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Chapter 28 (iv)
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Briefly, I considered asking to spend the night at Lilia’s under the guise she’d mentioned needing me, but it was a school night and where Mom wouldn’t have cared, Nana certainly would. Her granddaughter would never be used as free labour for the benefit of an irresponsible woman at the detriment to her sleep and school performance. She would remind me I had homework or otherwise studying to keep up with. There would be enough time to take care of my own children when I had them. The woman would need to sort out appropriate childcare like the adult she was.
We pulled onto our street and Mom slowed the car. Once again, her gaze found mine through the rearview mirror and it was every bit as malicious as it had been when she promised to send me to join my father on the other side.
“Listen, you little shit. I better not hear a word about Emily before they leave. Tara never fucked around and got herself knocked up so neither did you. God knows neithe
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The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 28 (v)
“Your sisters are in the kitchen; make sure to say hello before you lock yourself and away to pout until we leave!” Nana called after her.In a move so childish she may as well have been her son, mom stuck her head back down the stairs and yelled a brusque “Hi!” before continuing on her way.“It’s nice to see you, too, Anna!” Aunt Rebecca called after her. Both my aunts exchanged knowing glances. They’d grown up with her and had learned to ignore her erratic moods a long time ago. Sometimes, I marvelled at their interactions. The woman who brought me little more than fear and dread was someone’s little sister. They’d watched her grown, had fought with her…had loved her. Mom didn’t frighten them, nor did they feel the need to tip-toe their way around her.By dinner, Mom had gotten into higher spirits, courtesy of the secret stash of liquor she kept hidden up in her room for occasions such as
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 28 (vi)
The lines of make believe and reality blended seamlessly. My mother and I shared jokes and laughter between us like old friends. It was a world I’d always wanted to be let into; one I’d dreamed so long of but had accepted I would never see. I’d fallen into a beautiful dream; it was the kind I would give anything to never wake from.When I first heard they’d be coming, I dreaded the very thought, but sitting there on the couch nestled into my mother’s side while she threw an affectionate arm around my shoulder, I found myself wishing they would never leave.The doorbell rang.“I’ll get it,” I said, springing from the couch in a better mood than I’d been in for perhaps years. I hopped over my brother who’d been sprawled on the carpet and all but skipped to the door.My blood ran cold at the sight of Lilia and Emi when I opened it. My mouth went dry. “What’s…is everything alright?
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 29 (i)
Mom was quick to dismiss their suspicions before they could give proper rise. “She calls everyone that. That little girl will call anyone who shows her attention ‘mommy’. I don’t blame her. Hard to tell the difference when your mother palms you off to anyone with a pulse so she can have a good time.”Aunt Jen wasn’t about to miss an opportunity to stir the pot after the constant humiliation and one-upmanship she’d been forced to face throughout the evening. She took a good look at Emily then barked her laughter.“What are you talking about, Anna? She looks just like Mom.” She moved over to us, tipping Emi’s chin this way and that to get a better look at her. “No doubt about it with this one; she’s got the nose and the eyes.”She was right. Emily and my grandmother—at least in her earliest years—shared a striking resemblance that was difficult to ignore and even more difficu
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 29 (ii)
I fell asleep to the sound of my daughter’s breathing and was awakened by a sharp knocking at the door.“Kai! Rise and shine, sweetheart. You gotta get up for school,” Aunt Rebecca called from the other side of the door. A strange thing happened then. My insides grew warm, and I felt a faint smile climb its way onto my lips. Aunt Rebecca’s affectionate wake-up call was the sort of thing I never knew I needed…until I got it. Hearing her soft voice and the care she’d infused into her words lured me into the false belief that everything would be alright—that everything was already alright and whatever issue I’d left behind when I went to bed had already been taken care of.The knocking wasn’t enough to stir Emi, but I saw Tara begin to turn. She groaned at the rude awakening, not wanting to be awake sooner than was necessary. She’d spent the night texting. I’d woken several times throughout the night to fi
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 29 (iii)
I flushed at the request, remembering that Madelyn was standing there even if he didn’t. The last few days had been strange, and she’d been made to question what she knew then question it again. I’d spent an unnecessary amount of time trying to convince her I wasn’t the girl she believed me to be and comments like the one Jayden made tended to have the opposite effect.“Get it out of your mind; it’s not happening,” I said.He shook his head. “I knew the new Kai was too good to be true. That smiling should have been warning enough.” I shot him a playful glare. He had, once again, made it clear that he was no longer suffering. “There’s the glare I know and love!” He pulled me into a hug, one that I found easier to accept without protest. I’d missed him in the days he’d been absent and with everything else going on, I felt I’d finally regained the only person I felt safe talking abou
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 30 (i)
In the car, I was thrown immediately into an interrogation. Tara had had plans and I’d unwittingly foiled them. “Why didn’t you invite him over so we could say hello?”I rolled my eyes at her, not feeling nearly as playful as when I’d rolled them at Jayden. “I know your draws are already wet but try to contain yourself; you’ll see him at dinner.”In place of any offense she could have taken, I watched my cousin’s face light up at the reminder that she would be seeing Jayden in a more relaxed setting in only a few hours. She eased back in her seat, content to wait for his assured arrival. The reaction brought me no comfort, but I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of thinking her interest rattled me.At home, I was greeted by the sound of a child’s laughter; nothing could’ve been more out of place. At that time of the day, Lilia should’ve already come to pick up Emily. My mother wasn&rs
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 30 (ii)
At 4:30, I gave myself and Emily a bath and found that Nana had taken her shopping for clothes while I was gone. She didn’t like the idea of Emily being taken care of by—to her—a stranger and didn’t like the implied insult it levied against us. She felt it gave the impression we couldn’t look after our own and her pride wouldn’t allow her to let such an image settle.Back downstairs, Emi had calmed down significantly. She was no longer the energiser bunny on steroids, choosing inside to nestle herself in my lap and play with the simple necklace I wore around my neck. It was her substitute in the absence of the long hair she remembered me having prior to the night of the school dance.“I can’t get over how sweet she is,” Aunt Rebecca said.From the corner of my eye, I caught Tara’s prolonged stare but before I could ask what her problem was—in the most respectful way to avoid our grandmother’
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 30 (iii)
I caught the look he shot me in the brief moment our eyes met before he turned his back to my family. It was meant to offer reassurance; he wanted me to know he wouldn’t let me drown, not so long as he could help it.I took comfort in the gesture, deciding it wouldn’t be so bad to let him fight that battle for us.“Wouldn’t be right for us to be all over each other in front of everyone. I’ve got too much respect for you all to do that,” Jayden said. It was all a show, a carefully crafted performance in which he could bring himself more applause. He was the responsible student body president who was raised right by his parents and expressed himself well. Hard as my grandmother was to please, I could see even she had fallen into his well-laid trap.“And when there’s no one around you need to respect?” Nana asked, not wanting to be completely taken in until she’d satisfied herself with the knowledge he was
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The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 37 (ii)
“There’s…there’s something I need to tell you.” I only needed the courage to find the words.Jayden’s brows creased as he took me in. “What is it…?”“You’ll be angry.”“I won’t.”“You can’t promise that; you don’t even know what it is…”“And you can’t be sure I will be until you’ve told me and given me a chance to react.”We sat at a silent stalemate as several minutes trickled by. I knew he was patiently waiting for whatever bad news I would spring, and I knew it would hurt him. The fear I harboured had nothing to do with ending the new fairytale I’d taken on and everything to do with the hesitation I felt following everything he’d done for me and now my brother.He didn’t deserve what I’d done, and it had been all for naught. I never got pregnant and didn’t h
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 37 (i)
Three weeks later, my brother and I dutifully attended our mother’s funeral. There were only a handful of people in attendance and even then, they were mostly family. The genuine friends my mother had made were no more than a handful and only one of them shed any tears.Aunt Rebecca was the only immediate family member to cry with even Nana maintaining a wall of stoicism while the pastor carried on with his final sermon. I didn’t hear most of his words. My eyes locked on the casket waiting to be lowered with a detached sense of disbelief. At any moment, it would open, and my mother would come out barking her laughter at all the fools who’d thought a single bullet would be enough to keep her from her children. She would hug Matt and promise she would never leave him then offer me a plastic smile as she assured me we would talk about it all when we got home.I’d spent the better part of the earlier service with my eyes fixed on the woman while the
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 36 (v)
It was another seven minutes before the paramedics arrived and when they did, there was a race against time to get me stable. I’d already lost too much blood and kept slipping in and out of consciousness. I learned later that the police had also been called but in the haze I’d fallen into, I couldn’t say when they arrived on our usually quiet street.I was loaded into the ambulance with my brother and an officer accompanying us. It was Detective Charles, the man who’d promised my mother he would find out the truth about her ex-husband’s sudden, tragic death. He didn’t know what to make of the scene he’d come onto but knew there was a deep well that buried secrets so dark that two children had no business holding onto them.Conversations carried on around me, but they were too muffled by my fading consciousness for me to hear. The next time I awoke, I was on a hospital bed with my brother asleep on the chair that sat in the corn
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 36 (iv)
“No!” I answered quickly. I hurried to hold the note I’d written up for her to see but she gave it only the shortest of cursory glances before pulling back then throwing her entire weight into the smack she landed on my cheek. The force sent me toppling to the ground faster than I could right myself and by then, she’d begun kicking.“I bet you think you’ve found something, huh? HUH? Think you’ve got the upper hand now; that you can blackmail me because of what you’ve seen? Do you know who I am, little girl? Don’t you know that I will kill you?”I shook my head frantically as I curled into a protective ball. “I didn’t—I didn’t see anything, I swear!”“Don’t fucking lie to me!” Her next kick landed in my face, causing blood to gush from my nose.“I won’t say anything; I won’t, I promise!”“I shoul
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 36 (iii)
I set to decline Adam's offer but, in a flash, he was on his feet pulling on his own pants. “The bus might be a while. I don’t want you standing out by the bus stop waiting for however long.” He pulled for his shirt and slipped it on. “You hungry? We can hit up a drive-thru on the way.”The rumbling of my stomach betrayed any answer I could’ve given. Adam nodded his understanding then led the way from the house. He got me my usual off the menu then dropped me off in front of my house.Adam had tried to fill the ride with small talk, in what appeared on the surface to be a sincere interest in catching up, but I’d already begun to shut down. I didn’t want to talk. I didn’t want to feel, to see, to be.“Hey,” he said as I set to walk away from his car. “Remember what I said, alright? I’m here for you.”I nodded, seeing no need to argue and not wanting to prolong the conversat
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 36 (ii)
I swallowed my pride, understanding the role I would have to play. It wasn’t an unfamiliar one and would require no great effort for me to slip into. I dropped the pitch of my voice, forcing it into a sultry invitation I knew he wouldn’t refuse.“Your pay’s built into this favour.” I hated myself.Adam pulled away to look at me, his eyes glistening hungrily. “I’m listening.”I took a deep breath to steady myself. “Emily’s…dead.”“Who?”A surge of hot anger rose in me at his ignorance, but I was forced to swallow it. Adam’s lack of knowledge was in large part my fault. I’d never allowed him to meet her, nor had I ever told him anything about her. She may as well had been a stranger to him—as she truly was—and in that moment, I realised the small stake he had in the decision I’d made…how…insignificant my plight was been for
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 36 (i)
“Hey, Kai.” Madelyn stopped me on my way down the hall. “Wait up.”Reluctantly, I brought my feet to a halt then offered her a forced smile. “Hey.”She began rummaging through her bag as she drew closer before pulling out a pastel pink toddler shirt with a crown printed on the front. Madelyn extended it to me with a sheepish smile. “I saw this when my mom took me shopping and I thought…you know…it’d look really cute on your daughter. It’s probably a little big; we didn’t know her size, but she’ll grow into it, right?”I didn’t think I had any heart left until I felt another piece of it break off. She wasn’t wrong, Emily would have looked amazing in it, but she would never have a chance to grow into it, nor would she ever wear it.The strained smile I’d been forcing dissolved. A lump lodged itself into the back of my throat requiring me to take several m
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 35 (iii)
I considered writing him a note asking that he take care of them, but much like everything else, it didn’t matter. What would I care if he ripped through my room like the Tasmanian Devil after I was gone?The air inside my mother’s room was still. It was the first I’d been in there—the first I’d been in any of her rooms since my father left. Matt was welcome to cuddle and watch movies from time to time, but never me. There was an air of reverence that came with the subtle warning I shouldn’t have been there. I was walking on holy ground as a tainted sinner. Such a transgression would normally fill me with fear but that particular feeling couldn’t have been further away.I took the time to sweep my eyes across my mother’s room. How foreign it seemed, as if I’d been transported to another world. Nothing was out of place and the bed had been well-made. The blinds were half open, allowing light into the room while blott
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 35 (ii)
Uncomfortable and uncertain, the nurse returned to her desk. Seeing her whisper about me with her colleagues brought the laughter to the next level. My insides hurt from how hard I laughed, and I could feel a pressure building inside my head, but even then…I couldn’t stop laughing.Those around me grew unsettled by the persistent nature of my unprovoked laughter. One by one, they rose from the chairs closest to me and made their way to stand at the wall at the opposite end of the waiting room or by the nurse’s desk.Their evasion tickled my insides until they screamed. Those people had nothing to fear; I wasn’t the murderer.By the time I was allowed to see Jayden, the laughter had died. It was replaced by a subdued silence that stood in stark contrast to the boisterous half-cackle half-wail I’d carried on with earlier.I didn’t have the energy for it…didn’t have the energy for anything. I’d been dra
