The gates

The next morning , Clay woke up earlier than usual which was honestly by a whole lot , she had barely slept .

She looked over to her sister's end of the bed where she lay curled in a little ball and stripped bare of bed coverings , like she usually was five minutes after every time that she covered her up .

She was sure that she had folded the blanket into two to make it thicker and heavier and placed it on her sometimes during last night .

The blanket was now nowhere to be visually noted .

After they had arrived home , it had taken them a while to go to sleep because the landlord had apparently waited somewhere for them .

He had come knocking and yelling as soon as they entered the apartment .

Clay had ignored him at first .

When he had just kept on knocking and ranting , she had gone out and promised to have the money to hil by the next day .

They had then heated the remnants of an apple pie and eaten it before they retired for the day .

She left the bed and went to the other end of their house where all of their clothes , books and general keepsakes were stored.

On a box atop all of the bags , she pulled out her dad's suit that he had folded into a box and just thrown up .

It was a three piece , a four piece really if you included the matching bow tie that Clay threw back into the box, she had always hated bow ties .

She lifted the suit into the light , it was rumpled but still beautiful , she should have been going through her mum's stuff but her mum had possesed no official clothes if any capacity.

Her dad had married her mum in this suit and it was probably the most expensive thing they had in their house .

Clay fingered the creases on the white shirt , ironing was a no , electricity bill would increase .

She looked at the suit and sighed , she looked like a boy enough to just wear it , she had always imagined herself wearing the suit for the first time when she got her first proper employment .

She had decided to wear it today because it was the closest thing to classy that she 

could wear today .

" Why are you leering at Dad's suit ? ", Jay's groggy voice came from behind her .

Clay lost her balance and almost fell , she wrapped her hand around the suit to protect it .

Fool move , she realized after a moment but took note that there was no damage to the suit .

" Make a noise when you wake up or before talking to someone that is deep in thought ", she told her In exasperation .

Sge turned to her , she was sitting up , the previously missing blanket now around her legs .

" Sure , I will remember to notify you first as soon as I open my eyes .What is with the suit ?" , She asked again , her eyes on the suit , she looked suspicious of her .

She was not going to be backing down until she told her something that she could work with , so she went with the first thing that came to mind .

" I have an interview ", she lied through her teeth. 

Not the truth but not exactly a lie , that would help her purpose of derailing her too perceptive baby sister whose cogs were currently turning as she looked from her to the suit that she was still holding .

"  A job interview , huh? What kind of place hires College sophomores in suits ?" , She asked innocently .

Clay blinked , she had not thought that through , she had to do better if she intended to lie to Jay and get away with it .

" It is actually a company , they want to recruit and work with fresh minds,they do not care about schooling and the usual , they are about being innovative ", She explained , hoping the explanation would take .

Clay mentally applauded herself , she could never find a dip in that story .

Jade chuckled darkly and pushed her hair out of her face .

" The United States is number one on the list of countries that practice Capitalism. Come up with a better lie Clay , something that does not include fresh , innovative , recruit or schooling in the same sentence ".

Clay watched her sister. Was it the books or the news ?

Had she let her watch too much TV?

She turned back to the box and placed the jacket and waist coat in it , she would make do with just the pants and the white shirt .

She placed them on a chair and headed to the kitchen corner and began to go through cupboards, all the while with her sister's eyes glued on her .

" Where are you going , Clay ? Are you going to where I think you are going to ? Are you going to them ? You can not, Clay ".

Clay stilled , her words piercing her .

She sounded just like their mum , what would her mum have done in this situation ?

Clay bowed her head as her eyes began to cloud , she did not want Jaymie to see any of what she felt .

She lifted her head and continued about hee business like she had not heard her.

" Do you hear me, Clay Estelle Willis ? ", she yelled as she stared wildly at her .

She was pulling the full name card now , Clay turned to her .

" As weird as this is to say , I am the adult here. And I am responsible for making the decisions, I will do what I think is right , so leave the decisions to me ".

She blinked , pondering it for a moment and suddenly shrugged .

" You are right " , She said .

Clay sighed as she finally agreed , thankful that it had not taken a lot .

" You are right about it being weird to hear you try to use the adult line on me ".

" Jade , would you just leave this ..."

She cut her off by raising a finger .

" You are the adult , but we are a team . I won't let you go there alone ".

She shut her eyes and folded her arms on her chest , she was not going to budge .

" Fine , be ready by the time I'm done throwing together whatever I find ".

She whooped loudly and jumped off the bed , Clay's blood pressure spiked as she watched her run to the bathroom , she had to physically pinch herself to refrain from telling her to be careful .

Jade knew to be careful .

She had not been ready by the time she was done making breakfast.

That was because she had found an almost empty bag of also almost stale Star shaped cereals .

She had ended up eating before going to get ready .

They had taken the train and then a bus after which they had walked the rest of the way to where they now stood .

They were staring at a very high gate that looked almost like it had been carved out of ice , the whole of the area looked like it had been generally sculpted .

The houses had been so far apart that Clay had been sure that they had probably lost their way when she hadn't seen any houses after walking for almost fifteen minutes, but they were finally here .

" It's too big , it's a waste of space that could have been made into a resort for animals endangered by the possibility of extinction ".

Jade's spiteful remark was enough to ground Clay .

" Come on ".

She pulled her along as they got closer to the gate ,where they were supposed to knock .

Since the gate was basically transparent , Clay could see that there was nothing in sight .

Not the beginnings of the house ,or even people .

" There's a camera watching us ".

She turned to her sister .

" Where? "

She pointed over her head to a corner of the large gate , there was indeed a camera whose lens was trained on them.

Clay had to admit that it was good .

They could filter their guests easily , it was now only a matter of seconds for them to know if they would also be chaffed out .

When several seconds had passed , Clay changed her mind,it seemed like it might take minutes for them to discover if their fate lay with the rest of the chaff.

" Do you think they know what we look like ?"

Her sister's voice was tinier and calmer than usual , Clay squeezed her hand and held her closer .

" I'm pretty sure they even know about our visit to the hospital and what we had for breakfast. Wealthy people like them tend to follow the lives of people around them , they hate to be surprised ".

Even as she said this , Clay hoped it wasn't true and they had not been watching Jade and she try to live their lives.

" Then, we should leave. If they are aware of why we are here and are still ignoring us , they are just gauche and uncouth assholes ".

Clay was about to correct her when the large gates opened up .

She had expected one of those mechanized creaking but it had been so quiet, almost as if the gate weighed nothing .

They exchanged a look before taking a step forward .

A man was approaching them , he was dressed like all of those butlers in old movies except , he was young .

Mid to late thirties perhaps.

He was also well groomed and the Westbrook's personal everything man .

After the accident five years ago , Clay had arrived at the hospital to find out that her parents had both died.

And since the hospital required a full examination to make sure that the baby had no concussions or broken bones , she had also found out about her two years old sister's heart condition .

It had also been the day she turned seventeen , so when a strange man had approached her and told her that he was sent by the family , a family Clay had only heard whispers about , Clay had been somewhat relieved with his presence .

Up until the minute that the man told her he was only there to deliver funeral flowers and inform her of the discount the hospital gave to family at their burial ground. .

Apparently , even though her father was no longer a member of the Westbrook family , they would do him this last favour and let him take advantage of the family discount but , her mum and Jade's bills were not included.

Luca believed she had already experienced her own worst day , no other day could surpass that day .

The man looked the same , completely the same , almost like that had just been yesterday .

"Miss Willis and Miss Willis".

He looked closely at each of them as he called out to them, his gaze scrutinizing.

" Please come with me ".

He turned around abruptly and began to walk the same way he had come .

" We could still go back ".

Jade whispered softly.

She looked down at her and was about to make a boring joke when the gate slammed shut behind them , a very loud non-mechanical creak following it.

" Too late for that now ".

Jade nodded in agreement .