Page 10 of Satan's Spawn
BEX
“All ready for orientation?” Mom beams from my bedroom door, dressed in a pair of jeans and a beige ruffled top.
We’ve been living in the condo for two weeks, and I’m confident when I say I’m nowhere close to being adjusted to this city.
San Diego can be loud, but Manhattan? It’s deafening.
The skyline is beautiful, I’ll give it that, but there’s no scent of salt water or cute beach shops lining any of the shore.
Just a deep flowing river on all fronts that makes up this chaotic island of concrete, yellow taxis, industrial buildings and skyscrapers.
Our condo is in an area called Chelsea, about a fifteen minute train ride from where Roman’s art gallery will be opening up. Just as my mom said, there’s a gorgeous view of a bunch of piers in the distance, especially during sunset hours.
It houses a bunch of really impressive yachts, along with what I hear is some really cool entertainment facilities I’m contemplating checking out.
Potato, the traitor, is living his best life and found his niche at a local dog park two blocks away.
Everyone else is happy—but I’m still…deciding.
Visiting the school I will be moving into in a couple weeks will be the tipping factor.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” I pop a tablet into my mouth and wash it down quickly with the water on my dresser.
“Which means you over-prepared. So you got this.” She ambles into the room and stops behind me as I slip my feet into flip flops.
Adjusting my white tank inside my high waisted skinny jeans, I freeze as Mom rests her hands on my shoulders, eyes adoring me. “How did I make such a beautiful young woman?”
I can sense she’s trying to shift the mood, so I decide to go along with it.
“Well, it all starts when a man and a woman love each other…” I smile awkwardly, which makes her laugh, but not with her whole heart.
“You’ve never been more right, you know.” Mom kisses my cheek. “You’re this beautiful because of how much your Dad and I loved each other.”
I swallow and look down, tucking falling strands of hair behind my ear. “Do you still love him?”
Nostalgia is probably not the best way to start the day, but I want to feel like my Dad is with me, and this may be the only way how.
Mom forces my chin up with her fingers, then looks me right in the eye through the mirror as she adjusts my cross. “Always, Bex. I will forever love your dad for so many reasons,youbeing the most important one.” Her arms wrap around me in a squeeze. “He’s with you today, baby. He is so proud I know it.”
“Thanks, Mom. I needed to hear that.”
She nods and reaches for the brush on my dresser, then starts running it through my pin straight hair. “There is nothing wrong with a little makeup, though, you know? Most girls your age are experimenting with all different types.”
Most girls my age are experimenting with a lot of things I’m not. Makeup being the least significant with modern day peer pressure. But, then again, I’m pretty sure most girls my age aren’t experimenting with some of the…peculiarthings I am.
Which is definitelynotsomething I want to get into with my mother.
“I’m not really the Sephora trips on the weekend, type.”
Mom gives me a shocked look, as if sayingyou don’t say?then asks, “Maybe after we finish orientation we can grab lunch? There’s this Thai place calledPruthat all the locals rave about on Yelp.”
As good as that sounds at the moment, I’ll need to see where my head is at after orientation. In case, you know, there’s a large rock I’ll feel the need to hide under the entire school year.
Or maybe a closet to barricade myself in.
“Possibly.” I offer instead. Keeping the paranoid thoughts to myself.
“Sounds like a plan, then.” She runs the brush through my hair a final time before placing it onto my dresser. “Now let’s go, we both know how much you twitch when you’re not at least five minutes early to everything.”
