Chapter 7 - Pt 2

      The rest of the week flies by with me shuffling both meditations with Steven and therapy with Amelia. I haven’t seen either hind or hair of anyone except Steven and Amelia and the occasional strangers I see whenever I go out on a stroll in the morning. I don’t know if Steven asked them to give me space but I’m grateful for the reprieve. Dana and Michael don’t seem like trouble, and I know for a fact that Dana constantly checks up on me at night when she thinks I’m sleeping, but Rae is a whole ball of energy I don’t have the strength to deal with.

     Therapy has been great, for lack of a better word. I never knew how much worry, fear, anger, and pain I’d been holding back until I started to unlock my Pandora box. We tackled issues in my life as a kid and how I’d always felt alone before my step-father arrived, we talked about how angry and upset I am with my mother for not ever telling me about everything before she passed. How stressed and pressurized I feel to find a way to cope with my panic attacks before school officially resumes, how I’m baffled over my father’s family tree, how it still feels surreal to know I’ll possess powers far stronger than anyone can imagine. How worried I am about that, how painful it is to know I’m left to face so many realities without the words of wisdom from my mother or encouragements from my step-father.

     Whenever I seek her help relating to an issue, she always told me to have the courage to face the unknown, but I don’t think I have what it takes to be brave right now.

    Putting aside my therapy, I’m grateful Steven tries to find time to help me with my meditations despite his busy schedule. And he’s impressed with how quickly I’m progressing. I mean, I’m still using the blindfold because of my fear, but now I feel like there’s a stronger connection formed between me and my powers. I can create flames in one hand now with only having to think about it, can control how large it grows or reduces using my imaginations, and Steven even taught me how to aim it at a target. That one is still a little tricky considering I’m always blindfolded.

      It’s Saturday and I was given the day off from both therapy and meditation, Steven has a business meeting to attend outside of the academy and I was bored all alone at his place so I decided to walk down to C&K Mall to watch a movie. It seems has the date draws closer to the academy’s resumption, more students are beginning to appear. I stood behind a small line at the front desk in the semi-crowded lobby and flinch in surprise when a hand taps on my shoulder, turning to see both Michael and Rae I wonder why I didn’t just go to the book store instead.

     Plastering a fake smile on my face, I start to say. “Hey, long time no see-"

     “Save it,” Rae raises one hand, cutting me off with a knowing look on her face. “You don’t have to pretend to be happy to see us. It’s been made pretty clear we’re to keep our distance.”

      I try to think of an excuse to give, something that would save me the obvious awkwardness slowly seeping between the three of us, but instead, I give up. “I’m sorry okay,” I sigh. “I just needed space and time alone.”

      Stepping forward, Michael flicks the forehead of his twin with a roll of his eyes and she glares at him in pain. “Ignore her, we get the fact that you needed space. We just thought we should say hi when we spotted you over here.”

     Nodding, I’m thankful he’s giving me a way out. “Are you guys here to watch a movie as well?”

     “Obviously.” Rae snorts, hands crossed in front of her chest and face turned away to avoid looking at me.

Nodding slowly, I hook a thumb over my shoulder and ask, tilting my head to stare at her face, only she turns away with a childish huff. “I was going to watch the black panther movie, do you guys want to watch it with me?”

     “Hell yes!” She agrees excitedly, a large smile on her face as a small squeal slips out of her lips. I exchange a look of amusement with Michael and let her pull me along when she hooks an arm through mine and drags me as the line moves forward.

      I spent the rest of the day with the twins, and apart from the movie we also played around at the arcade. It was really fun to relax for a while, not thinking about the many issues I’d have to face during therapy or how the days are getting closer to school resuming. For half a day, I was just a normal teenager hanging out with her new-found cousins. After the arcade Rae and I shopped for a little while much to the irritation of Michael, then we went for a drive through the park and they both tried to teach me how to drive Michael’s cart. I don’t have a drivers license so the lessons mostly consisted of me freaking out and pressing on the brakes every 5mins when we hit a bump on the road. I felt so bad for the countless amount of whiplashes they had that I promised Rae we’d hang out again.

     Later at Steven’s, I stood in his living room and stared at the dozen amount of photos on the wall. It’s the first time I’ve ever taken the time to study the place, and I’m a little surprised by how homely the house truly his. I admire the pictures and feel a little weird to see pictures, happy pictures of my parents from their time together. I mean, I’d always wondered as a kid, but the image had been grainy since I didn’t even know what Steven had looked like before. Besides, I had my step-father and he filled up the missing areas quite nicely.

      With it just being a few months since I’d last seen a picture of my mother, it feels nice to be reminded of her face. I pick up a framed picture of her and Steven smiling at the camera while they’re seated inside a restaurant, obviously on a romantic date. There’s another of them standing in the middle of a meadow with a beautiful gazebo in the background.

      Dropping it back on the shelf I picked up another and here my parents are having a snowball fight in the woods with Dana, Kingsley, and an auburn-haired woman that strangely looks familiar. I can’t see her face because she has her head turned away from the camera, but I do notice a blue heart-shaped pendant around her neck.

      Setting the picture back on the shelf, I take a look at the rest of the pictures and most of them have Steven being surrounded by people am guessing are a part of the extended family because of the similar Piaget eyes some of them seem to share. Done staring at the pictures I turn in place and stare at Steven as he stood behind the counter chopping on some onions.

      “When did you learn to cook?”

     “When I was in high school, I think we were in our sophomore year when your mum decided she wanted to teach me. After we separated, I continued learning even though she wasn’t around.”

      Well, that’s one info I’ve gotten about my parents without it being from someone else’s mouth. It feels a little refreshing to hear him talk about her without a cloud of sadness hanging over our heads. “What about you?”

       “Mum also thought me before she died, it was something we used to do together just the two of us. I guess it was her way of trying to spend time with me since she was always busy with work.”

      I smile as I remember all the fun times we spent together in the kitchen, she started teaching me to cook a few months after an incident with my step-father and a childhood therapist. And though the time we spent together was short, it brought me a lot of solace during my struggle to overcome everything that happened after those six months. I never knew nor appreciated it when she was alive, and it saddens me whenever I realize we’ll never be able to spend time like that ever again.

      Shaking off my wandering thoughts, I move to stand next to Steven behind the counter and fold my arms behind me. “So, what can I do to help?”

       “Well, you can start chopping the butter squash in the fridge into small cubes first, I’ll tell you what else to do when you're done.” I move to do as I’m told but he quickly stops me with a hand on my shoulder.

     Naturally, I should have shrugged it off, but for some reason I let it stay, and judging by the surprise in his eyes I can guess he’d also expected me to withdraw like I always do. “Hmm, can you put a pot of water to boil, am thinking of making butternut squash pasta with toasted breadcrumbs?”

       He smiles softly and I give him a mock salute, getting to work. As we both move around the spacious kitchen and quietly cook, I start to relax without even realizing it.

      Steven, Dana, and I made light conversation during dinner and we had a few laughs in-between, and once we were done we cleaned up before going to bed. In the privacy of my room, I let myself smile, truly smile, and think maybe being here wouldn’t be so bad after all.