2.14 I need a change

Obviously, Christina noticed that her parents approved of Cyra more than ever, now that she had grown up into a young woman who absolutely met their standards. She was furious, and came up with a plan. If her parents did not approve of her, and saw her as an outsider who did not belong in this family, she was going to prove them that she really did not belong here. She threw out the saggy clothes, loosened up her hair and did a few experiments. Then it was done.

Christina, the shy and insecure girl, was gone. Her shoes were filled by a young woman who had decided that she would not spend her life in sadness because her parents did not love her. Being different, she was ready to embrace what made her unique. 

Just a few days after that, Karim passed away while playing with his youngest daughter. Carole could not understand what was happening when her father set her down and kissed her on the forehead for the last time, but she could feel that something was very wrong.

Cyra, who had entered the room accidentally, stopped and stared at the scene before her eyes. An urn was where her father had stood just a few moments ago, and his soul was gone. He had always supported her, and made her feel like a very special child. Shedding a few tears, she wondered who was going to take on this task now.

Britney was out of control after her beloved husband had passed on. The fact that she had not been at home when it happened hit her hard, and she tried to distract herself from the loss as well as she could by going out every single night. Work was not very exciting at the moment, and this way she could look out for interesting personalities to write about. Mostly, though, she wanted these personalities to make her forget what happened. The first party she went to was on the night after Karim’s death, and it was hosted by the fellow journalist with the former pink hair who had once ripped her off many moons ago. Years had passed since then, and although she was still angry at him, she also thought that he knew her quite well now. Sobbing, she fell into his arms the moment the bedroom door closed behind them, and they spent most of the night talking, accompanied by other things no one should ever know about.

Christina was also engaging in activities she should never put on her résumé. She snuck outside when her mother was gone to the party, and threw a couple of eggs at the neighbour’s front door. Was this not what a rebel was supposed to do? Cause trouble in the neighbourhood, act disrespectfully towards each and everybody, destroy and damage public property? 

Of course, her illegal action did not pass by without any consequences. The neighbours noticed that their front door was smelling a lot like foul eggs rather soon, and since nobody else lived in the direct neighbourhood, they blamed this incident on the Vocis’. Cyra, having watched Christina sneaking back into the house that night, was furious with her sister. She was convinced that Christina had done this in an attempt to make Cyra look bad to the neighbours. It was known for a fact that Cyra strolled around the streets with her friends in the late evening quite often, and therefore it was easy to make the neighbours believe it had been her who committed this minor felony. 

Christina, however, had not done this in order to get back to her sister, whom she still loved. She tried to explain that this was an expression of her personality, and not an attempted calumny. Both of them knew their parents treated them differently, but since Cyra thought it was completely justified, she refused to listen to her sister’s explanations. Instead she walked away.

Oblivious to their sisters’ dispute, the twins grew up that night. While their noses and mouths were shaped identically, and the hair colours were extremely similar, they strongly differed from each other when it came to the eyes: Carole’s eyes gleamed brightly, in the beautiful turquoise that her grandmother Anna had inherited her.

Their mother did not care. Trying to fade out the loneliness that awaited her at home, she spent as much time with other people as possible. Just like on the day after Karim’s death, she engaged in dates with the guy from the newspaper, who was more than willing to console her. She still was an attractive woman, and if she was looking for meaningless, physical distraction, he was more than glad to give that to her. Secretly, he had still feared that she would try to blackmail him one day for what he had done to her when both of them were still younger. This did not seem to be an option now, her heart and soul being broken like this. She would never muster up the courage to do that.

What he did not know was that she was not only dating him, but a couple of other guys, as well. The younger, the better – she needed to proof herself that she still was worth something with her husband gone forever. Naturally, her work performance had been not very good lately, and this was what was left of her self-esteem: her looks and her effect on men.

Britney’s siblings watched her from a distance and were worried non-stop. They had to witness Britney spinning out of control, and whenever one of them approached her, she rejected every piece of advice they tried to give her. It looked like she needed to get through this all by herself. One day close to Christmas, Britney woke up and looked at the bedroom ceiling for a while. Thoughts were entering and leaving her brain, and they all revolved around Karim and the legacy he left her. She was forced to raise five children all by herself, just like her mother, and she remembered how difficult it was to stay in this house that was always haunted by memories from the past. Impulsively, she threw off her blanket and went on a real estate website she had been writing about recently. Not many houses were up for sale this close to the holidays, but eventually she was successful.

And that is how the Vocis family found themselves in a beautiful new house for Christmas. It was doubtful whether this was going to be a fresh start, but it could only go uphill from here, anyway.