crazy folk. Updation time! It took me a while, I know... Sorry about that. But I finally, finally got it done! I didn't proof this either, because I spent long enough writing it. just letting y'all know. Now! Update! Hope ya like it! He looked so different...but exactly the same. The same pants, same shirt, down to the usual shiny white Nikes. Tears began spilling over her cheeks, leaving trails of salty wetness on her face. "Zee? Is that...really..." Her voice tapered off a she looked at him in wonderment and disbelief. "Damn, Zeph. It's been so long," he told her, still grinning. He leaned down and reached out a hand to her, and pulled her to her feet. Engulfing her in a huge hug, he gently teased her. "Wow. You've even gotten taller. Movin up in the world, huh, girl?" Zephy let out a small bubble of laughter, her face buried in Zeeke's chest. She inhaled deeply. He even smelled the same. But it had been a year since... "Come on, Z, we're going to be late!" Zeeke impatiently checked his watch for the fifth time in the past three minutes. "Just a minute! I'm doing my... ZEE!" she screeched at him as he playfully grabbed her wrist and began pulling her toward the door. "I wasn't done! Zee!" Laughing, she slapped his arm, pulling against his hold. "We can't go anywhere yet! I'm not done with Kee!" Without missing a beat, Zeeke let go of her arm, went back, and scooped up Kee. He held her up, turning her left and right, inspecting her. All the while, the little girl giggled. "Not done? She's pretty as a peach!" The child laughed, carefree, then looped her arms around Zee's neck and gave him a slobbery smooch on the cheek. "I've lobe ooo!" she cooed at him. Laughing, he tapped her nose, then wiped a hand down his cheek. "Love you too. Even though you spit all over my cheek." Kiara giggled again and wiggled in his arms until he put her down. She hugged his leg, then Zephy's leg, then threw herself out the open door. Both Zeeke and Zephoria froze. Neither remembered opening the door. They hadn't even noticed it was open... It had been locked...right? Their muscles unlocked as their senses came back to them. They sprinted to the door, blocking the door frame with their bodies. It would've been a picture perfect moment: Zeeke and Zephy standing in the door, his towering gait behind her form. In front of them, Kiara dancing around the yard in her new purple, sparkly dress, with her hair hanging in short, loose tendrils around her face, and camouflage Converse hi-tops on her feet. Would've been...except for the look of horror on Zee's and Zephy's faces. Except for Zeeke rushing to Kiara, trying to get there in time. Except for Zephoria's frozen form, silhouetted in the doorway, as she looked at the car rolling down the street discreetly. Except for the sleek, black car with tinted windows...except for one. With one window down, the vehicle cruised down the small incline Zephy's house was on. She saw the face, briefly. The beard. The grotesque, twisted expression of pure hatred on the man's face. His shoulders drop as he reached for something on the floor near his feet. The sharp glint of the sun reflecting off the object as he reached out the window with a steady, practiced hand. The two shots that rang throughout the neighborhood, silencing all other activity. The man's brief look of triumph before the window was put up, before his face was hidden from the world. Zephoria's cry as she watched first Kiara, then Zeeke, fall. She had dashed over to them, screaming out her anguish as she'd dropped to her knees beside them, fearing the worst, but hoping for the best. But the hope was futile. She knelt between them, reaching for their wrists, feeling their chests, feeling for a pulse or a heartbeat. There was nine. She watched, helplessly, as their lifeblood seeped out of both of small wounds in their head. The worst day of her life... And she remembered her promise. Her solemn vow. Not just to find the man responsible for her little sister's and best friend's death. Not just to kill the man who had taken her world away from her. But to make him pay. To make him suffer as she had. To make him die a slow and painful death. And pay he did... Giving her head a slight shake, she focused back on Zeeke, who was talking to her. "Later Zeph. Right now, you have to go back." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, then walked away. "Zeeke!" she yelled to him, not ready for him to go. "Wait!" He turned around to smile at her again, another genuine smile, not a grin, and wink. "We'll see each other again. Promise," he told her, then turned and walked away. "Zeeke..." she whispered, then felt herself being pulled away. She closed her eyes and relived old memories, trying to hold back her tears and failing. And then...a whoosh of air as she felt pillows beneath her, feeling enclosed in an area. "Z?" Jake's puzzled but relieved tone called to her, and she opened her eyes to see him sitting on the floor, looking up at her in the windowsill. In his lap was a small child who smiled at her, leaning back against Jake. "Hello," the girl greeted her cheerily, her small fingers tangled in Jake's hair. Another person looking at her...again.
Argh...maybe I should plan this out more before I write it. Because I swear to myself it's going to go one way and then BAM!!!!!! SKIP YOU, AZ!! TAKE THAT!!!!!! Yeah...that's what goes on in my head after I write it. Because it's never what I plan... But I do so hate planning... On to greater things! Not really but still! Update! "Umm...hi?" Zephy replied, studying them. The girl had the same features as Jake: strong nose, high cheekbones, skin as smooth and creamy white as milk, deep brown eyes. On the child, though, the features looked dainty. She smiled shyly at Zeph, and Z almost laughed. The girl's almost pearly whites sparkled as the light glinted off of them, just like Jake's. She grinned at the girl, causing her to release a small, tinkling laugh, as beautiful-sounding as a xylophone, and just as jubilant sounding. "Caun I fweel oour hair?" she asked Zephy, over-pronouncing each vowel. She stretched out her arms, removing her hands from Jake's short, black hair, and held them up, prepared to feel Zephy's hair. "Mmmhhhmmm..." she replied absently, moving closer to the girl. She, too had sleek, black hair. It flowed loosely past her shoulders, Zephy noticed, as the girl reverently patted her head. "Oooo soooft..." she murmured, continuing to rub her hair. "Z!" Jake practically yelled to her. "What happened to you?!" His eyes were filled with relief. "You were gone for almost an hour!" "Really? It only felt like a few minutes..." She thought back to what had happened. "Well...okay. An hour is reasonable. I guess." "It's so pwetty..." the girl cooed to her, reverently stroking her hair. "Thanks, Hun." Zephy crouched down so she could look her in the eyes. "And what's your name?" She sat up and patted down her skirt. Huh. The girl had manners. "Jasmine Ceymone Renee Jones." She said fluently, with no pauses or lapses in letters. She was so prim and proper...and then she smiled, revealing a gap in her mouth the size of her two front teeth. "My mommy told me that," she told Zephy, then began giggling again, her laughter ringing throughout the house. "Jazz?" her mother called. "What's so funny, Hun?" They all heard the creaking of the stairs. "Uh oh..." Jake whispered. "Shhhhhh," his sister told him, taking her hand from Zeph's hair and shoving a finger over his mouth. His head snapped back. "Oww, Jazz! That hurt!" He swore he tasted blood, but how...? She giggled again, then burst out in carefree laughter. "I lobe you!" she said, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Jazz? What was that? I thought I heard..." His mother's voice trailed off as she walked into the entrance of his bedroom. She froze, and made nary a move. "Umm...hi, Mom!" Jake said cheerily. "J-J-J-Jake?" she stuttered...then fainted. All three of them--Jake, Zephy, and Jasmine--scrambled over to her. "...Z?" Jake queried. "Uhh...yes?" she responded slowly. "She's usually not like this... I mean, falling out at the sight of a girl...it usually doesn't happen. So...ahh...care to put your bucket skills to use?"