Painful Smiles

Another cup of water was dumped atop of Paul. Claudia came back with a cloth and began using it to dry him off so he won’t catch a cold.

Mr. Larabee tried massaging his son’s chest to ease him as he was having difficulty breathing.

Clara descended down the stairs slowly with a bowl of milk for him. He had fallen down from the stairs and was passing out.

“How could he have fallen!” Mrs. Larabee was losing her mind as she scrambled around the house for the first aid box.

Claudia noticed the evil smirk of Clara’s face and before she could hold herself she pounced on Clara.

“I know you pushed him, you wicked witch” she dragged her stupid hair to the sides. Clara tried pinning her over but Claudia nibbled on her hands.

A cat fight ensued. Screams and growls rented the air.

“You little witch. What if you killed him? Did that kidnapper feed you some drugs!” Claudia made sure she drew scars on her sister’s pretty face.

“Then he should die. He is a demon not me!” Clara threw a punch at her.

Their mother’s flower vase fell to the ground and Clara grab a piece to tear at Claudia’s back.

Claudia then stuffed her cheeks with the flowers and made her swallow them.

Mr. Larabee kept on shouting on them to stop but none of them responded to him. Clara was ripping Claudia’s clothes off and Claudia was ripping her hair off.

Mrs. Larabee sat on the ground. Crying as she was now aware that it was Clara’s doing that led to Paul’s falling.

Paul was still motionless on the ground and Mrs. Larabee didn’t know if she should call an ambulance or a police.

In a fit of rage and frustration, Mr. Larabee lifted a chair on Claudia and she fell unconscious, just as she was about using a pan to smoothen Clara’s head.

“Are you crazy!” Mrs. Larabee shouted at her husband.

“Is Claudia crazy! She started this fight!” her husband retorted. Mrs. Larabee ran to him and slapped him hard that his face turned, she turned to Clara and descended the pan on her face.

“Clara is psycho. And now, I know where she got it from, you! This whole family is psycho!” the woman ran out of the house with the pan still in her hands.

She began phoning the police with the ambulance on her way. Someone should take away the crazy beings in her home.

*******

Michael dashed out of the bathroom to answer his phone. Earlier Clara had called but kept on crying.

She later hung up after someone shouted. He panicked and rushed his bath to meet her and she called again?

He stayed calm expecting her to day something but she just stayed quiet.

“Clara? What’s happening?” he whispered to the phone.

“The police are looking for me. They said I killed my brother. I’m scared. I didn’t do anything, it was Claudia” she whimpered. Michael felt a cold run down his spine. Someone killed Paul?

Just when he thought he could have a normal relationship with Clara as no paparazzi were following her about.

He drove to her home personally and saw her being handcuffed away.

“What in the world was happening?” he asked himself as he searched for Claudia and hoped for Paul too.

To his dismay, a stretcher carried Claudia out of the house. His mouth dropped and he wanted to run to her but felt pinned to the ground. Paul was carried on a stretcher too as a woman, who Michael deduced was their mother, cried her heart out.

Michael wished it wasn’t true.

Another drama was happening as the police was dragging Mr. Larabee away and pushing him into a police van.

He kept on shouting, “Claudia is the psycho. She nearly killed my daughter, Clara”.

Michael scratched his head furiously. What was this? Their father was being arrested too.

And why was he referring to Clara as his daughter but not to Claudia. Clara’s van was leaving as well as Claudia’s ambulance.

Michael was torn on who to follow with. Claudia was unconscious, he didn’t want to think of the possibility of her being dead. Clara wouldn’t be allowed to have visitors till the next day.

The last person at home was their mother who Michael expected to go alone with either of the cars but she just stayed back at home.

He thought a lot about going to meet her and decided on having a brief conversation with her.

“Michael, aren’t you?” she asked immediately she saw him.

“I saw Clara’s phone. You were the last person she called before uploading on her social media account that she’d be traveling for some days” Mrs. Larabee shook her head.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

Mrs. Larabee further explained that the fact Clara knew she wouldn’t be around for some days confirmed more that she was guilty if some offense.

“You are saying that Clara pushed her little brother from the stairs? Then Claudia fought her and your husband attacked Claudia? What movie is this?” Michael shouted before he knew it.

Mrs. Larabee stayed calm.

“Is Paul dead? Clara called and saved she was accused of killing Paul. Is he dead?” Michael asked.

Mrs. Larabee had to react, she stood up from her couch angrily, “That’s a proof that Clara is a psycho! She had always been doing impossible things to hurt her twin sister, I never knew it could get to this”.

She paused for breathe and then continued, “I should have scolded her when’s she forced her sister to donate blood to that crazy nurse that year.

I would have scolded her for such maltreatment to my baby girl and I should have sued that French family for the about, whether they were rich or not.

My family started with that one mess-up. Claudia and Clara hated each other after that incident and Claudia became distant from us because we couldn’t protect her.

It is my fault as a parent. My fault. I shouldn’t even be blaming Clara cos I birthed the monster she’s becoming!” she stormed out of the room to cry.