Chapter 13
1166 Words
Michaela…
As soon as I get home, I shut the door and let out a sigh.
As if all of my problems are out in the cold and I’m safely tucked away in the comfort and safety of these walls.
“Hey. Welcome back, not that you told me you were leaving or where you were going.” My mother’s scolding has an undertone of suspicion.
“I’m almost 18 ma. Give it a rest.” I groan as I make my way towards the kitchen. I’m so hungry.
“I’ll always worry about you. That’s…”
“That’s a mother’s duty. That’s what you were gonna say, right?” I peek at her with disbelief from behind the fridge door.
Her eyes become teary and I hide behind the fridge door from them. I collect all the ingredients required to make a sandwich and splatter them across the table.
“It’s a tad bit too late for that, don’t you think?”
“I know…”
“No you don’t.”
I quickly stop her from going any further. She blinks back the tears.
“You don’t know okay. Just stop.”
“Okay then…”
She’s suddenly cheery. Not even a hint of a teary voice.
“Let’s talk about something else. How was your meeting with dad?”
“Real dad.” I correct her with an eye roll that clearly indicates that that’s not a topic open for discussion.
“Yes, real dad. How did it go with that.”
“I’m sure he’s already filled you in.”
Her mouth opens to say something but nothing comes out. Her lips form a straight line.
“I’m guessing you don’t want to talk about it,” she finally says.
“Right on the nail!” I say and take a huge bite out of my huge sandwich.
“But I think you should. He… he told me what happened.”
She’s gauging my reaction with her eyes.
“There. I think you know everything you need to know.” I say between chews.
“I need to know that you’re okay.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“I’m not okay. Do you want to know what will make me okay?”
I ask and she nods sceptically.
“Does he know?”
She seems a bit confused by my question.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean does he know about Michael?”
I swallow the last bit with a lot of difficulty and I’m quite lucky that I don’t choke.
“He knows about you and that is enough. Now how was the beach?”
Her face is straight as she speaks. It makes me want to throw up but I chuckle in disbelief instead.
“Of course! Why don’t we just change the subject like we always do?”
“You were right. We don’t have to talk about it. Whatever I hear from your real dad is enough.” She is carefully precise with her words.
“Wait…”
We both eye each other suspiciously as if we’re engaged in a shootout duel, waiting for the other to pull the trigger.
“How did you know that I was at the beach? I didn’t tell you where I was going.”
“There’s sand all over you.”
There’s a hint of relief in her tone.
“Beach sand to be more precise.”
“Mhm. How precisely observant of you. Unfortunately I do want to talk about that either.”
I pack everything away and I wipe the table clean. I grab a juice from the fridge and head out.
***
Sindi is waiting for me outside of her house. She is always so ready to welcome me. She squeals very loudly at the sight of me and I’m almost startled. I look around me to see if maybe she’s seeing someone famous or a person she looks up to. There’s no one around but me.
“Why didn’t you tell me about your date with Luke?” She does something weird with her tongue when she mentions Luke’s name.
“It…wasn’t a date, but I’m sure you’re already clued up.” I chuckle uncomfortably.
I don’t like how everyone knows my business before I even know who knows what.
“Yeah I only have like one side.” Her annoyance is clear in her tone and body language. “And Luke isn’t really a gifted storyteller.”
Hearing that Luke is the one who did the telling piques my interest.
“Luke, what exactly did he say?” I try not to sound as interested as I am.
“Something along the lines of “I think I want a beach wedding.”.”
“Well That’s too much.”
“Exactly what I told him!” Sindi squeals again.
On a much more serious note, it is too much. I want him to like me enough to be distracted not to plan a beachside wedding.
“Come inside and spill the tea.” She pulls me out of my thoughts and into her house.
“There isn’t much tea to spill.” I hesitate.
“Well then spill whatever there is to spill.” Her eyeballs are almost escaping their sockets.
“Well we… talked and fought and that’s it.”
“You’re worse than Luke.” She Groans. “But I have an Idea.”
She takes out her phone and starts dialling.
“What are you doing?” I whisper.
“You’ll find out soon.” She mouths with a bright look on her face. I guess whatever she’s planning is working.
“Hey Luke. So you and Michaela went on a date and neither of you wants to spill the beans. So now you’re both going to tell the story and you’re going to correct each other.” She gives out the instructions as a finality.
“Wow you starting to sound like Ficelle.” I can hear Luke as the phone is on loudspeaker.
“Yeah I did take a few pointers from her on how to extract information.” Her eyes are still glistening. “So what’s it gonna be?”
“I have nothing to say to Luke.” I rush out of Sindi’s house without an explanation.
When I get home, I have to fight the urge to paint and it ends with me boxing up the paints and covering up the paintings that haunt me. Even the one with the curtains.
I also renounce my gift, declaring to myself that I shall never touch paint again. I shall never think about brushes and strokes. I shall never befriend canvases and breathe life into them. The ideas may haunt me but they will re main as that; ideas that were born and will eventually die as distant memories. This time I will not scream because these walls have ears and they talk too much.
- Writer
