"Mommy! Mommy! Is it time yet?! Is it time yet?!"
Why must she shout so loud so early? Sadie thought, waking up to the sight of her alarm clock, which read 6:37 AM. She groaned unhappily at the time, hoping that it would somehow tell her that she could slip off back to sleep.
Sadly, Sadie's little sister, Leah, opened the door. Sadie knew there was no hope of sleeping now. Leah took a bounding leap onto a trunk at the foot of Sadie's bed, and another upon the bed. Sadie curled into a ball under the covers as Leah hopped back and forth to either side of the bed yelling, "Time to wake up, Sadie! Time to wake up, Sadie!"
Leah bounced back to the floor, and quickly tugged all of Sadie's covers off the bed. "Leah, no. It's too early," Sadie mumbled.
"It's sister's big day though, silly sister! Big day, big day!" Making an effort to use as little energy as possible, Sadie sat up in bed. Leah was holding Sadie's sheet over her head and running around the room, using it in a manner that suggests she thought it was a cape. "Mommy says days like this don't happen everyday! It's time to wake up!"
"No it's not Leah, give me my sheet."
"Wee!" cries Leah with obvious relish now that she knew she was disobeying the rules.
"Give it back! And get out of my room!"
"You'll never catch me!" Leah darts out the room, the sheet trailing behind. Sadie pulls herself out of her bed, closes her door, and falls back in. Why she isn't used to this by now is beyond her. Events like this transpire nearly on a daily basis. But it's the weekend, Saturday in fact; she deserved a little peace and quiet.
She wasn't sure what was worse, the fact that she was so rudely awoken at such an early hour or the fact that she knew Leah would now be parading around her older sister's room. She knew Jayne wouldn't be pleased, because she liked her sleep, and she was horrible when she was in angry.
Sadie hoped that events for later in the day would put things in a positive light for Jayne, and she won't dwell on being woken up early. Jayne had a big performance today. She was the leading gymnast in the gymnastics team at her high school, and she wanted to uphold her nearly perfect record as lead gymnast.
"No use in this, I guess," Sadie says to her bedpost. She had tried to stare at it, hoping that the fact it was so boring it would bore her back to sleep. Instead, she got up, stretched, adjusted her shirt, and went over the mirror. She brushed her hair while yawning a few times, then gave herself a good look over. Something felt different about her as she looked upon herself. Her dirty blonde seemed lighter and prettier than normal as it ran past her shoulders now. She had been letting grow out over the summer, and it was just about the right length. Her eyes were gleaming blue as always, but seemed more clear and vibrant today. Everything about her seemed different today. She seemed to be glowing.
Sadie saw this as a fluke though, or if not a fluke, simply her imagination. She had to face facts; there was nothing terribly fascinating about her and there probably wouldn't ever be. She was average, she was ordinary, and she should become content with that.
The door opened, and peering in was the half asleep, half angry face of Jayne, Sadie's older sister. Normally she would be wearing significant amounts of make-up, but clearly it was too early in the morning for the beautification process to begin. She looked as if she was hit by a car, with most of her long, beautiful brown hair pointing out at odd angles. "Do you have any earthly idea what time it is?" she says with overt distaste, as if she shouldn't be asking this question in the first place.
"Yeah, too early," Sadie says, more testily than she intended to.
"Exactly, and do you know what today is?"
"The day of your performance."
"Exactly." Jayne had a love for the word exactly. She enjoyed the fact that she knew more than another person, and would tend to push them around with it, given the opportunity. She saw Sadie as easy prey. "And if you didn't know, this is a critical performance that secures me the advanced position in my gymnastics team," she emphasized particular words in a very pompous manner, as if she was showing evidence for how much greater she actually was. She also had the tendency to use more complicated words than normally necessary to show she was more intelligent, although she didn't always know what the words meant. "So that means I should be well rested. My fatigue, otherwise, would be my downfall," she said, stuttering as she realized she didn't use the right word. "So you need to keep more control over Leah."
"I'm sorry Jayne, she burst in and woke me up too. I would've stopped her if I could." This was true. Jayne was rude to her, and Leah was intolerably immature, but she loved them both because they were family. She cared about them, even if they didn't return the favor, which made her feel bad on a regular basis.
"I don't want you to think of what you could do," obviously bothered by the response Sadie issued, "I want to see results. Don't let it happen again. Today has to be perfect." She gives Sadie a snooty look before slamming the door shut.
Sadie was shocked to have gotten as much attention as she had from either of her sisters. Neither of them, on a normal occasion, would be bothered to even look in her general direction unless they really needed to. It was a fact that Sadie had unfortunately had to deal with for much of her 11 years she had spent in her house.
The fact was that her sisters, both younger and older, saw themselves as above Sadie. Jayne was 15 years old, very popular, and very talented both in her classes and hobbies. She was a straight A student for longer than Sadie cared to remember, and was taking all Advanced Placement classes, even though it was only her first year in high school. She was already getting recommendations from college's that wanted to see her attending their universities in the future. She was an amazing gymnast and an even better singer. She had more friends than she really knew what to do with, and she flaunted them often for everyone who had any interest. And the boys - all the high school boys, and still many of the middle school boys (who she wanted nothing to do with) liked her. She was very attractive, and would often invite the boys she liked home, and into her room, where she would lock the door.
Then there was Leah, her younger sister. She was one of the most adorable little girls Sadie had ever seen. If all adorable little girls were like Leah, Sadie seriously hoped that Leah was the last "most adorable little girl" she would ever have to meet. Leah was very spoiled by her parents; she always had the best new doll with matching dollhouse, the most beautiful new dress, and essentially, anything else she may have wanted at the time. She was very rebellious, and cute though she was, had the tendency to parade around doing as she pleased, with little or no punishment falling upon her. She was too cute for anyone to punish her, and she knew the sort of power she had at her disposal, and used it to proficiently to seek out her desires.
And in-between a beautiful, talented, awe-inspiring elder sister, and her equally beautiful, adorable, little princess sister, resided Sadie. Sadie was not ugly by any means, but certainly not the most pretty girl she had ever met. She was not as perfect as her other sisters were. She wasn't as talented either. She enjoyed school, but was only mediocre at it, despite her efforts. She had no particular talents that were very notable, except for an interest in drawing and her love for playing on the soccer team. She had a few friends, but she didn't spend too much time with them outside of school, and if she were to be put on a scale of popularity, she'd lean toward the more unpopular side. Thus, Sadie had resigned to the fact that she wasn't as beautiful, talented, or generally as interesting as her other sister.
Sadie sat at her desk and pulled out a journal with hearts, stars, and other doodles completely littering the cover, and turned to the next empty page. This was her journal. It was her diary, of sort, except she would make doodles and drawings instead of writing to herself (though she would leave occasional notes as well). She was a good artist, though she wouldn't have considered herself very highly, for anytime she attempted to show anyone besides her friends, she was quickly returned to her place as less-than one of her sisters.
It was far too early for Sadie to have any interest doing anything that involved thought, but drawing was natural for her. She decided today to draw Leah as a superhero, after how she was running around with the sheet. She came out with a nice drawing faster than she thought she would, and then looked around for more inspiration.
This is when Sadie would climb out her window, and up to her roof, as she did today. Most of the surface of her roof was quite steep and slanted with its shingles, but there was a particular section above Jayne's room that was very flat and safe to relax on. Jayne found it first, and during summer would often be seen with her girl friends sun bathing in their swimming suits. But in the early morning before the sun would rise, and once the weather became more chilly, Jayne would stop relaxing there, and Sadie would commandeer the spot.
Sadie climbed out of her window, and swung herself around until she fit her feet in a squares of a nearby lattice. She continued up to the roof, keeping careful balance with her pen and pencil behind either ear, and balancing with her journal as she scaled the steep bit of roof above her room. Stumbling down the incline until she came to a rest on the flat section of roof, she then opened the small chest that Jayne convinced her parents to bolt to the roof. Inside were several beach towels and pillow for laying around with. Sadie spread out her favorite towel, one with a big hot air balloon, and happily laid down.
This is a ritual Sadie had kept for a good three years. Her parents were worried at first, but quickly turned their attention back to either Jayne or Leah. Sadie enjoyed it up on the roof when nobody else was around. It was calming and comforting in a lonely sort of way. She was always being put into her place by everyone she knew, just Jayne's sister, or Leah's sister. Here though, she was free. She was Sadie. Or at least, she was that girl who was on the roof. Either way pleased her; drawing on the roof offered her one bit of uniqueness that she felt nobody else had.
The weather today was moody. The sun was just beginning to come over the horizon, even though there was plenty of light to see well, there was a puffy overcast which dulled all the other colors out with a gray-ish tint. Perfect weather for today, Sadie thought, No day when I have to go to another one of Jayne's dumb performances is a good one.
But what to draw today? She had lots of inspiration for Leah the Sheeted Superhero, but with the dull colors surrounding her, nothing looked attractive enough.
And then inspiration came in the form of an older woman, Ms. Yates, from down the street. Due to her family being one of the most popular in the entire community in her town of Trail Lake, Sadie had been introduced to many people, especially her neighbors. But Ms. Yates, by far, was the most curious, interesting, and entertaining.
Sadie didn't know much about Ms. Yates, even though she and her family would visit Ms. Yates at her house for dinner several times throughout the year. She knew that Ms. Yates had a beautiful garden, which all the other people in town were very jealous of, and that she was always known for being incredibly quirky. Every morning, Ms. Yates would take a long stroll through the neighborhood. And every morning that Sadie was awake early enough, she would tend to draw a picture of Ms. Yates.
Ms. Yates' quirkiness came out very much apparent in the way she looked, and even moreso in the way that she dressed. She was old, but not very old - Sadie guessed older than 50, but couldn't be sure. She had brown hair that was quickly graying, and was only a little taller than she, Sadie, was. She always dressed in dresses with strange floral patterns on them, always a different color and design. She had an assortment of hats, which Sadie was under the impression was a collection endless in number, as Ms. Yates could be spotted with a different hat on every day. Today, she sported a very tall, pointy hat with a ball on top, which extended outwards like a sombrero, but less stiff, and more floppy, with bright orange with green stars, which almost matched her orange-green-yellow floral patterned dress. Ms. Yates trotted along as she usually did, down Sadie's street, Mayflower Drive, around the cul-de-sac circle, and back toward her house, which directly at the other end of Mayflower Drive, where it turned into an intersection to the main road.
Sadie drew Ms. Yates older than she actually was, because it helped for the strange vision she had of Ms. Yates in her mind. She outlined her body quickly as best as she could from her distance before Ms. Yates continued her walk in the other direction. Afterwards, Sadie continued the drawing, giving Ms. Yates a dress of fire, with a matching pointy hat. She then put her on a runway, and she was modeling the latest fashion of fire-dresses at a high class fashion show, with photographers flashing cameras with awe. Ms. Yates tipped her hat to the crowd, sending embers falling off the platform, while in the background, a previous model was retreating after her dress had caught fire.
When she finished, Sadie glanced at her watch. It was 7:30 already! She was shocked she had occupied herself for so long. She decided it was time to head back into the house.
Sadie hung onto the roof upside down, her hair hanging below her head swaying in the breeze, so she could peer into Jayne's bedroom. Jayne had a balcony connected to her room, where she set up a ladder to easily get on the flat part of roof directly above her room. It was much more convenient than straddling the house to get in and out of Sadie's window. But Jayne had a strict "Nobody Is Allowed In My Room" policy, that would earn her a tattling sister, and punishment of extra chores issued from her parents. Unfortunately, Jayne was occupying the room, making an unsuccessful attempt to pull her skinny jeans on over her gymnast leotard while talking on the phone and watching herself in the mirror.
Reluctantly, Sadie again scaled the steep roof, swung round to her window, and re-entered the house as gracefully as she could muster. She put her journal back in her desk and pens out where she could find them later, and got dressed. Unfortunately, she would be dressing in her "Sunday best," even though it was Saturday. Her mother knew this was a big deal, and would be wanting the family to look their best. Sadie's favorite dress was still in the laundry, so she decided she'd wear a white button up shirt with her nicest pair of black slacks.
Soon after she prepared for the day, a knock came to the door. "Are you decent?" said an overtly tired, but polite voice.
"Yes Dad."
Sadie's father came into the room. He was a very nice, slightly plump man, though you could tell he jogged a lot to work the weight off because of his strong looking legs. He wore big glasses, and had the beginnings of a receding hairline, though if someone were to tell him so, he would never admit it. He was very typical as far as most dad's went, and in Sadie's opinion, somewhat on the dull side. He tended to drone when he spoke, and was cautious about his wording, though this was because of being married to Sadie's mother for so long.
"Mother says dinner is ready... I mean breakfast... and - oh, is that the best?" he says wearily after analyzing her attire.
"All my good dresses are dirty."
"Mom won't like it, you know?" He says with a warning.
"I know, but it should be fine. It is dressy after all."
"Can't argue with you, darling." He began to drone as he usually did, "But just so you know, we're going to be meeting with the family beforehand for a bite to eat."
Sadie had been critically analyzing her clothes, preparing for the tirade of criticisms her mom would undoubtedly release upon her soon enough. But this comment took her completely off guard, and she spun around immediately, "What? You're kidding."
"Nope." He scratched his head in a hopeless sort of manner, "I frankly would care less for a big gathering today, but you know your mother."
"Where? When?"
"First at the Fire-Grilled Steakhouse. Most of the family will be there, but there will also be all the kids, and they serve hamburgers and other things they'd be more likely to eat." The topic seemed to be depressing him as he thought more about it, because his droning increased, "Then after the performance, we're going to be at some fancy restaurant which your aunt suggested."
"No!" This was appalling news to Sadie. It was bad enough that they were turning this event into a family gathering. But not only were they doing it twice, they were going to be there. "I don't want to go! That's not right."
"Unfortunately, that's just the way it is, Sadie," her father said reluctantly, "I don't know what else I can tell you."
"You can tell me I don't have to go!" Sadie pleaded. She simply could not be forced into this, "Just say I can stay here for the rest of the day. Say I'm sick! Or... or..."
Her dad gave a long sigh, "You know I can't do that." Sadie's mind was blank, and somehow carried herself over to her bed. She sat down, picking a nice section of wall to stare at. Her father came to her side and sat down with her, "Look, I promise it won't be so bad." Sadie gave a pessimistic laugh, "Okay, it will be bad," her father continued with a slight laugh in return, "But not that bad. Just a couple dinners, and we'll be back home in no time."
"I still don't want to go."
"I know you don't. I don't much myself. But it's for your sister, and the dinners are for your mother." Sadie sighed apathetically to this, so her father pleaded, "What can I do to help?"
Sadie couldn't think of anything short of being poisoned. "I'll..." he babbled for an excuse, "I'll let you take your journal."
The proposition wasn't entirely repulsive to Sadie. Normally, when they went to family gatherings at restaurants, and especially to either of her sister's events, her mother forbid her from bringing her journal. 'You need to concentrate!' she would say, 'Have pride of your sister!'
"How would you convince Mom, though?" she asked, half disbelieving he could do it.
"You let me figure that out. All I want you to do is come with us, but also be happy. Smile, and don't completely drown out everything that's going on. Deal?"
"Deal." Sadie didn't need to be asked twice. This was a rare opportunity, "Thanks Dad," she said, giving him a hug.
"That's better. Now you go downstairs. Mom has made breakfast."
He gets up very zombie-like and shuffles down the hall toward Leah's room, no doubt to get her under control and to the breakfast table. Hopefully, Sadie thought, he had some sort of tranquilizers handy. She ran back to her desk, pulled her journal, pen, and pencil back out, and tossed them in her bag that she usually used for school, which had been laying abandoned in her closet for weeks since the summer started. Slinging the bag over her shoulder, she made her way downstairs, where she knew the fun would begin.
At the bottom of the stairs, Sadie nearly collided with Jayne, who was vigorously text messaging someone, unaware her jeans had been put on backwards. She completely ignored Sadie as she bounded up the stairs. Sadie took her usual seat at the dining room table.
Her mother appeared from the kitchen, performing an amazing balancing act of holding a large plate of pancakes (which appeared quite hot) in her right hand, somewhat juggling it due to its temperature, while somehow carrying a plate of bacon and eggs as well as a pitcher of milk in her other hand. Sadie was convinced the plate of bacon and eggs was less being balance, and more being held by an invisible string her mother rigged to follow her from the ceiling.
Sadie's mother had very short, light blonde hair, a clear complexion, bright blue eyes, and a tremendously huge smile that sometimes concerned those who weren't accustomed to it. She was always as chipper as she was this morning, which was something of an annoyance more than anything. She always walked as if she had spent several days choreographing her movements, and therefore, everything she did, including the awkward plate carrying maneuver that professionals at a carnival wouldn't dare attempt, looked very graceful.
She took a great deal of time and effort to perfectly place each plate in a designated position, and angle, on the table, again as if it had been prior choreographed by the movie director that was somewhere off stage. Her mother was attempting to gain a characteristic that the entire house pronounced to the entire neighborhood, well, every room except for the girls' bedrooms. Everything was perfect, and everything was in its proper place.
Sadie knew that she shouldn't reach for her breakfast, even though she was quite hungry. It would upset the delicate balance that her mother was attempting to find on the dining room table. She was spinning the milk pitcher so that it would catch the perfect amount of light, often backing up slightly to get a better view from a different angle.
Finally, everything seemed to be in perfect order by her mother's standards. Her mother had yet to even notice Sadie was sitting at the table until now, "Oh, goodmorning, Sadie." For some reason, completely unknown to Sadie, her mother would elongate certain words she said to put extra emphasis on them. It wasn't something that happened on occasion, it was a repetitive habit that her mother didn't seem to be aware of any longer. She seemed delighted by the presence of Sadie, which was highly unusual, but it was probably because Sadie was the first to the perfectly organized breakfast table.
"Morning," Sadie mumbled irrelevantly as she reached for a pancake with the accordingly placed fork. The theory of her mother's unique moment of happiness with Sadie furthered itself after Sadie had spoken. It was almost as if her mother suddenly realized who she, Sadie, was, and was almost shocked. Her mother then looked down disapprovingly at Sadie, obviously judging her clothing.
"My, my," she said, touching the material of Sadie's shirt as if testing it to make sure it wasn't an illusion, "Is this it?"
"My favorite dress is in the laundry," Sadie said irrelevantly again. Eventually, her mother would turn her attention to one of her sisters whenever they arrived.
"Well you have other dresses, Sadie Murray, and I believe you should go up those stairs this instant and change into one of them."
"They don't look good on me. I didn't even pick them out, you did."
This disgruntled her mother more, "And who better to decide for their own child, but her own mother? Now up the stairs, young lady."
"It'll be fine, Jane," her father said to Sadie's defense, hobbling down the stairs, "It is dressy, after all."
"She could do better than that though, James. You know what I said that I read in the magazine about parenting. We should be firm with our decisions, and both parents should back each other."
Her mother gazed back down at Sadie, then noticing the messenger bag slung across the back of the chair, "And you certainly aren't brining that thing with you."
"Oh, she is going to," he replied, almost reluctantly, "I said I'd let her."
"James!" she said with much detest, "It's not appropriate!"
"It's just her journal. After lunch and dinner, we'll be sitting around for well over an hour; it will give her something to do."
"She should be visiting with her family who are ever so excited to see her!" Sadie's mother stressed, "And you know my opinion on that sort of thing. It's a waste of time, James."
"They're just drawings," James said, giving Sadie's mother a comforting hug, "And she enjoys drawing them. Don't worry, dear, Sadie's only a child still, and she has her priorities in line as it is."
Sadie's mother began to continue her rant, still quite adamant to the idea, before Jayne had returned, dragging a hyperactive Leah by the wrist, down to the breakfast table. It was unable to distinguish whether Leah was excited, simply hyper, or had overdosed on espresso. "Pancakes again?" Jayne said reluctantly.
"Pancakes!" Leah said with a squeal, quickly seating herself.
"Good morning my darlings!" Their mother's mood had instantly changed from adamant to positively amiable. Sadie's father gave a tactfully hidden and approving nod before taking his seat at the table. One point Sadie, zero mom, Sadie thought to herself with a sense of victory in her chest.
Jayne took her seat opposite of Sadie, to the left of their father. "Now, eat up Jayne. I want you to be absolutely ready for the competition. I want to see a lovely new trophy on our cabinet in the den."
"Yeah, I'll like, need all my energy for it," Jayne says sarcastically, though her mother was completely oblivious to it. Jayne spoke of the future competition as if it weren't contest at all, and more of an inconvenient chore she had to put up with. This was almost a fact though - Jayne was probably the best gymnast in Trail Lake. Leah was imitating gymnast moves in her seat instead of eating her breakfast, and Sadie daydreamed of drawing a scene with the Sheeted Superhero conquering a breakfast table, with all the people who were eating there covered in syrup.
Midday quickly rolled around, and soon enough, they had arrived at the Steakhouse. Sadie's Mom had reserved a table in the back, and only a few people had arrived before them. Thankfully, they weren't here yet. Hopefully they had changed their mind about attending.
They were Sadie's Aunt Glenda, and Aunt Glenda's daughters Dana and Diane. Aunt Glenda was Sadie's mother's sister, who inherited the same drive for perfection, but was less successful at it. Thus, she was a mean woman, who's husband divorced her for fairly obvious reasons. She loved to argue, and would never take no for an answer; she was very opinionated, and attempted to ensure that she was always correct.
While everyone else casually seemed to ignore Sadie, Aunt Glenda took great enjoyment in shining a spotlight directly on her. She would put Sadie down, taunt her, and insult her for a pompous sort of humor. Her daughters though, Sadie's cousins, were a different matter entirely.
Diane was the eldest, and nastiest. Though Aunt Glenda was quite tall, Diane had grown less upwards, and more outwards. She wasn't fat - saying such would be rude - but she was definitely plump, or at least big-boned, and had on more than one occasion been advised to take it easy on the hamburgers at McDonaley's. She had not heeded these warnings. Her exterior matched her interior quite appropriately, she was mean and nasty, and took great care to push and boss Sadie around whenever they had the unfortunate circumstances to meet.
Dana was Diane's little sister, but more over, her crony. She was tiny, though plump as well, but still quite young. She wasn't good at bossing anyone around yet, but she did her best at helping her older sister.
Sadie had a small salad for lunch. More family and friends of Sadie's mother eventually arrived, and she greeted them appropriately as they came, and then launching into enthusiastic conversation, and wouldn't get too bothered by the fact Sadie was drowning their conversations out. Sadie took great relish when they went to busy public spaces like this; she enjoyed them a lot, because it gave her plenty of subjects to draw.
Sadie preferred drawing people over objects. She liked that fact that humans were just a combination of objects. They had a combination of clothes, carried an assortment of objects on their person from purses, to watches, to bracelets, were made of many objects such as skin, and skeletons. People captured a lot for Sadie, and it came through in her doodles. She would gaze at people who weren't paying attention, and would use them as her subjects. She would draw them as she saw them: If it was a man eating a late breakfast alone at a table, he'd be a grumpy old looking man with bushy eyebrows and a lumpy nose when Sadie finished. She drew couples, waiters, waitresses, cooks, and random people walking just outside the building. There was no limit to how her imagination would translate any given person.
After a while though, when everyone had finished their food, and conversation began dwindling, it was time to depart. Thankfully, Aunt Glenda, Diane, and Dana were no-shows to their lunch, which boasted favorably for conditions throughout the rest of the day. Slowly, everyone paid for their meals, made their way to their cars, and began traveling to where Jayne's event was being held.
Sadie Murray and the Enigma Scroll by star_sailor
Chapter Notes: Sadie awakens to a gloomy day, where she has no choice but to attend her sister's gymnast competition. But can she turn today into a good day?