“What’s wrong with my outfit?” She says, almost smirking, giving away the fact that she probably put the outfit on to antagonize me but I don’t feed into her game, I just roll her eyes and walk over to her.
“You’re too beautiful for this clothing, Nor. I know you’re having a rough time but at least try to care more about yourself.” I say pulling my glove off to lick my forefingers then pressing my saliva filled fingertips against her smooth black hair to lie down her curly edges.
“Mom!” She exclaims, backing away from me. “Seriously? I have a change of clothes in my Oasis.”
Of course, I already knew that. I laugh. “I already knew that. See, I like to bother you too.”
“Ugh! I have to go to work now, it’s almost time.” She reveals the time of her wrist gadget onto her hand.
“Okay, just call me when you’re on the way home.”
“Okay, love you.” I stand there, watching her get into her car and driving away. I slip into my car to head home.
“Hello, Leslie.” A voice penetrates the quietness of my home as I enter the threshold of it. I switch on the light to see her sitting on my accent chair, tapping her long black nails on top of my crystal side table.
“Colleen.” I say, almost wanting to run over to her to punch her in the face. I restrain myself, remembering that she is powerful than I am.
“Where is your sweet baby girl?” She teases.
“How is that any of your business? She isn’t the one you seek.” I say, defensively.
Her mouth curls into an evil grin. “Sit.” She raises her right hand, flicking it into the air. Without warning, I fly across the room, plummeting into the long, grey sofa couch facing her.
“Oomph.” I grunt, positioning myself upright, consistently glaring at her demise. “What do you want, Colleen?”
“I have one job and I plan to do it right this time.” She stands, walking around the clear, glass coffee table over to me. “You’ve spent 6 lifetimes hiding her from us and others like us, too. Why is that? Why are you hindering her from being the great leader we all know that she is?” She comes in closer to my face, snarling with courage.
“What do you want, Colleen?” I repeat, trying to maintain my composure.
“Simple. I want to teach Nora to be great.” She smiles. “Since you will not do it.”
I laugh at her ridiculous statement. “And how in the hell do you expect to do that?” I hiss back at her.
She backs away from me, taking her eyes off me for a moment. “I plan to be her mother.” She smiles. I wasn’t sure of what she meant but my experiences with her warned me that whatever she was planning wasn’t good. I don’t think, I just pull my fist out from under my bottom, igniting the flames rushing through my veins and blasting the fireball at her but she knew what I would do before I even attempted to kill her. She leans to one sight blocking herself from the blow.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk, naughty girl. You shouldn’t have done that.” I don’t gulp in fear—I sit there, awaiting my fate, wishing I could have protected my daughter from this evil.
She stretches her right arm out, coming in close to me, gripping my throat. “I won’t waste my magic on you.” She sneers. I notice the small amount of plaque on her straight teeth as she hisses in my face. She lifts me from the couch, my feet dangling under me. My breathing constricted by my crushed windpipes. My eyes beg her to let me down but hers only blacken with intent on killing me. “Screw it. I’ll just put you somewhere safe.” She lets me down to the floor and I grip my neck trying to revive the life almost crushed out of me. “Go away.” She flicks her hand again and I disappear from my home.
“Now, let’s get to work.” She says as her body conforms into Leslie’s. She gets into her car and drives to Hardcover Hoard, pulling up far enough to chime in on the conversation Nora and Riley are having. She cracks one window, observing the two together.
“I still love you.” Nora stops mid step. “You know, it’s different… loving someone. It feels inexplicable, almost as if this love doesn’t even exist. It feels like I want to hug you so hard that eventually I mesh clean into you making us become one. It’s—it’s overwhelming and exciting all at once.” Shapeshifter Leslie rolls her eyes in disgust. “It’s the X’s and O’s. It’s our ups and downs, these in-betweens, our woes—I know we are still interwoven and—and—and I’m constantly falling for you. I wrote that for you. Please? Don’t walk away just yet.” He begs as Nora turns her head slightly to her right shoulder to get a glimpse of him.
“Yuck, it’s like watching an awful lovesick movie.” Leslie whispers to herself, continuously watching them.
“I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“Just please say you still love me too. Please?”
Nora lowers her head. “What good will that do?”
“It will get me through today. Please?”
“Don’t do it, Nora. Be smart.” Leslie shifts in her seat with anticipation, still whispering to herself.
Nora wipes the excess tears from her face, “I’m sorry, Riley but I don’t love you,” and walks away.
“Yes! Good girl.” Leslie exclaims.
She watches Riley as he watches Nora through the window of Hardcover Hoard. Nora hands out books to an elderly couple forcing a smile, not once returning a look to Riley.
“Pretty, isn’t she?” Leslie sneaks up behind Riley.
He winces, turning around to face her, “Mrs. Jacobs–”
“Hi Riley.” She smirks down at him.
“I can’t live with myself after what I did to her.” He says self-loathing, turning back to the window to stare at Nora more. “What you made me do.”
“Mm,” Leslie remains calm.
“I still love her. I shouldn’t have broken her like that.” He lowers his head. “I let her down.”
Leslie rolls her eyes, “Oh, forget this.” She says, snatching him by the back of his neck, coercing him to face her. His face cringes at her nails digging into his throat. His green eyes widen at the pain. “Since you can’t seem to follow directions, how ‘bout I give you an enhancement initiating you to do as I say.” She lifts him up higher into the air. “If you ever tell her how you feel again, you will die. I curse your heart—that despicable love you carry for her will cause your heart to stop—leaving you dead and breathless.” She drops him to his knees.
He falls to the ground, looking up at her from under his brow. “You should scream right about… now.” She smirks. Riley howls in pain as he lifts his shirt to witness his butterfly tattoo shading itself in with skulls. “Be careful, Riley, the longer you wait around here, the more it shades in. You’re too close to Nora. You’ll die if you are in her immediate proximity. Once those skulls reach the top of your pesky little butterfly—you’re dead.” She grins. “At least I did something right and that was telling you to break her. Good work, Les.” Shapeshifter Leslie taunts.
“I can’t—move.” Riley guts out.
Leslie rolls her eyes, “Damn, you sound almost like Nora when she always exclaims she can’t breathe without you. You’ll get up when you’re closer to death or you can get up now and save yourself. Your choice.” She turns, walking back to her car. “Don’t be a fool! Get up!” She screams from her car then jets away.
Riley slides himself away from Hardcover Hoard. Still on his belly, he gets to his car, crawling into it. He looks over at Nora one last time, watching her. “How can something this good hurt so bad?” he whispers with his eyes still on her before driving off.
*****
PRESENT
The ride was exhausting but at least the scenery was beautiful. The tree trunks were at their brightest orange-red and the flowers had already bloomed colors of red, orange, white and yellow accenting the beauty of the trees. The way they swayed from left to right in sync with one another gave me such relief to be getting away for a while. I needed this.
“Mommy?” Correction, we needed this. I peek down under my large, black hat.
“Yes, son?” I rub his head as he relaxes on my lap. His voice still groggy from the nap.
“When will we see daddy?”
I chuckle. “Soon enough.” I reassure him.
“Okay.” He whispers and snuggles back into the position he was in before. He was 5 years old and hadn’t seen his father enough. I didn’t know why but his father was never there. From the way it felt, we spent most of our time traveling to see him. He said this was it, though. He said we were done traveling all over the world and that this trip meant it was time to settle down and be a family. He was done running.
The tires screech as the car comes to a halt. “We’re here.” The driver turns around to say. I pay him my last bits and he gets out of the car to grab our bags. My son is the first to jump out of the car to run to his father.
“Daddy!” He exclaims, running into his father’s arms.
“Hey son!” I pause. His voice so familiar. “I’ve missed you.” He says.
I step out of the car, not looking up. Afraid of who he could actually be. Left foot first, right foot last. I almost stand but see a hand reach out to me. I look up to recognize the shirt he’s wearing. It was the shirt I gave him for his birthday; red button up plaid shirt with long sleeves.
“Hello, wife.” I look up to see this sweet man staring back down at me with a smile. His beard grown complimenting his chin bone. His eyes still green as ever, his nose still extending downward but not too far—it was placed onto his face with a mustache sitting comfortably under it.
“Hello, husband,” I smile.
“I’ve missed you, Nora.” He says taking me into his arms.
“I’ve missed you too, Riley.” I lie on his shoulder.
“You’re home, baby; you’re home.” He points out to the blank canvas of land. “One day, this will be ours.” He continues. “Are you happy?” He turns back to me with fire in his eyes.
“Happier than ever now that I’m with you.” I answer.
“Nora, come on.” He laughs. “Take a good look at the land. It will speak to you, tell you what you need to know.” My face forms a look of disfiguration. I didn’t understand what he was getting at.
“What do you mean, Riley?”
“You’ve been searching for answers when, this, right here will give you everything that you need to know. Just look.” I look out into the distance. “What do you see?”
“I see,” I cough. “I see orange and red trees with black tips, weeds and tanning grass that so desperately needs to cutting." I chuckle.
He grins. “Not quite but in time you will know everything that you need to know. Don’t rush the process. Just live, Nora.” His face more serious. “Have patience, love.” I stare into his deep sea green eyes then turning back to face the grassy plain, to admire its beauty once more.
“I love you, Riley.” I let out.
“I know.” He says. “I love you, too.”
I search the trees for this answer he said I would soon enough know but couldn’t find what I was looking for. I didn’t even know the potential questions I was supposed to have. I spin around to ask him how would this place give me the answers but to my surprise, he’s gone.
“Riley?” I call out to him.
Everything is gone. The Call Car, my son, my Riley. All vanished. It was only me standing here searching for answers to unspoken questions…
*****
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. My alarm clock rants pulling me out of my dream. Smack. I hit the snooze button.
“Stupid alarm.” I mumble and roll back over to sleep in a while longer.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
“UGH!” I exclaim, smacking the snooze button again.
That’s better.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
I groan once more, clicking the off switch on the alarm clock. I roll over to lie on my back and stare up at the ceiling. “Happy freakin’ birthday, Nora.” I say to myself as I fling the covers from my body, glancing over at Mairi who is still sound asleep. She doesn’t acknowledge the obnoxious alarm clock going off. Academy trainings are postponed today. Master Sudan had a personal matter to take care of so our additional practices are pushed off today until further notice. I sigh in relief of not having to deal with Sudan’s incisive nagging about how stiff or incapable I was. I roll my eyes at the thought of him telling me how much of a failure I am.
My phone buzzes. Must be the birthday messages coming in. I scurry to the bathroom and turn on the shower. I brush my hair up into a tight bun and strip my pajama pants and spaghetti strap shirt from my body. I slip one foot into the shower, then the other. I immerse my entire body under the shower head, forgetting that I tied my hair up so that it wouldn’t get wet. Shoot. I pull the bun down and allow my silky, black hair to take part in the glory of the shower. My wet hair touches the small of my back. I feel the water trickle down from the ends of it to the back of my legs. I moan with pleasure as I reminisce on how he touched me, had his way with me allowing me to indulge in the desire of wanting more of him. Devin. Just the thought of him runs my heart wild. I feel a rush of emotion swarm in giving me the urge to call him just to tell him that I needed more.
My phone continues to buzz. I peek my head out of the shower—the water in my face blinding me. Should have slipped on my wrist gadget. I wipe my face with my hand and peek at the phone again hoping it would be Devin calling to say he needed more of me, too. A small twinge of hope flickers in me when the thought of Riley calling just to tell me happy birthday displays itself. My hopes soon dawdle out when I read the word Mom on the screen. I shut the water off and step out onto the plush rug, grabbing my phone just before it could stop ringing.
“Hello?” I yell into the glass phone, trying my hardest not to let it touch my wet face. I hit the video button, laying the phone back down on the sink countertop and wrapping a towel around my body before my nakedness could be exposed to her.
Her face pops up from the phone. “Hey, Nor! Happy birthday, sweetie.” She’s smiling enormously. Maybe a little too hard.
“Thanks, mom.” I smile back.
“Listen, what are your plans today? Are you going to your trainings?” She didn’t know about my almost flunking out or the car accident. Her feelings towards Riley were already on edge so if I told her the story she would hate him forever.
“No—they are cancelled today.” I say meekly, trying not to give away my secrets.
“Can you come over? We have things we need to discuss.” I gulp in fear. Did she know?
“Okay, is everything alright?” I try to mask the worried look inching its way onto my face.
“Yes, sure. I just have things I would like to talk to you about. That’s all.” She didn’t seem angry.
“Okay, I’ll put my clothes on and be right over.”
“See you soon.” The image of her disappears. I sigh inconspicuously, not looking forward to the day ahead.
*****
“Hi mom.” I walk over to her to hug her. It had been a couple of months since I had last seen her.
“My precious Nora.” She pulls away and smooths my hair down to the sides of my face. I try to smile genuinely but she senses the phoniness in my face and relaxes her hands by her sides. I clear my throat. “So mom, what is it that you need to discuss?” We met in Tse’Khene since it was closer to me. Luckily, Mairi offered to drive me since she was from Tse’Khene anyway and is visiting her parents today.
“Come on, let’s go for a walk.” She says as we walk down a paved path. “I know, Nora.” She begins suspiciously.
“Uh, you know what exactly?” I ask, nervous about what she actually knew.
“I know who you’re dating now.” She blurts out. The woman could never hold water so I knew she would have some juicy gossip about Devin since she seemed to have known him, anyway. I roll my eyes.
“Great.” I meant to say to myself but my mouth betrays me.
“No need for that.” She stops and looks at
me. “It’s okay. I like the young man.”
“How do you know him—wait, first let me ask, how do you know about us?”
“Well, his father and I have been—well, having relations.” She smirks, holding her head up with pride.
“Ew, mom! What happened to Greg?”
“Wouldn’t work out.” She shrugs.
“So I take it you spoke with Devin’s father?” I hang my head.
She stops walking. “Devin? Who’s Devin?” Now, I am confused.
“Wait, mother—who are you talking about?”
“I didn’t know you were even dating someone but I do now!” She giggles and I cringe with irritation.
“Mom!”
“What, Nora? You never tell me anything anymore.” I roll my eyes at her. “So tell me about him. Who is he? How did you meet?” We steer away from the path, basking in the beauty of the trees and grass. We were both nature lovers.
“Well, he’s tall, handsome. He’s, um, down to earth. You know, normal, I guess?” I didn’t know what to say about him. It didn’t dawn on me until just then that all of this time, I had talked more to him about myself and I didn’t know who this man was at all.
“He isn’t anything like Riley, is he?” She turns up her nose at the thought of me ever loving Riley again.
“No.” I sigh, looking down, not paying attention to where we are going. “He’s nothing like Riley.” Which was true. Riley was subtle. More my speed.
“Oh, Nora. I’m sorry.” My mother says once she realizes that I’m not over him, “It’s just that, he puts you through so much.” She turns to me, taking my hands into hers. “I just want to see you happy. I mean with everything else that’s going on with you. You being diagnosed with infertility and schizophrenia. I mean, gosh, how much more could a girl take?” She says insensitively.
“Why did you call Greg Kimball, anyway? Why did you think I was schizophrenic?” I don’t look up to face her with my bold questions.
“Well, because honey, you were seeing things like a girl named Stephanie. You also thought someone was always after you—I mean you don’t remember when you were younger and how you used to never want to go anywhere to play?”
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