THE UNSEEN FLAME

Chapter Seven

At twenty-six,Tania faced her past head on.A high school reunion invite arrived,glossy and smug.She couldn't decline,the only reason she would decline was because of her past experience in that place,but given her current status and achievements,she just couldn't.She was no longer scared of no one.Even if someone tried to embarrass her,she was certain she had a way she was going to put all of them off.She went,heels clicking on the gum floor,the air thick with cheap wine and nostalgia.Everyone,yes, everyone could not help but turn their eyes to her,she was the center of attention right now.No one in the room was of higher social status than her,such a confidence booster.They crowned her guest of honor, clapping with hands that once pushed her aside, because if not Tania,who else was worthy of that honor?, strictly no one."We always knew," they lied,their teeth flashing.Tania felt really good,being recognized in front of everyone that always stepped on her.

Ryan Buster,the talent show heckler, shuffled up at a signing day later,his face ruddy."I was a jerk," he mumbled,his boots scuffing."Buy the book," she said,signing it.He did,coins clinking,and she felt nothing,no triumph,just closure. Something inside her made her feel no pity towards anyone,they made her feel worse.A little bit of reciprocating stuff wouldn't hurt them either.

Mrs.Carter died that year,she succumbed to cancer,leaving Tania a box of poetry books,only God and herself knew where she got them,and a note saying,"keep biting.I am proud of you baby girl." Tania cried once alone,then she painted red swirls on her canvas,her first art in a year.Yes,she really hated her mother,but death was too big to wish for her.She really had to live and see her kids prospering.The brush felt light,the colors loud,a piece of her reclaimed.Painting didn't work it's best at being a distraction,her thoughts couldn't stop wandering.A piece of her heart had broken.She felt like she could persevere everything her mother threw at her,she just wished her mother was still alive.

She performed at an open mic, strumming her old guitar,the notes shaky but hers.Yes,she still kept her grandfather's guitar all those years.The crowd cheered and she smiled,the stage no longer a trap.This would feel best if at all she was in good terms with her family,how she missed experiencing that.Her family called more,-Ethan desperate,Clara fishing for clout-,but she sent books instead of answers,their voices fading to static.She felt sorry for them but they never really deserved her pity.Tania was happy that none of her cousins,those she grew up with at her granny's ever called or even reached out like her step siblings did.She actually never gave it much thought,it was relieving,she could not stop thinking how she would have put up with the two groups of relatives.Her granny on the other hand,the woman to whom she dedicated most of her work,the woman she loved most in the entire world,had grown really old.She no longer did anything on her own.She just lay on her sick bed,day in day out awaiting her death.Her body had become too weak to respond to any medication the doctors suggested,she never got better on any day.She kept getting worse and this worried Tania a lot.She visited her granny's at least three times a month, something none of her cousins did.They seemed not to care at all.Tania made sure that everything that was needed to take care of her granny was catered for and available at any moment.She also hired nurses and different house helpers to watch over her granny.That way she'd rest assured concentrate on her work.