I'm so much happier now that I'm dead.

Dead man tell no tales but my mother always said I was special. So here's mine and I hope you stick till the end to listen to it.

The thing about being invisible is that it's simultaneously a boon and a bane. The bane of being completely invisible to people was that nobody could see what you were going through. Or they simply just didn't care.

But the boon, on the other hand, was much more enthralling.

For being invisible meant, I could slip in and out of people's lives without them ever getting to know.

I was currently seated in my sister's room, in front of her old laptop that she had so carefully hidden in her underwear drawer, scrolling through the myriad of pictures and videos in it to find something incriminating. I knew Maeve used this laptop to chat with Felix in the earlier days of their relationship. I had once walked in on her trying to have cyber sex with him and that scene had burned into my mind like a really shitty tattoo.

If Maeve had skeletons, this definitely had to be a graveyard.

Scrolling past her embarassing prom pictures, I clicked on a folder titled '♥️' and it opened to a page of explicit photos.

Bingo.

I cringed internally as I scrolled through the hundreds of pictures of my sister and Felix in really compromising situations, some in clubs, others in the backyard.

Yikes.

I didn't even have to work hard. It seemed like Maeve had unwittingly provided me the weapon to her destruction.

As I scrolled down to the very bottom, I found another zip file.

"A video?"

Half scared, half excited, I clicked on it and what unfolded made my eyes widen in horror.

It was a role playing video.

Of my sister and.... Felix.

They were in, what seemed to be...my parents' bedroom?! I recognised it because of the clear purple duvet that Maeve had bought for my mom on mother's day, which had made my mom wish I could be more sweet like her eldest daughter.

I wonder how she was going to feel when she'd see how sweet her eldest daughter was for the boy she utterly despised.

A laugh ricocheted off my lips. I couldn't comprehend the hypocrisy.

Maeve always behaved like the perfect poster child who could do no harm in front of everyone, especially my parents. She was the standard. None of us could ever compare to her.

Turns out she wasn't so perfect after all.

I knew that for my plan to work, I needed to get Maeve out the way. Even though she was a bitch to me, she was still family.

How could I even imagine doing the unthinkable to her?

Thankfully, this video was going to be the key to the beginning of my plan.

And the beginning of their end.

_____________

As I sat across from my family at the dinner table, casually tossing the lettuce in my plate around, my gaze flickered towards my mother who was busy discussing her eldest daughter's newest achievement with her friend over the phone. Maeve was busy texting.... probably Felix and dad had his concentration fixated on finishing the last morsel of food on his plate.

"How's school going, Cairo?" My dad asked without deigning me a look.

I chewed slowly. If only I could tell him about school, without it ripping my heart in half. Over the past few weeks, I had become practically invisible to the entire class. Nobody sat next to me at lunch, nobody sat next to me in class, nobody looked in my way.

It was like I didn't exist.

Not that I particularly hated all of it. I was well over the unnecessary attention I had received all of last year and in order for my plan to unfold, I needed to focus on things more important than school.

"Good."

He nodded faintly and went back to putting a spoonful of rice into his mouth.

"What? I can't hear you-" my mom chimed on the phone. "On the school website? What video?"

My ears stood up as I paused.

"What's up, mom?" Maeve asked, looking at my mother's worrisome face.

"Lacey's saying that somebody posted a crude video on the school website." My mom said, cutting the call and putting on her glasses. "Cairo, will you bring me my laptop?"

I nodded. "Sure."

It took me half a minute to wash my hands and bring her laptop to the dining table where my mother, dad and Maeve sat huddled close. I suppressed a giggle, as I placed the laptop on the table and switched it on.

With glasses perched atop her nose, my mother browsed the net with close inspection, arriving at the school website link a minute later.

I suppressed my anticipation as I sat close to Dad, away from Maeve's peripheral, afraid she'd almost catch me smiling.

As my mom clicked on the link, her bright purple duvet glowed up on the screen. I watched as her brows knitted in place and Maeve's eyes widened in horror.

"Mom-"

'I want you to say it like you want it, bunny.' The blurred face guy whispered loud enough for us to hear.

A moan. A whimper.

'Say it.'

"Mom, stop the video-"

'I want it.' Came her pathetic little voice, begging. 'I want it, daddy-"

"Mom, stop it!" Maeve's voice cracked as she slammed her laptop shut, panic turning her words into a desperate plea. She sprang up from her chair as if she could somehow outrun the disaster that was now her life. But there was no escape-not from this, not from me.

And as the panic settled on her features, I realised one thing.

She had never looked more beautiful to me.

______________

I leaned against the wall just outside Maeve's room, savoring every second of the chaos I'd unleashed. Mom and Dad obviously didn't want to corrupt me with the conversation that they were now forced to have with their eldest daughter and thus, I had been asked to leave the room for the adults to talk.

But then again, eavesdropping is always so tempting.

The faint sound of her fingers hammering on the table had been my cue, and now it was all playing out like a beautifully orchestrated symphony of destruction.

I had to suppress a smile as I peeked around the corner. Mom's face was twisted in fury, a sight I rarely saw aimed at Maeve. Perfect, untouchable Maeve. Her golden child, always doing everything right-or so they thought.

"What were you thinking, Maeve?" Mom's voice was ice, cutting through the air with a sharpness that made even me flinch, though it was more from excitement than fear.

Maeve's face was pale, eyes wide, her confidence shattered. "It wasn't supposed to-" She was trying to explain, to plead her case, but she didn't stand a chance.

"Wasn't supposed to what?" Mom interrupted, her voice rising. "Ruin our family's reputation? Embarrass us in front of everyone? How could you be so reckless?"

Dad stood beside her, arms crossed, silent but deadly in his disappointment. He didn't need to say much-his silence was a far more brutal weapon. "Maeve, this behavior is inexcusable," he said finally, his voice low but filled with contempt. "We trusted you."

The air was thick with tension, the kind that makes your skin prickle. I watched as Maeve's lip trembled, her eyes darting between them, searching for some glimmer of understanding that would never come. She had no idea that I was the one who put her in this position, the one who made sure they all saw that video. I'd been careful, so careful, to cover my tracks. They'd never suspect me, the quiet, overlooked younger sister.

"I didn't mean for it to go public," Maeve whispered, her voice small, barely audible. "And my face isn't even visible-"

"Oh like that makes it okay?!" Mom bellowed. "Who knows who else has the video?! What if they post the non-blurred version someday? What will you do then?!"

"Maeve, we recognised who was in that video by just your voice." Dad said. "What if someone notices that too? How will you answer them?"

Maeve started crying. "It-it wasn't supposed to happen. This wasn't supposed to happen."

"Oh, but it did," I thought to myself, a twisted thrill running through me. "And now you're going to pay."

"We can't let you stay here any longer," Mom said, her tone final. "God knows the kind of questions we'd have to deal with!"

"Mom but-"

"I don't wanna hear it, Maeve." Mom snapped back. "You've done enough! Now you'll do as I say."

"Who's the guy, Maeve?" Dad asked.

'Yeah, Maeve. Tell them who the guy is.' I thought to myself, a chuckle reverberating in my head.

"I-uh-I-" she yelped, panicking further. "He wouldn't-"

"What do you mean?" Mom bellowed. "He's obviously the one who posted the video!"

Ooh! so close, mom.

"No, no," Maeve began defending. "The guy....he wouldn't do that to me. Okay? I trust him-"

She was still defending him. What hex did Felix have her under?

"Are you out of your mind?" Mom yelled. "You're saying you trust this guy...who has not only been corrupting you but also taken advantage of you?! Maeve, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Jane, I'll see what I can do about taking the video down." Dad tried to pacify. "Just try to calm down-"

"No, David! Don't tell me to calm down!" I watched my mother break down in tears and yet, I couldn't feel a shred of sympathy for her.

It was like I had almost....switched off my humanity at this point.

Kind of like in Vampire Diaries.

"I know what we have to do." Mom began after a long dramatic pause. "You're going to have to go...to St. Catherine's. It's for the best-you clearly need more discipline than we can provide here."

Maeve's eyes widened in shock, filling with tears. "No, you can't do that! Please, I'll make it right, I swear-just give me a chance!"

But Mom's mind was made up. "You're leaving by the end of the week. This isn't up for debate."

I watched as Maeve crumbled, her shoulders sagging under the weight of their judgment. The perfect daughter, now exiled, while I stood in the shadows, untouched and unsuspected.

As they walked out, leaving Maeve alone to sob in her room, I finally let the smile creep onto my face.

That night, before I went to bed, I crossed off Maeve's name from the list.

1 down, 5 to go.

______________

I don't necessarily support all the actions that cairo's making but try to look at it from the perspective of a person who's obviously depressed and half manic after all the trauma faced last year.

so, yeah.

do what you want with that.

xoxo,
Bosedisha