Needle in a Haystack

A Hard Talk

Anna set the ladle back in the pot and sat down heavily on the floor. Emily hurried to support her mother so she wouldn't hurt herself and sat down next to her.

"I thought you knew I got suspended. I thought that's why you were mad," Emily explained softly, trying to soothe her mother.

"You had mentioned you had a headache this morning. They didn't tell me why you needed to be picked up. I thought," Anna hesitated, "I thought you were pretending to be sick, so I would come pick you up."

Tears started rolling down and her cheeks, her eyes already red because she had been crying earlier. She didn't sob this time only wept silently, leaning against her daughter. She sat up suddenly and Emily slid a few inches before catching herself.

"What do you mean inquiry?" Anna half turned to look at her daughter, urgency in her tone. Emily didn't meet her eyes and started fussing with her nails.

"My bully accused me of beating her," she mumbled.

Anna burst out laughing but quickly sobered.

"But an inquiry means she's a mundane. You should have just killed her and disposed of the body," she scoffed and started to get up off the floor.

Emily sat up on her knees but still didn't quite meet her mother's gaze. "I didn't do it," she wined plaintively. "Why does everyone keep assuming I beat her up?"

Anna patted her hand soothingly as she helped her daughter off the floor. "Maybe because she deserved it," she whispered, and went back to dishing out their dinner.

Emily stood still, gobsmacked by her mother's revelation. It didn't matter if Nicole deserved a beating. Emily hadn't given her one, and the fact that her mother just assumed that she got caught instead of didn't do it spoke volumes. Emily knew how to fight. Her older brother had taught her and she had trained with the warriors in the packs from time to time, but she had never needed to use it. When she was little her brother stuck up for her, but when she was old enough to figure things out, she decided pacifism was best. Mostly she only trained as an occasional workout. Mundane bullies couldn't really do much damage to her anyway. Then there was the whole council threat if she ever put up a fight with a mundane.

A pang of loneliness shot through her. She missed her brother terribly. When Jacob turned eighteen, he left to make his own way in the world. Last time they had spoken he was in Europe training to be some kind of elite warrior. He didn't tell her many details, but said that things were going well. If he joined a pack he said would let her know and try to bring her in if she wanted. More than anything she just wanted a place to belong.

"Mom, I didn't beat up Nicole," Emily said softly to her mother's back.

Anna's shoulders stiffened and she stopped portioning out the spaghetti. The silence stretched. Emily had the urge to fidget and sway, but resisted. Finally her mother set the ladle back in the pot and reached for silverware. Without a word she handed her daughter her plate, picked up her own and sat down on the couch. Emily stood in the kitchen watching her mother trying to figure out what had just occurred. When Anna picked up the remote and turned the TV on, Emily decided that it was her mother's way of changing the subject. She decided that having a talk on a full stomach was probably better anyway.

Once they were finished eating Emily collected the plates and went to the kitchen to rinse them. Anna followed her into the kitchen and helped her load the dishwasher in silence. When they were finished Emily started to head to her room.

"We'll figure this out. I'm going to the school tomorrow to find out exactly what happened," her mom said to her back sounding determined.

Emily stood by her door waiting to see if her mother had anything else to add, but when she heard the other bedroom door close she knew that was the end of the discussion. She heaved a sigh of resignation and started putting her bed frame together. When she was finished, she took a shower and got ready for bed. Her mother must have deposited clean linens by her door while she was in the shower. There was a time she would have made the bed, but Anna hadn't helped her daughter make her bed since Jacob left. An idea dawned on Emily and she crossed to her mother's door and scratched gently.

"Mom?" she called through the door.

"Yeah, come in," Anna called back.

Emily eased the door open and poked her head in.

"I wanted to see if you wanted help making your bed."

Anna was sitting on her bare mattress on the floor. The frame was still in pieces leaning on the wall.

"There was only one set of sheets and you already put your bed together so...," Anna trailed off, flushing pink.

"It's ok Mom," Emily said brightly, coming into the room and sitting on the edge of the bare queen sized mattress. She knew her mother preferred not to keep using sheets that she had shared with a previous boyfriend. "Tomorrow I'll start looking for a new job, and we can hit up a thrift store when we go to get groceries."

Anna's eyes were still red and raw, but she tried to smile bravely for her daughter. She didn't speak. She didn't look directly at her daughter, but she nodded emphatically and patted her on the back gently.

Back in her room, Emily lay awake on her bare mattress in a show of solidarity, the sheets that her mother's ex had bought her now laying on the floor. She thought about many things, but mostly she wondered what would happen in the morning when they got to school.