Things Only a Sibling Would Do
Sitting at one of the tables in the abandoned factory she and the others called home, she shifted her gaze between Maybe and Garrett. The former was engrossed in one of those romance novels she liked so much, and honestly, Gemma couldn't understand the appeal. Even though she was a flirt, she would never be caught dead drooling over a guy the way some of those characters did. At another table, her twin brother Garrett was playing with his set of interlocking bricks. While he had no desire to be an architect as far as she knew, he certainly liked using the toys to design buildings like bakeries and libraries.
Even though they were happily enjoying themselves through their respective hobbies, she wished they would do something with her instead. Typically she spent afternoons climbing around the beams of the factory and pretend that she was an acrobat in a circus, but she wasn't in the mood today. She didn't know what she wanted to do, but she wanted to do it with someone.
Maybe I can suggest we go swimming? Oh, but it's still a cold for that. How about a walk? Hmm, I think the dark clouds would deter them. There aren't any games the three of us all like, either.
In moments like this, she wished she was a little bit more like them. Maybel and Garrett enjoyed isolated hobbies, and to them, being in the same room even while doing different things was no different than doing something together. Unfortunately, that wasn't a sentiment Gemma shared.
Finally, unable to keep her thoughts to herself any longer, she whined, "I'm bored."
"Then find something to do," her brother immediately responded without looking away from his bricks. Despite being the younger twin, he acted like the older sibling.
"But there's nothing to do," she complained.
"There's plenty to do," replied Maybel, looking away from her book. She actually was older, so she could get away with acting like a big sister. "If you don't find anything interesting enough to entertain you, then maybe you can sweep the floors."
Gemma resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Sure, the dirt all over the floor was from her constantly forgetting to kick it off her shoes whenever she went in and out, but she hated sweeping. If there was one chore that was the worst than them all, it was anything having to do with a broom.
"Or wipe the windows," Garrett suggested, still not looking her way. "I did it last time, and Maybel the time before that."
She didn't voice it aloud, but this reminded Gemma of living with their parents. These were all the kinds of things Mama would say. Similarly, Papa would tell them to help with the baking, which was better than the chores she could have done instead.
Knowing that contributing to the upkeep of their home, especially since she remembered how dusty and full of cobwebs it was when she and Garrett first found it weeks ago, was a group effort, Gemma gave in and sought the cloth and bucket they used for the windows. She spent a few minutes searching in all the usual places, but she didn't see either of them. Finally, she called out, "Where's the cleaning stuff? I can't find them anywhere."
"I don't know." Maybel looked up and frowned. To Garrett, "You said you cleaned the windows last, right? Do you remember where you left everything?"
For the first time, Garrett looked up from his project and smirked. Before he opened his mouth, Gemma knew what he was about to say. "I left everything under the thicket by the river."
"Why would you do that?!" Gemma squealed. "Spiders and snakes live there!"
All he did was shrug and reply, "Yeah, but it's by the river. We're always going to the river when we fill the bucket anyway. I figured it made more sense leaving it there instead of bringing it back just to take it out again."
What a convenient excuse.Ā The way his eyes twinkled clearly communicated he did that just to spite her. After all, he knew how much she hated spiders and snakes. Especially spiders that killed snakes. However, accusing him of doing this simply to mess with her wouldn't go anywhere as Maybel, who didn't have any siblings and thus didn't understand how far out of the way they would go just to annoy each other, would come to Garrett's aid.
Since Gemma's dislike of the thicket wasn't a secret, Maybel told her, "It's going to be fine. None of the species living there are venomous. Besides, they're all more scared of you than you are of them."
I highly doubt that.Ā Still, not wanting to let Garrett see how this was getting to her, she threw her shoulders back, held her head up, and said, "I'll be right back with it."
"Good luck!" Garrett called out as she stepped through the door. As she got further away from the factory, Gemma threw his fists around, stomped, and muttered curses against her twin. She could have refused to clean the windows ā it wasn't as if they were strict on who did what chores and when ā but doing so would have given him something to tease her over. Well, she wasn't having it. She could be brave when she wanted to be, and she was going to prove it to him.
Yet as she made the short trip to the thicket, she had second thoughts.
She could see the bucket right there underneath the branches, and she could also see the spiders sitting on their webs. No snakes were currently visible, but she had seen them slither to hide more than once to know they were there. If she reached for the bucket, she was bound to get spiders on her and startle a few snakes.
"I don't wanna," she whined as she walked around the thicket, looking for any spot she could reach it without disturbing any spider webs. No luck. Either by coincidence or design, Garrett had placed the bucket in the perfect place for spiders to weave their webs all around it.
Refusing to give up, go back, and admit defeat, Gemma sought another plan. After all, she was great with puzzles. Even in the background, her mind was working to solve problems. This was a problem. It wasn't long before a solution came to her.
"Okay." She walked away from the thicket and crossed the bridge a few yards away. This was going to make the trip to retrieve everything take longer, but anything was better than dealing with spiders.
There were a few large trees on the other side of the river where abandoned homes sat. Head down and eyes on the ground, she walked around them. If anyone noticed her walking around like she just received terrible news, they didn't call out to her.
It took longer than she would have liked, but she soon found a decent sized branch. "Perfect," she concluded as she picked it up and tested its weight. It was a little light with leaves sprouting on one end, and more importantly, it was long enough to do the job.
After she returned to the thicket, she used the branch to reach for the bucket. From a safe distance, she used one end to push the bucket slowly but surely out from under the branches. A few spider webs were destroyed in the process, but since the spiders themselves were too far away from her, that was fine.
A moment or two later, the bucket was out of the thicket. Discarding the branch, she retrieved it. As she sat by the river and prepared to fill the bucket with water, she almost didn't look inside before reaching in to grab the cloth.
Screaming at the top of her lungs, she fell backwards and kicked the bucket over.
Quicker than a flash, a bright green snake slithered out of the bucket and raced to the safety of the thicket.
While her heart beat so fast she thought it was going to explode, she stared at the bucket as if expecting a family of snakes to follow behind.
It was a handful of minutes later before she could pick up the bucket, clean it and the cloth out, and bring it back filled with water to the factory. As she stepped inside, Maybel looked up from her novel and said, "There you are! You were taking so long, I was afraid something had happened. I thought I heard you scream, but Garrett assured me I was hearing things."
"No," Gemma said between gritted teeth, "everything's fine."
"Of course it would be," Garrett teased as he very clearly bit his the inside of his cheeks to keep from laughing. She knew without a doubt he heard her scream and had spent the whole time not giving in lest Maybel realize this was all part of his plan to mess with his sister. This was further confirmed when he said with a mildly mocking undertone, "Nobody's as brave as my big sister. Snakes and spiders don't spook her!"
If Maybel were the one who left the bucket in the thicket and made such a comment, Gemma would have let it go. After all, people sometimes made genuine mistakes in the things they did and said. On the other hand, a sibling always knew the perfect thing to say to get on the right nerves and make it seem innocent to an outsider.
Saying nothing, Gemma stomped towards her brother. His teasing smirk fell when he realized what she was going to do before she did. Either too shocked to plead or accepting his fate, Garrett remained seated and did nothing as she dumped the bucket over his head and poured the river water all over him.
