Ethereal

Chapter One

**Trigger Warning** This chapter may contain sensitive content including, but not limited to: gun use, blood, and sudden death. Please note, warnings will be given for each chapter that may include these topics. Not all chapters will contain these topics.  

                                                                                     15 years ago

“Happy birthday, my sweet Gem,” my mother whispered as she gently ran her fingers through my hair to wake me. 

I reluctantly opened my eyes until I realized what she had said. Jumping up, I sped down the steps toward the kitchen. Birthdays were a tradition in our house. 

We had big breakfasts before the day started to celebrate as a family. Dad made pancakes, covered in whipped cream and strawberries. Mom stayed out of his way, only making herself some coffee to wait for the food and entertain me. 

When I made it to the kitchen I noticed there were no pancakes, whipped cream, or strawberries, but a cold and empty kitchen. 

“Did he forget?” I asked myself.

I turned to find my mom not too far behind me. She did not seem to be surprised, but disappointed. She glared at my father as he walked into the room. 

“Gemma, please go back upstairs and get ready for school.” My mother ordered.

I dragged my feet up the stairs and just before I got to my room, I stopped and overheard my parents talking.

“Do you know what today is?” She asked.

“Wednesday?” He sarcastically replied.

“Jesus, Harv! You really forgot your daughter’s ninth birthday?”

The door slammed as he mumbled something on his way out. They rarely fought before. You could say they were a perfect couple, at least until he started his new job. It started out with day trips, but quickly turned into long weekends and then it became weeks at a time. He never had time for us anymore. He was apologetic for his absence at first, but unfortunately, it soon became routine.

Clenching my fists, I grabbed the framed picture of us from our last family vacation, and tossed it at the ground. I watched as the glass shattered and ripped the picture.

My mother ran upstairs and sighed at the scene. She held me tight as I sobbed uncontrollably into her chest. I pulled away slowly and noticed my tears got her shirt wet. I poked her shirt, and looked up to meet her eyes. We both laughed as she said “don’t worry about it, let’s get ready. I am driving you today.”

As promised, mom packed my things into her car and started the drive to school.

“Gem, make the best of today. You only turn nine once!” I heard her say as I stared at the passing trees.

It was obvious that she was trying to make the day special, but it felt like an ordinary day. 

Birthdays and Saturdays were reserved for spending time with dad. He worked a lot during the week, but every Saturday morning we went fishing on Lake Michigan. I always looked forward to those mornings with him. That was until our time together began to dwindle, and eventually ended.

“Once school is over, we will have a nice party and your favorite chocolate cake from Lolly’s! Make sure your friends let their parents know that they will be riding home with us,” mom said, trying to grab my attention. 

I gave a nod in her direction. We arrived at school shortly after and I quickly opened the car door. I waved behind me to signal that she could leave. Honking, she pulled off and said, “I love you,” through the open window.

The day was uneventful and passed by quickly. Classmates and friends wished me a happy birthday, but I could only acknowledge them by giving a half smile. My thoughts were occupied by what happened earlier that morning. 

“Could he really forget?” I thought.

Even though we had hardly seen each other in the past few months, I thought that maybe he would remember. The breakfasts were only part of the tradition. My mom was not aware of this, but he would pick me up from school and we would go to Lolly’s for cupcakes. It was our little secret. He would always say, “something sweet for my sweet Gem on her big day.”

It did not seem too long before my mom was back to pick us up. Consumed with dread and simultaneous rage, I unwillingly walked towards the van with my friends. 

“Alright ladies, let’s get inside before it rains,” she said, pointing up at the gray sky.

We climbed in, and headed home. The silence in the car was deafening. I really wanted to have a good time with my friends, but it felt a little awkward having them come to my house. We rarely spent time together outside of school, so I hoped that the party would be fun. 

I used to go to Audrey’s house everyday after school. We became best friends in kindergarten, and our parents ended up becoming friends too. After an incident with my dad and her dad, we stopped seeing each other outside of school. We promised that we would always be friends, and so we used any chance we had inside school to hangout.

We finally made it to my house. If it had been just five more minutes, I feared that they would have changed their minds and wanted to go back. 

I assumed dad was not going to show himself tonight, just like the last few nights. He was probably in his office, writing in that stupid journal and mumbling to himself erratically. 

Once inside, mom directed us to the table where she had set up dinner. My favorite, Coney Island pitas and french fries. This was one of the things that I had been looking forward to. My mom made dinner every night, and I was worried that we would be stuck eating eggplant parmesan and brussel sprout salad. 

My friends seemed very pleased by what we were offered for dinner. We hurriedly ate, anticipating the best part of the night. Presents! 

By this time, I had almost forgotten about my sour mood and started to enjoy myself. The giggling and playing games with my friends had seemed to do the trick. 

I noticed mom sitting in the corner reading her book, checking on us while we played. She had a hint of a smile on her face with each glance. Usually, it would have bothered me if she hovered around me and my friends. Today was different though. I knew she wanted to make today special, and if she knew I was happy, it would make her happy too.

As I sat down in the birthday chair, I had a view of the kitchen, and was reminded of this morning. When I looked around the room, I tried to hide my disappointment with a smile. I knew one thing was missing, my dad. 

I heard the front door unlock and close as my dad walked in, but he immediately locked himself in his office. Anytime he locked himself in, he would not come out for hours. At this point, I figured I was not going to see him for the rest of the night.

I tried to push the thought of his absence out of my head, and continued to enjoy opening presents. The first gift was from Audrey. It was a microscope! I ran over to thank her. She knew my interest in science, just like dad.

Before opening the next gift, I heard the office door unlock, and I quickly got up to see if he was coming out.

He walked through the foyer and headed for the stairs.

I ran in front of the stairs to block him from going up. “Dad! You made it on time! We were just about to have cake. It’s the chocolate one from Lolly’s.”

He walked around me without saying a word. I stood there motionless, unable to come up with the reason why he hated me so much. I tried my best to stay out of his way. I stopped asking him to take me fishing or camping. I stopped helping mom pack the lunch that he never ate. I even made sure to put all my toys away before he got home from work. 

My mom must have seen what happened because she ran over to hug me.

“Don’t worry sweetheart, he’s probably tired after working all night. Go back to your friends, and I will go talk to him.” Her words provided no comfort. I knew that there was nothing she could say to him that would change his behavior.

She ran upstairs after him and quietly closed the door behind her. Just before I turned to keep my friends company, I heard a loud thud from their room. 

They must have been fighting again. Whenever they fought, she would try not to do it in front of me. The walls were paper thin though, so I could hear everything that they said. Usually it was about the late nights at the office and how he stopped spending time with us. Everyone else, including my mom’s best friends, assumed he was having an affair, but she was sure that it was just work.

I turned and smiled at my friends. They were waiting for me to continue opening the presents.

“Gemma, this one is from me. I think you’ll love it.” Piper said, handing over the box wrapped in pink wrapping paper.

“Thanks Piper, I’m sure that I-” 

“Gemma quick! I think I can hear your parents fighting!” my other friend Zoey shouted from the foyer.

We all ran over listening to my parents arguing loudly. I could tell that my mom was beyond upset because she no longer tried to keep her voice down. I had an uneasy feeling in my stomach. “We probably shouldn’t be listening to this,” I thought.

“It’s her birthday! Couldn’t you just sit down for five minutes? Is it too much to ask?” I heard my mom ask angrily.

“I don’t care if it’s her damn birthday! It’s insignificant to what is really going on here.” 

“You are unbelievable, you know that? You should just go. I mean go and don’t come back.”

“You can’t kick me out of MY home! This is all your fault anyway! It’s all of your fault.”

“Why are you blaming me- Wait. Harv, stop. Please-”

BANG!

My friends ran under the table in the dining room while screaming. Everything in me said to ‘run’, but my legs felt too heavy to move. I was frozen in place, incapable of moving any part of my body. Their screams faded until the only thing I could hear was the sound of my own heartbeat. My eyes were glued to the top of the staircase waiting for what was going to happen next, and within a few moments he stood there.

With one hand, he ran his fingers through his greasy black hair revealing the blood splattered on his face, and the gun in the other hand.The uneasy feeling I felt in my stomach had gotten worse with each step he took. He was headed in my direction.

‘I must be next’.

He finally reached the bottom of the stairs to where I was standing. We stood face to face for a moment until he raised his gun, and pointed it at my face.

“No, Gemma. This- This is your fault too.” He said as I tried to take a step back. 

“I- I can’t do this anymore!” His voice began to waver.

For the first time in my life, I was scared of my father. I could see that he was ready to pull the trigger. I squeezed my eyes shut, accepting my fate. I was going to be with my mom now.

He pulled the trigger, and I felt the warm liquid dripping from my head. I opened my eyes, and I let out a long breath that I did not realize I was holding in. I looked down at my hands to see droplets of blood, but the blood was not mine.

**Author's Note: Thank you for taking the time to read this. We are very excited to share this story with you all. There is much more to come! Please let us know your thoughts in the comments.