(3)

Alice was up first, like every time. She continued her morning routine before she went downstairs and waited for the others. John came down and rushed to Alice. He kissed her. “Alice, I’ve been waiting for such a moment as this one for ages.” She looked at him puzzled. He bended his knees and placed one of them on the ground. “Alice, will you marry me?” Alice blushed and said yes immediately. He gave her the ring and the box, so she could put it away somewhere so her sister wouldn’t find out, until she was eighteen. She kissed him quickly on the lips and went upstairs to put the ring away in one of her secret boxes. When she was back downstairs, John wasn’t alone anymore. Her mother also woke up. They all had a nice conversation and were busy with making everything set for breakfast. When they all took place at the table, Jenice came down. “You’re right on time for once.”, said her mother. They started eating in silence, but there was no tension. When they were finished Jenice announced: “I am going to look for some stuff again. And don’t worry Al is going to be with me.”
She smiled and kissed everyone goodbye.
“She is so carefree, isn’t she?”, said her mom in a sigh.
But Alice was anxious. Something told her that her sister was lying.

Jenice was on the road again. And she was looking out for any figures she hadn’t seen before. Of course she still was going to look for stuff, because her mom couldn’t know that she had been lying. And she wouldn't be able to cover up if she didn't had something with her. Everyone would have stopped her if she had said that she was going to look for this so called serial killer. She was very curious for this person, she wanted to know who he or she was and why the person would do such a thing as killing people without respecting the territories and without being in a gang. She had been around the whole area but hadn’t seen anyone fishy. Yesterday Al told her during the graffiti session that the serial killer mostly didn’t strike twice after one another in the same neighbourhood and was often in another one after a kill. So maybe he was plaguing another neighbourhood at the moment. She went searching for more materials in the meantime, because today she wouldn't have any luck in finding the serial killer.

At the same time, their mother went for work. John and Alice were left together. Alice felt a bit uncomfortable because of this. John went to sit next to Alice on the couch. He felt that she was a bit uneasy. He put his arm around her.
“Don’t think anything fishy of me.”
“I don’t.”
“Then why do you feel uncomfortable?”
“I don’t know?”
He kissed her cheek.
“Don’t worry.”, he said and hugged her.
“I am going to check on my mum for a while ok?”
“Yes.”, she answered politely.
He gave her another kiss and left to his own house.

John knew why she felt uncomfortable, but she didn’t have to be. He never intended to get caught by her sister. She could show up any moment and he knew, but he was a careful type of man.
He chuckled: “She is such a sweet child. If every girl was like her, the world would be perfect.”
He knocked on his door and his mother let him in.
“I am here to check on you, mum.”
“I am fine, sweetie.”
“I can see that.”, he smiled.
“Are you staying for lunch?”
“No, mum, I’ve an appointment.”
“Okay.”
“But I’ll stay with you until lunchtime.”

Alice wanted to prepare lunch for her sister and John, so she went to look for ingredients. She opened the fridge but it was empty. So she took some money and went out. At the supermarket she went only to the racks that contained the ingredients she needed. She was still thinking about the proposal John did. Each time she blushed when she was reminded of it or thinking too much about it. She went to the cash deck and paid for everything she had taken with her. The woman gave back some change, but it was too much. Alice wanted to give some back as the woman had given her too many, but the woman said that she could keep it. Alice thanked her a lot. The woman told her, clearly annoyed, that it was enough and that she should leave. Alice obeyed immediately and left, walking straight back to her house. A man was standing at the entrance of her home. She had never seen him before. She stopped in front of the man.
“Can I help you?”
“Sorry, I am new and I don’t know my way. Do you know where the park is?”
“That’s a far end off, mister.”
She explained the directions and waited until he had left and was out of sight. Then she went inside to make lunch.

Jenice had found a lot of stuff that she could use.
“This will do.”, she said smiling. “What a pity I didn’t get to find the serial killer and be the heroine. Oh, well, that will be for another time.”
 She putted the last thing in her bag and went home. On her way she met Al and asked him to walk with her. They talked and laughed about a lot of different subjects, most of them trivial and of no importance. Then Al had to leave because he had to go to his own gang. He gave her a peck on the cheek and told her to be careful.
“I will.”, she answered and left with a smile. When she came home, she saw Alice working. “Can I help you?”
“You don’t have to, I am just cooking.”
“I’ll help.”
 Jenice put her things in her room and washed her hands, arms, face and neck. Then she went down stairs and helped her sister with preparing the lunch. They put a lot of effort in the dish and when they were finished with one thing, one of them washed it and used it for another.
When the pots could go on the fire Alice said: “Go get a wash, otherwise John will say you stink, like yesterday.”
“Yeah, he isn’t quite used to it.”
She went upstairs for a wash. And when she was done she came down and helped her sister out with setting the table. Not much time passed after that and John knocked on the door after which Jenice opened up for him. They invited them to the table and he took a chair.
“Thank you.”, he said.
Alice put the pots on the table and served everyone. They all started eating when everyone sat down and had their plate full of the food Alice had made mostly by herself. They talked about what they did in the morning and laughed about some jokes.

John couldn’t stay any longer though. He had to go to his gang and ask for a brief report. They were sad that he had to leave already. But well they couldn’t keep him up. Family does come before gang, but gang comes before non-gang friends and girl- or boyfriends, they all knew. He left them and then went back to his own mother to kiss her goodbye before he met up with his gang. His gang had sent all the girls to their homes, because of the serial killer, so there were only guys for now, but it didn’t bother them, safety was more important.