ll be back home at 7 pm!” He swung the front door open, almost knocking mom and I over, slammed it shut as he dashed outside, and grabbed his worn-out neon green bike, then  pedaled down the road as fast as his legs could take him.

“Martha, I’m sorry. I think he’s just excited that he has a friend and can be his own independent person. I think you should let it go, honey,” said mom in a gentle, almost-whisper that’s never failed to comfort me. 

“But mom, I know my twin. When he needs to talk to me about something, he’ll tell me. It seemed like he was more hesitant to tell me about it and that’s a first,” I breathed. Mom rubbed my back and kissed the top of my head, then she slowly and gently walked over to Benishki as if she was going to shatter into a million pieces like a fragile piece of glass, and slumped onto it. I shuddered at the thought of my mom being sad. 

Feeling bad that I’d have to leave my mom alone, I waved goodbye to my mom and ran upstairs to get my backpack. Wait? What time was it? After I grabbed my Harry Potter-themed backpack, I reached for my phone and unplugged it. It was 8:05! I have 5 minutes to do everything. 

“Gotta go, mom! I’m gonna be late!” I gasped, shoving my red converses onto my feet and clicking on my Harry Potter-themed helmet at the same time. Yes, I’m a Harry Potter nerd. I grabbed my bike that matched the pattern of my helmet and rode as fast the laws of physics could take me. That was a little more dramatic than what actually happened but it sounds cool so I’ll leave it be.

I arrived at my destination: Hellfire.Oops, typo! I mean school. I go to Mayfield Berry Highschool. It’s a ghetto public school and its outside looks can be deceiving. I locked my bike into the bike stand and hesitantly pressed the silver buzzer button that automatically makes a call to the office. As I waited for the office to answer the buzzer button, I felt something missing. That’s when I realized Bruno’s neon green bike wasn’t in the bike stand. My heart dropped. He was skipping school? The Bruno I know would never skip school! He’s a teacher’s pet with straight A’s (that’s where me and him differ)! I’ll just text him, I thought. 

Suddenly, a real-life scenario of “Hold that thought” happened when I was in the middle of thinking and the office lady’s familiar, depressed, and croaky voice spoke through the buzzer button. “Yes?”

“Um, I came late to school,” I confessed through the buzzer button timidly.

I could practically hear the office lady’s eyes roll through the screen. Then, I heard the loud hang-up noise which signaled that the door was about to open. I stepped back so that I wouldn’t get slammed by the door and waited. After a few seconds that felt like a century, one of six entrance doors automatically opened. I sheepishly stepped into the school building. It smelled of cheap cologne and Lysol wipes. That cologne and Lysol wipes smell only belongs to one person. 

This post is part one of five of Rania Seid’s fiction series, Abnormal. When more chapters are published, they will be linked here. Part Two