Chapter Three
Chapter Three
Arborview - October 4, 2:42 a.m.
Phantom horrors roamed my mind and memories appeared. Dreams so easily transformed into nightmares. My memories were the only stories I had, even though they were both bland and limited. I made them that way.
"Our valedictorian hasn't arrived to make her speech - it seems as though she will not. Instead, salutatorian Aritta Fiedlerson will do so in her place." Everyone clapped and the lights dimmed on all of the students but the tomboyish figure, highlighting her black locks instead of mine.
He waited outside on the doorstep for two hours, roses and a corsage on hand. Only days before, he declared me his prom date and I never responded, I was too shy. His smile never faded, despite the time passing by. That lucky smile.
I never came out of my house or even crawled out of my bed for that matter after acknowledging his figure at my front door. I was home alone and safe to hide from the world. He never spoke to me again.
A girl stared. "College? What do you mean you don't have any college plans?"
"I'm not going."
"But you have the highest GPA in the school, surely you must be going to college."
"No," I answered.
"You're joking."
I shook my head. She left.
Emptiness. I always felt emptiness. Something was wrong and I had the same nightmares over and over again. Nights lasted the longest and lingered on, I would wake up and go back to sleep only to continue the nightmares. Like other aspects of my life, it was a continuous routine. It wouldn't stop.
Something was wrong.
"You will soon regret your decision!" the silhouette outside snapped. I sat up in bed, the headlights of the car glowing outside of my window. I yawned sleepily.
"We regret nothing." My mother crossed her arms and closed her eyes. She was always the strong one in our family, the anchor holding us down and maintaining the silence.
I noticed the lights in the hallway coming from under my door and the partial shadow blocking the luminosity. Someone was standing in front of the door, guarding my bedroom. Carefully, I tip-toed out of bed with bare feet and folded back the drapery, peering out the window. Why was someone guarding my door?
My mother eyed the figure, eyes squinting with fury despite the upscale car and the elderly woman, dressed in silk and crochet. "Get out."
The figure opened the car door to get in. She retreated so easily, yet seemed so confident. "I will return, Ines," the lady smiled boldly. "I always return."
What was going on? The black car drifted off into the distance and my heart leapt at the sound of my mother's voice when she entered the house.
"You don't need to keep guarding her door, you know," my mother closed the front door and hissed. "I knew she'd start coming by again, that vile woman."
"She probably thinks the same of you," he abandoned my doorpost and turned toward mother. I crawled over to my door and pressed my ear against it.
She frowned then sighed. "I did what I had to do. We couldn't remain vulnerable, Remi. I did what was best for all of us."
"What're we going to do now?" Father questioned. Without her, he was lost. My mother was the leader, and he followed her every word. She was the mastermind, the intelligence and the wisdom, and he accepted this.
"It's simple - make her unable to access the premise. It's what she did to us so many years ago, after all."
"Brilliant."
With that, both wandered across the hallway and into their bedroom, the floorboards creaked as they walked. They shut the door behind them abruptly. The silence then resumed, no voices echoed through the cottage for the rest of the night.
So many thoughts entered and escaped my mind, I couldn't get back to sleep. I sat in front of the window all night, hoping that the car would return, that I could figure out why my mother despised the woman so much. I wanted answers. What was going on? With the muteness of our household broken, my mind felt uneasy. Stars flickered faintly in the early morning sky. I would ask her today.
Return to Chapter Two
Continue to Chapter Four