FicWad

The bell rang at half three and the twins leaped out of their seats, racing to the front entrance of the school without saying goodbye to anyone. They didn’t have many friends. It didn’t matter to them. They had each other for company.

“I can’t believe Miss Simmons,” Penina was moaning on the way home “Why did she set me extra homework?”

“Well, I don’t think she appreciated being told to go and stick the homework she set the rest of us up her ass.” Hozzie said.

“She gives us way too much homework anyway. An essay on World War One? What’s the point? We haven’t even got a computer or a laptop or anything either so we have to write it by hand and that always annoys her. She always moans that she wants it ‘word processed’ but how are we supposed to do that?”

“I know! She keeps saying we should go to the library but you have to pay to use those computers.” Hozzie huffed “We barely have enough money for food, does she seriously think we’re going to pay to write a stupid essay?”

The twins bitched about Miss Simmons the entire walk home, only stopping when they got onto their street and saw yellow tape wrapped around her house “It must be serious if they’ve put all that tape up.” Hozzie said.

“Not necessarily. Don’t they always do that when someone dies?”

“I don’t know.” Hozzie shrugged “Let’s go home. That house gives me the creeps now. What if someone really did murder her?”

“They’re probably long gone if they did. And I doubt it. Mrs Wilson wasn’t exactly rich, was she?”

“I’ll miss her though.” Hozzie said wistfully.

They’d both reached their house by this point and were surprised to find the front door unlocked “Maybe Mum’s back.” Penina whispered.

“I really hope not.” Hozzie said and the two of them walked inside.

“Hey girls!” A voice called from the living, slurring her words a little “Come and say hello. Come on then!”

The girls glanced at each other. Their Mum was never in a good mood when she came back. This was new. Penina walked down the hallway and into the living room and Hozzie followed her, a couple of steps behind. Sat in the living room was their Mum with two guys sat either side of her. One was skinny, bald with tattoos on his matchstick legs while the other was overweight with a lot of hair, a beard and tattoos on his arms “Sorry I haven’t been around the last couple of days.” Their Mum said “I was just having so much time with Mark and Andy that I completely forgot to come home and check in... But there’s food in the fridge now and plenty of it! Make us something to eat, would you girls? We’re starving.”

The twins didn’t say anything and backed out of the room quickly then scuttled into the kitchen “She never brings guys back!” Hozzie squeaked “What’s she doing? They look really scary.”

“No they don’t.” Penina lied.

“What if they get angry? You know the kind of guys Mum hangs around with. What if they have a lot to drink and-”

“Don’t worry, they won’t hurt us. I won’t let them.” Penina said quickly “We should probably make them something to eat then.”

The girls opened the fridge and found lots of cans of beer, a few microwave meals and a loaf of bread “Is that what she defines as a lot of food?” Penina asked “We’ll have to heat up the microwave meals.”

“What if we pick food that they don’t like?”

“There’s literally nothing else in here. We’re just going to have to guess.” Penina said, pulling out three microwave meals. She sighed “There’s only one left. We’ll have to share it.”

“We can have some bread and butter too, we’ll be okay.” Hozzie said “Hopefully she’ll buy some more food soon.”

Penina peeled off the plastic and put them into the microwave and heated them up one by one then put them onto a plate “Can you carry this one please?” Penina asked. Hozzie bit her lip worriedly “It’s okay, that’s the one for Mum. I’ve got the ones for Andy and Mark.”

Hozzie sighed and took the plate Penina was holding out and followed her into the living room. They handed the plates to three adults “What’s this muck?” The fat one, Andy, bellowed “I want proper food.”

“Why have you made us this rubbish?” Mark snapped “Keeping all the proper food to yourselves, selfish bitches?”

“No, it was all that was in the fridge...” Penina stammered.

“Bullshit! Your Mum said the fridge was full of food!” Andy yelled. Hozzie had her hands clamped over her ears. Penina looked to their Mum for help but she was eating her meal as if nothing was wrong. Both men stood up, their meals clattering to the floor and splattering onto the carpet. They raised their hands as if they were about to hit them. Penina grabbed Hozzie’s arms and the two of them ran upstairs. They heard footsteps thundering behind them and raced into the bathroom because it was the only room with a lock. Penina bolted the door behind them and they both sat on the floor, holding back tears, listening to the two men on the other side hammering away at the door “We’re going to be okay.” Penina said.

“Do you have your mobile?” Hozzie whispered “We could phone the police.”

Penina checked her pockets, so did Hozzie. Both of them had left their mobiles in the kitchen when they were making everyone dinner. The two looked at each other then tearfully back at the door. Suddenly there was lots of shouting, more than two men. There were several bumps and then silence. Then a small knock at the door “Girls, it’s okay. You can come out.”

The girls didn’t recognise the voice but it wasn’t Andy or Mark. Penina stood up and opened the door timidly. She peered round the door and saw the FBI agent from earlier, the taller one with jaw-length brown hair. She looked around and saw him and his FBI friend had beaten Mark and Andy to the ground. Penina stepped out and Hozzie followed, sticking close to her.

“It’s okay.” He said again “You need to come with us. It’s a long story but I promise we’ll explain.”