Marble clenched her teeth, dug her nails in the palm of her hands and began to jog the last few blocks towards her house after a tiring day at school. She could hear the irregular thump thump of her heart as it raced to pump blood. Beads of sweat dripped down her face when she finally arrived at her block. Drawing closer to her house, though, Marble’s footfalls receded in disbelief at what her eyes were seeing. As she resumed walking in a daze, more of the estranged house came into view.
The lawn that looked like it hadn’t been mowed for months. The three steps that led to the porch looked like it would break at the weight of a slight step. The two marble pillars that held the roof above the porch had cracks running through the middle. The sagging bronze door handle that held on to the unpolished wooden door made the house seem discontented. The roof of the house that wore away like the dead skin cells of an old man. And if that wasn’t enough to convince Marble this wasn’t the house she had left in the morning, the lack of a satellite dish on the roof left her with no more doubts. Not a day went by without the television working in her house. As she came to a halt in front of the now grotesque house, Marble rubbed her eyes uncontrollably to ensure this was reality like one does with a mirage. She felt like she was seeing through the fogged up frame of glasses: even beneath the blurriness she could still make out the little details of her own house.

Deciding to investigate this ugly version of her house, Marble sucked in a breath and marched down the rusty, cobblestone pathway that lead to the beat up stairs. She stopped near the untamed grass and bent down to inspect it: the grass looked like the overgrown hair on the many guys in her school. But at the slight movement of her head, she saw something else. Well cut grass beneath the unkempt grass? This was getting eerier by the minute. Marble drew her hand to touch the grass and felt the sharply cut blades. As she looked down, a gasp fell out of her mouth almost as spontaneously as a sneeze would. The grass underneath her hand was now freshly cut but everywhere around her the rest of the lawn still looked wrecked. It was only the part underneath her hand that looked like her lawn. Unable to take it anymore, Marble snatched her hand back and fell on her bottom. The section of well-cut grass returned back to its wild, messy state. The tears that had been building up since she first saw the sorry excuse for a house now ran down from her olive colored eyes.
On the verge of sobbing, Marble heard a slight giggle carried by the wind. She spun around madly, wiping her tears. The giggle had now turned into a series of guffaws and snorts. The wind’s direction indicated the sound was coming from behind the edge of the wall of the house. Before she could check for herself, the white running shoes of a boy stepped out from behind the wall. As the rest of him appeared, she now saw the blue knee length shorts, the half-tucked peach colored T-shirt and the black thorn-like hair of her smart ass ten year-old brother: Jacko, the devil incarnate. Tears were running down his face from the uncontrollable laughs. In his hand was a wire attached to a 3D hologram projection machine which was now unplugged.
Marble could feel her pale skin turning red with seething anger, about to blow out like a kettle being boiled. Her eyes bulged out making her look like a bull ready to charge. Her tears of sadness had now become tears of anger mixed with embarrassment.
“Hahahaa. Hooo! Sis, you’re too much. Too easily fooled. Hahaha. O man! You should’ve seen your face: Trrrraaaain wrrrreck. Too good. Oooohh, I am too good!”
Before Marble could metaphorically tear her brother’s head off, he ran off to the back of the house still laughing as the familiar smell of freshly mowed grass wafted to Marble’s nose. She looked around and noticed the pillars that were strong as ever, the door handle that had returned to its old and stiff position and the roof that now had the trademark satellite dish attached to it. Marble was back home.