believe her, at her father’s
birthday party?!” Mom hisses uncontrollably, probably secretly basking happily
at all the attention Gwen is giving her. She is going to milk it. Their cat
screeches are soon drowned out by the distance I put between us, and with the
DJ playing a dance track, partygoers soon get up and make their way to the
dance floor to get down with it. I stop in front of the table, but my sister is
too involved with texting to notice that her big sister has shown up after five
months of absence.
Where is the love?
“Hey Darcy!” I sing over her. Darcy’s head
jerks up in surprise. Her brown eyes quickly finding mine as a huge smile
spreads across her face.
“Marisa! You actually came!” Darcy
exclaims excitedly. I take the empty seat next to her and hug her.
“As I said I would, little sister! Where’s
Cam?” I ask, taking a quick look around the room to see if I can spot him.
“He went with Johnny to get a soda,” Darcy
explains, putting her phone down on to the table. Johnny is Ben’s
fourteen-year-old brother. I gaze over at the girl sitting next to Darcy,
Jennifer, Ben’s twelve-year-old little sister.
Oh, those two women, they just loved
having the same amount of kids, didn’t they? Coordinating amounts by gender,
perhaps we were matched at birth, a huge three-way wedding.
As for their dreams, they’ve been talking
about it since first meeting. Mom and Gwen had a plan.
And I ruined it.
Chapter
Three
*Marisa*
Half an hour later, I’m thirsty and
hungry. Cameron finally graced our table with Ben’s little brother.
“Marisa!” Cameron splutters, shocked that
he is seeing his older sister after almost five months.
“In the flesh, little bro!” I laugh back.
“When did you get back?” Cameron asks
while coming around the table toward me.
“Yesterday,” I answer, getting up to give
him a hug. Even with my heels, he is at my shoulder. I know that in a few more
months, when puberty officially begins to hit him, he will soon tower over me.
I glance over to Darcy; she’s going to be tall too. Which is good. I want them
to be everything I couldn’t be, including venom-proof; you know, the kind Mom
is known for spitting out in her fits of rage.
I’ve still got the scars to prove it; that
shit doesn’t fade away with time. An out-of–this-world miracle or concoction is
in order to have any hope of getting rid of those marks.
Who would have thought that with words,
you can literally scar someone for life? If only I would have known; a better
preparation in emotional shields could have been dealt with.
A mother-venom-proof vest, or an invisible
shield that bounced everything she shot back towards her. Would do her some
good, a taste of her own medicine.
I’m selfless like that. Even if things
hadn’t worked out for the best for me, I’m not vindictive or selfish enough to
want my younger siblings to go through the same things I did.
And if I ever find out that Mom decided to
take turns taking out her frustrations on the twins, because I’m not there
anymore or because she thought it was fitting, then she had another thing
coming. I’m not going to let that happen, and would happily come all the way
back from Toronto just to rip her a new one.
Just enough to make her know that she
can’t talk to people the way she wants to, just because she’s angry.
But then again, it could have been just
me. Perhaps I am the one who just brought that certain evil out of people. So
the twins probably have nothing to worry about after all.
“Did you bring me anything?” Cameron asks,
stepping out of my embrace and chuckling. I narrow my eyes at him and shake my
head.
“No! It’s not your birthday for another
couple of months!” I yell back in mock frustration, raising my eyebrows to
‘show’ how offended I am, and appalled at the audacity of his expectations of
me.
But looking back at my sister and then
back at him, I kind of wish I did. I feel guilty, what
birthday party?!” Mom hisses uncontrollably, probably secretly basking happily
at all the attention Gwen is giving her. She is going to milk it. Their cat
screeches are soon drowned out by the distance I put between us, and with the
DJ playing a dance track, partygoers soon get up and make their way to the
dance floor to get down with it. I stop in front of the table, but my sister is
too involved with texting to notice that her big sister has shown up after five
months of absence.
Where is the love?
“Hey Darcy!” I sing over her. Darcy’s head
jerks up in surprise. Her brown eyes quickly finding mine as a huge smile
spreads across her face.
“Marisa! You actually came!” Darcy
exclaims excitedly. I take the empty seat next to her and hug her.
“As I said I would, little sister! Where’s
Cam?” I ask, taking a quick look around the room to see if I can spot him.
“He went with Johnny to get a soda,” Darcy
explains, putting her phone down on to the table. Johnny is Ben’s
fourteen-year-old brother. I gaze over at the girl sitting next to Darcy,
Jennifer, Ben’s twelve-year-old little sister.
Oh, those two women, they just loved
having the same amount of kids, didn’t they? Coordinating amounts by gender,
perhaps we were matched at birth, a huge three-way wedding.
As for their dreams, they’ve been talking
about it since first meeting. Mom and Gwen had a plan.
And I ruined it.
Chapter
Three
*Marisa*
Half an hour later, I’m thirsty and
hungry. Cameron finally graced our table with Ben’s little brother.
“Marisa!” Cameron splutters, shocked that
he is seeing his older sister after almost five months.
“In the flesh, little bro!” I laugh back.
“When did you get back?” Cameron asks
while coming around the table toward me.
“Yesterday,” I answer, getting up to give
him a hug. Even with my heels, he is at my shoulder. I know that in a few more
months, when puberty officially begins to hit him, he will soon tower over me.
I glance over to Darcy; she’s going to be tall too. Which is good. I want them
to be everything I couldn’t be, including venom-proof; you know, the kind Mom
is known for spitting out in her fits of rage.
I’ve still got the scars to prove it; that
shit doesn’t fade away with time. An out-of–this-world miracle or concoction is
in order to have any hope of getting rid of those marks.
Who would have thought that with words,
you can literally scar someone for life? If only I would have known; a better
preparation in emotional shields could have been dealt with.
A mother-venom-proof vest, or an invisible
shield that bounced everything she shot back towards her. Would do her some
good, a taste of her own medicine.
I’m selfless like that. Even if things
hadn’t worked out for the best for me, I’m not vindictive or selfish enough to
want my younger siblings to go through the same things I did.
And if I ever find out that Mom decided to
take turns taking out her frustrations on the twins, because I’m not there
anymore or because she thought it was fitting, then she had another thing
coming. I’m not going to let that happen, and would happily come all the way
back from Toronto just to rip her a new one.
Just enough to make her know that she
can’t talk to people the way she wants to, just because she’s angry.
But then again, it could have been just
me. Perhaps I am the one who just brought that certain evil out of people. So
the twins probably have nothing to worry about after all.
“Did you bring me anything?” Cameron asks,
stepping out of my embrace and chuckling. I narrow my eyes at him and shake my
head.
“No! It’s not your birthday for another
couple of months!” I yell back in mock frustration, raising my eyebrows to
‘show’ how offended I am, and appalled at the audacity of his expectations of
me.
But looking back at my sister and then
back at him, I kind of wish I did. I feel guilty, what
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