Rotten apple

The boxes were coated in dust, sitting lonely at the corner of the attic. I went to grab my duster and dusted the boxes furiously until that nasty coat was off, revealing a worn out brown box. Today was spring cleaning in my house, and while I told the children and the husband to clean the places that I assigned to them, I went up to the attic as it was the most difficult place to polish. And boy was I right.

The boxes’ exterior looked really sad. This was because it has been years since I even went to have a peep at the contents inside. As I lifted the lid of the box, a small spider crawled out of it. I immediately jerked in fright and shrieked. The tiny spider crawled its way out and was soon out of sight. I soon calmed myself down and kneeled down to continue looking through what was inside. I put my hand in and reached for the items inside, only to pull out an old photo album. The title of it read as, "Chopra Family, 1989”. It immediately jogged my memory. I wrote that title years ago. I then vividly remember buying a camera and capturing all of my family members’ moments at that point in time. I fondly remembered how all the fun that my siblings and I experienced in our childhood was etched in those developed films.

I flipped through the pages and started reminiscing at each photograph. There was one during Manny’s 8^th birthday party, my first car, Dad’s first paycheck as Manager and so on. Looking at these old memories brought tears to my eyes as life was not easy back then, and yet we fought on and appreciated whatever we had. While going through each picture, I suddenly froze. My eyes just had to land on someone’s face who I have been trying to forget for a really long time. Sarah, my elder sister. I then heaved a sigh and closed the album. As I began to continue cleaning, I felt as if I was transported back to the 80’s, like it was a movie. I started to recall of all the trouble that Sarah caused us.

It was never easy to feed a family of 8, but my parents somehow managed it. Both of my parents worked in a shoe factory. Their combined salaries may be meager, but us children decided not to complain about it and appreciate our parents' hard work and determination. Everything was fine, until one day she met Derek.

When Sarah announced she had a boyfriend, my parents were rather skeptical about the relationship. Derek was the son of one of my parents' managers, and he was known around the entire neighborhood to be a spoilt brat. He was never the caring or empathizing kind of a person, which did not make me any at all surprised.

She told our parents about her relationship, but Derek did not. Finally, one day his dad saw the both of them cuddling each other at the neighborhood park by the bench. Back then, we were heavily looked down upon due to our poor financial standing. Moreover, considering the fact that his family was more well to do, this clearly brought our family into the spotlight of shame.

I vividly recalled how my sister will curl herself up into a ball and cry on hours end. There were days she would even refuse to eat dinner. She was bitten by the lovers’ bug. But Derek’s dad still was terribly adamant in accepting their union. There was a time Dad was degraded poorly by his dad at work, even to almost cost Dad his job. Finally, without able to hold it in any longer, my dad just told Sarah to stop seeing that boy. That was when all hell broke loose.

“Nancy, wake up. Nancy, WAKE. UP!” Manny screamed as he shake me off bed. It was in the middle of the night and the sun was not even out. I was still slightly groggy but was able to sense that my youngest brother’s tone was highly serious. I rubbed my eyes and went,” what is wrong with you?” I replied with a heavy sigh of tiredness. My eyes at once became awake with the size of saucers as Manny started sobbing in panic.

“I saw Sarah leaving,” he hiccupped. I quickly dashed to my parents’ room and frantically knocked on their door. Manny raced to the boys’ room and woke up George, Sunny and David. I blurted out whatever Manny told me. According to Manny, Sarah did not notice him seeing her leave. He wanted to confront her but was afraid to do so.

In less than five minutes, the whole household was awake and was ready to start finding for my sister. My mum was crying hysterically, worried as to how my sister is doing out there. The rest of us were more furious than worried as she brought us into this mess. George went to inform the neighbors and asked for their assistance in finding for Sarah. I took the responsibility of contacting all her friends via the landline. Most of them said they had no clue about my sister’s whereabouts. I thought of just giving up until I saw Melissa’s number.

Melissa is a close friend of Sarah so she ought to know about where my sister went off to. I ringed several times but to no avail. At the fourth try, she finally picked up.

“Hi, this is Nancy. Sarah’s sister. Is this Mel?” I asked. There was a dragged,”yes” at the other end. I popped the question about Sarah. There was a long pause. “Hey, I cannot tell you where she is. All I can say is, she is safe and sound with Derek.”

I tried to coax her into revealing more but failed. Mel was as stubborn as a mule. I informed my parents about this. We rushed to Mel’s house as I knew her address. When she opened the door, she repeatedly said she was not allowed to tell anything. After my mum sobbed again, she finally gave in.

“Look, she did not tell me exactly where she is. All she said was she will be eloping with Derek and that was it.” My mum said to just report to the police but we do not know what was with my dad that day, but he said to let it all go. That one thing he said remained etched in my memory forever.

“She wanted freedom, let her.”

The attic was finally spotless. It was polished into perfection and there was not even a spec of dust. I stacked those boxes in a corner, vowing myself to not open them up again for a really long time. I then went downstairs to inspect how the others were doing. After that, I sank onto my couch, watching television with a warm mug of coffee on the coaster at the table. The smell of coffee was wafting through the air, making me eagerly want to have a sip of it. However, before I could do that, my handphone rang. It was Manny.

“Hey Nancy! It has been a really long time since we met, huh? I missed seeing both your sons. And by the way, how is Max? Is his business doing well?” he asked about my family’s wellbeing. It was indeed such a long time I met my brothers ever since both my parents died. I then heaved a sigh and asked the reason for his call. His nervous pause made me suspicious and what he said next shook me to the core with anger.

“Sarah’s back,” he said. I felt a sharp throbbing pain in my head. I immediately lunged into my couch in disbelief. It took me a while to gather up my thoughts and finally gather the words to say it out loud.

“You are kidding me, right? That beast did not even bat an eye and just left! She did not even come for any of our parents’ funeral. Mum was yearning for her even in her last moments, but was she there? NO!” I screamed. All these years, I bottled up my anger but no longer. I knew she was onto something. If not, she definitely would not have come to visit us. Apparently, she was at Manny’s house and wanted to visit all of us with our significant others and families. After I hung up, I told my sons and Max about Sarah coming back. Unsurprisingly, none of them wanted to visit her. So I decided to ring up David, Sunny and George as I started the car.

She looked younger than her age. She certainly did aged like fine wine. I do not know why, but that made me extremely jealous for Sarah, who is three years older than me, looks much younger than me. We were all seated at Manny’s living room, and one could sense the terrible awkwardness in the atmosphere. Just as I expected, my other three brothers did not bring their families at all. No one clearly wanted to see her or our kids to even know about her. She was nothing but a bad influence.

She was seated beside me and I was sandwiched between her and George. It was Sunny who broke the awkward silence.

“What are you doing here? Why did you suddenly come? You did not even come when Mum and Dad died, you monster.” Finally, someone blasted whatever I was wanting to tell. The nerve of her! However, instead of rudely cutting him off like old times, she started to break down and cry uncontrollably. Suddenly there was something in me that made me feel guilty for watching her in that state. I then grabbed the box of tissues from the table and handed it to her, which she then took out a couple sheets and blew her nose into them. We then watch her in pity like spectators at the football match as she wiped her tears off and calmed herself down. After a while, she started to speak.

“I know I did not keep in contact with you kids but I did with Aunt Julie, Mum’s sister? I ran away thinking that was the best solution for me and Derek. But hell no! My marriage with him was a living hell. When Aunt Julie said our parents died, he never allowed me to visit them even for the last time. I somehow escaped and I asked her where do you guys live. She gave me Manny’s address because it was the nearest to my home,” she sobbed while speaking. I could not believe this. She was tortured all these years and yet I was talking ill of her. I felt a nervous pit in my stomach as I did not know how to comfort her. She was in such a horrible shape.

“Sarah, I am really sorry for whatever happened to you. If you want, you can stay in any one of our houses until we find a lawyer for you,” said David. Sarah looked up from her soggy tissues and let out a sniffled “okay”. I immediately opened my mouth and said,”I will bring Sarah to my house, there is a spare room.” I just felt that I could be a great hostess and be able to nurse my sister to good health in her trying times. We then chatted for a while like happy children, making me remember of old times. We all then bade farewell and I brought Sarah home. That was the first and last time I ever did that.

Max was obviously furious for inviting Sarah into our house. “Are you out of your mind Nancy?” he whispered in my ear frantically as I allowed Sarah to roam around the house. In the midst of her eagerly looking at every nook and cranny of the place with her sudden “oooh”s and “aaah”s, I had to calmly explain to my seething husband and sons about their guest’s current situation. After a bit of cajoling, they finally gave in.

In no time, she adapted to her new environment as quick as lightning. She even had long conversations with Terry and Drake, my sons, making them like her. She would wake up an hour before me and prepare breakfast for everyone. She made these fluffy chocolate chipped pancakes and warm cappuccino and the smell of both will linger in the air. I soon started to have a more open mind and tried to realize that maybe, she did changed after all. And that was when I realized how wrong I have been.

I was walking across the hallway towards the kitchen to do my laundry when I heard Sarah speaking to someone on her handphone. I thought it was nothing and told myself how rude of me to eavesdrop in her conversation, until I heard her say Derek’s name. That clearly heightened not only my hearing, but my curiosity. Why is she talking to Derek? I thought she did not want to live with him? All these questions were spiraling in my head as I listened to her conversation attentively, bucket full of dirty laundry in hand.

“Oh dear, I really miss you. You have no idea how boring it is, you know? It is all the same here. Nancy is such a bossy bitch, I tell you. ” I was about to shriek at the top of my lungs but I cupped my hands and slapped to my mouth to prevent that. I was in total shock and in utter disbelief.

“They are telling me they are going to get me a lawyer, like what the hell? Hahaha. I am trying to befriend them so that I can slowly approach them about, you know, the will the old man left before he died,” Sarah said without a tinge of respect for Dad whatsoever. So that was her plan all along. She was fine with Derek. She did not want our relationship. She just wanted to play with it to accomplish her shrewd scheme. I was shocked, standing still. I even let a tear stream down my cheeks. I scurried off back to my room and texted my brothers in the group chat, as she was not inside.

Sarah is making a fool of us. All of u, cme to Manny’s. I’ll tell there.

“Nancy, where are you taking me?” said Sarah as I drove as fast as I could to Manny’s house. I curtly told her where we were heading without giving her any eye contact whatsoever. I just felt totally disgusted by myself for believing her and letting her trap us with her sympathetic crocodile tears.

Once we reached his front porch, I just snapped at her to open the car door and let herself down. I was able to read her face to notice that her forehead was filled with sweat. It must be a sign of guilt and the nervousness if we have found out about her nefarious scheme.

“Oh wow, why is everyone here?” asked Sarah, giving off her innocent clueless face. I could not take it anymore. That mask of hers needed to removed before she continues to slowly crush our trust for her.

“Stop your drama Sarah! Enough is enough. She freaking came here because she wanted her share of the will!” I exclaimed. I was boiling in anger so I reclined to the nearest couch to regain my composure. There was an uneasy silence in the room, until David broke it.

“That is impossible, though. Mum and Dad did not leave anything for any of us. Ever since Dad worked hard as a Manager, he vowed to donate everything he ever owned to charity to aid those who are poor. Definitely not for people like you to profit it off,” he said. That was when we saw the furiousness burst out of Sarah.

“What the hell? So I literally came here for nothing? This is ridiculous! What were the two old hags even thinking?” she lashed out. The five of us should have seen this coming, but obviously we did not. We were blinded by her curtain of pity that we were not able to see through her rotten heart. That was when I said something that I was really glad that it came out of my mouth.

“Leave, right now. We do not need you, just like how you did not need us back then. So it is better to just leave our own separate ways,” I said. There were nods of approval from my brothers. She however, just scoffed, bursted out a set of vulgarities and stormed off. That was the last time I ever saw again.

It has been months since my four brothers and I saw Sarah. For us, she was just someone in our life who turn toxic along the way. The more you hold on to such relations, the more you deteriorate as a person, mentally especially. It was a void that I thought I was not able to fill. But after a while, I knew it was filled. All I had to do was look at my family’s happy faces, and know that they are all I ever need. All I had to do was pick out that rotten apple to continue growing my healthy apples.