silver & stardust

back to life

I came home to sage burning through the house, which was due to my parents' avid belief in cleansing the energy of our home. We lived in an apartment on the edge of the suburbs, closer to the city.

I was an only child but I'd never felt like one with my parents and my many, many cousins.

It was inconvenient to drive back and forth from college so I ended up staying on campus but visited as much as I could - especially with finals coming up and the prospect of moving back home and getting a job.

I heard the clicking of a keyboard and old-fashioned mouse when I walked into the living room, that opened up into my dad's study. In there, my dad could spend hours in there reading science theories and articles. "Hey Dad." I said as I walked into the study and kissed his cheek. "What are you reading?"

I saw some complicated phrases on the computer and heard him say even more complicated stuff so I decided not to question him further. "I'm going to make dinner soon. You hungry?"

"Yeah, I'll eat," I said even though I had no urge to eat. My appetite had died down with what happened in the last few days.

I helped him make dinner and he asked me about school and my career options, ecstatic that I was moving back home after graduation.

Baba walked in from work a few hours later, long after the food had gone cold - his job as a corporate lawyer demanded long hours from him but as he had just made partner, he had more flexibility. I remembered when I never got to see him some nights because he would work for days straight, catching only a few hours of sleep.

Old age had never shown up on my dads who seemed to be frozen in time - they had yet to have their hair touched by silver or get severe crow's feet. "Hey baby," Baba said, pressing a kiss into my hair. He still used the same cologne that smelled like citrus. "We missed you. How was Livia's?"

"It was good, ate well as expected. Just chilled at her house," I said, trying to sound like I had before everything. Before everything went to s**t basically. "You know, the usual."

"Hey, I finally picked up your medication from the pharmacy," Baba said, pulling out a bottle of pills from his briefcase. Since I had an iron deficiency, I had to take the medication on a daily basis but I'd forgotten to get a refill in the last few days - I'd been feeling surprisingly fine without them for a change. I dropped them into my backpack regardless, taking a mental note to take one later.

Baba dropped his briefcase on a chair before stealing a kiss from my dad who was heating up his dinner for him. We gathered around the TV, arguing for ten minutes over which movie to put on and by the time we picked, the food had to be heated again. We decided on a Marvel movie as we were all avid fans.

While the movie raged on and my dads argued on who was the strongest avenger, I forced myself to work on my paper and tried not to think about any of my werewolf problems. Just my human ones.

. . .