THE ABERRANT

Yasmine Boise looked around the empty room. It was difficult saying goodbye to a place that had been her home since she was a toddler. The room was full of memories she was not ready to let go of. To her right, where their television was still mounted the week before, there was a green stain from the last Christmas they had as a family.

She could still remember what had happened vividly. Her brother had thrown a handful of guacamole at her. They had had a filling day as a family but her mother had become tired and retired to bed early with her father in tow. She and her brother were arguing over what to watch. He had hogged the remote and they were having a whispering war. Yasmine walked over to the T.V and switched it off from the back. Elroy turned it on and Yasmine waited for it to load back up before switching it off again.

Elroy's eye twitched before he scooped up a handful of guacamole from the blue bowl that sat at his left and chucked it at her. Yasmine dodged it making it land on the wall behind her with a plop. This started a new argument on who was going to clean up the mess. Yasmine was adamant that since it was Elroy who threw it, he should be the one to clean it. Elroy on the other hand was hellbent on making Yasmine clean it. In the end, they agreed on a movie and forgot all about the guac on the wall.

The next morning, their father was furious and made them both clean the wall. The green stain, however, refused to come off no matter what they did. Over time it was forgotten but Yasmine almost never missed the angry looks their father gave the stain sometimes.

Yasmine sighed once more and looked over at the brighter rectangle-shaped paint that remained on the faded wall because of the family picture that had hang on the spot for almost a decade. Yasmine sighed and shut the door behind her as she left the living room to go up the wooden steps to her bedroom to retrieve the last thing she had there, her backpack.

She stopped at the room that her mother and father occupied since they moved into the house. Her mother's perfume hung heavy in the air. She had never gone a day without the stuff and Yasmine had gotten used to the scent. It was an overwhelming smell of flowers. Her mother made the bottle herself every three months.

Yasmine sauntered to the middle of the empty room, tempted to sink to the floor and soak in as much as she could of the scent. However, she did not want to sit inside the empty room. Without the belongings of her parents, the room felt cold and detached. She no longer had that calming feeling when she stood in the enclosed space between the walls.

With a slump of her shoulders, she walked out of the room and down the hallway to her room. Like her parents' room, it was bare and a bit dusty since it had been two weeks and a half since she cleaned it out. She simply did not have the strength to do it. Her brother's admonishments did nothing to get her to clean it either. She simply had no energy for it.

She picked up her purple backpack. A bell jingled as the bag was picked up. It hung to the side of her backpack. It was a bit rusted near the crown part of the bell but Yasmine rarely took it off of her backpack. It was gifted to her by her parents on her fifth birthday. She always had it on her. Be it hanging on her backpack or in her pocket when she did not have her backpack on her. It was also small enough that there were times she could simply hang it on a chain and it was perfect. It got heavy after some time though, so she refrained from letting it hang as such.

Voices echoed up the stairs getting louder as Yasmin walked down the corridor to the landing. They were low, but Yasmine could make out the words 'five hours' and 'change of planes'.

She took the steps two at a time and found her younger brother talking on the phone in the kitchen. She gave him a nod and he gestured at her to wait. His hair was a lighter shade of brown than hers and he had brown eyes instead of gray. Apart from that and their height differences, you could tell that they were siblings due to the shape of their eyes and nose.

From the conversation, she could tell he was talking to his girlfriend Amy. They had been dating for a year and a half but Elroy was hesitant to start a long-distance relationship, so he was planning to end things with her soon. Yasmine was sure he would chicken out at the last minute as he had been doing all week.

He hung up after a minute and smiled at his sister. "Break up with her yet?" Yasmine asked cautiously, wanting to tread lightly on the touchy issue.

"No, I want to do it when I am far enough from her fists." Elroy gave her a boyish smile that did not quite reach his eyes. Amy was from the wrestling team in high school. When he first asked her out, she left him with a purple cheek because she thought he was messing with her.

"Either way you are dead. We will need to change your number and create new social media accounts for you El." Yasmine said as she shifted her backpack to her left shoulder.

Before her brother could let in a word of protest, their father walked into the room. His hair was a tangled up mess and Yasmine could guess he had not passed a brush through that hair since that day she did it for him.

"Are you kids ready to go?" the large man walked into the kitchen, filling it with his demanding presence. His dark brown hair was shaved close to his head and his eyes were a deep chocolate brown. Jason Boise was an intimidating man mainly because of his height. Given two more years and countless days in the gym, Elroy would probably be a carbon copy of his father. If he was ever going to be ready to let go of his swoosh. Yasmine smiled at the thought.

"El has not broken up with Amy yet." Yasmine rattled and smirked at her brother who shot her a glare. He then threw their father a smile.

"El, I thought we agreed on this. We are not coming back and unless both of you agree on a long-distance relationship, you should break it off."

"I am ensuring I leave without a broken nose dad. No one knows we are leaving for good anyway. They all think we are going for a break from everything." Elroy huffed crossing his arms over his chest. The elder Boise threw his son a pointed look. The two teenagers knew that their father meant business when he gave them that look. His word was final and nothing they said was going to change it.

"Fine fine. I will." Elroy inched to the kitchen doors.

"Good." Jason Boise nodded.

"After we arrive at our new home." He said in one breath before running out of the room.

"YOU... That little..." Jason shouted before sighing.