Deceit

Chapter 1

DAPHNE

I have spent my whole life in Aster. I have only visited other places before on short trips to see family. Mostly just the mountains. I see my parents pictures of the world. Italy, del Monica, Greece, Japan. I think about what there is to see in the world often. I clear my mind, begin to light the candles, and start to say the spell I was working on:

I wish I may I wish I might have this wish I wish tonight. For a change of fate this night I ask, and by the flame, I ask it last. Seven brightest stars in the sky, light the flame I hold so high.

I held the last candle up to the sky and Focused my energies on changing the path my life is heading down. I didn’t know what I wanted. I just knew I was miserable where I was. I would be turning 18 soon and I wanted adventure. I wanted to learn new things and have more experiences. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. That part was frustrating. All my friends knew what they wanted to be and had started college pre requisites already. Meanwhile I feel like I just exist with no purpose. Sure I had tried things I liked but not anything that I loved.

When I think about things I love, I think of children and helping people in need. Problem was, these things didn’t seem acceptable to like in modern society with toxic femininity. Even women would put down women who said they were content just being a caregiver. My father wanted me to go to an Ivy League school for science, my step mother could care less as long as I am out of her house the second I turn 18.

Sometimes I wish I could be like Chao Young from school. He was a senior like me, but he didn’t seem to care what anyone thought about him. He didn’t socialize at all at school and didn’t fraternize with all the girls like the other boys our age. He seemed so free. Even if he also seemed mad all the time too.

He was the new kid and all anyone could talk about. There were a lot of rumors going around about him. Jessica said she saw him doing heroine in the parking lot. But Jessica also said that Adam was hot for her… Adam is gay. Some say he is in a biker gang, but he doesn’t seem like the biker gang type of guy. Even his sleek black sports bike wasn’t screaming ‘biker gang’. It was giving more dark and dangerous vibes. I am very intrigued by him. I have been ever since he showed up in my third period calculus class in the first semester of this year.

My friend Sienna and I were chatting and working on copying the notes on the board before class when it all of a sudden got eerily quiet. The sound (or lack of) made Sienna and I lift our heads to look for the danger. Instead though, we saw Chao standing in the door way with wavy black hair pulled back in a man bun, a faded Metallica T-shirt, black jeans, sliver rings on six of his ten fingers accompanied by several facial piercings, and matching black combat boots with the laces tucked in halfway up. I was taken aback by his appearance, I won’t lie. However, what did disturb me was the way he looked at all of us, like we were beneath him. He didn’t speak a word when he found his desk at the back of the class and that continued through the rest of the year. I think maybe he is just different and scared. I remember being scared when I first moved to this town.

My dad remarried several years after my mother died and we moved here because my step mothers family lived nearby. I never really liked Evelyn. When I was young and mindless, yes. She took me to do fun things and taught me how to style and fight. When I got older though and started having my own thoughts, everything had to be her way. Through years of this, I ended up resenting her. I’m still living with my parents at the moment. My 18th birthday is a couple days away. Once I turn 18, I plan on turning hide and getting out of here for a bit. Enjoy the freshness of freedom and get out from under the scrutiny of my step mother.

I stood in the school hallway silently saying goodbye to all of the people I didn’t really care to talk to. No one really cared to talk to me either as I walked out the double doors. A little underwhelming for six years of classes with these people. It’s fine though. I was used to it, being on the back burner. Being more of an inconvenience than a help. Always chosen last. Except by Sienna of course. I first met Sienna when we were in middle school. The first day of school no one wanted to let me sit with them and I was looking for an empty table at lunch to eat at in solitude. As I was surveying the cafeteria for one I was called on by a high pitched soft voice next to me.

“You can sit here if you want.” The voice said. I whipped my head to the right to see who spoke to me.

“Well don’t look so surprised. You’ll get your face stuck like that.” She smiled. I smiled back awkwardly and hesitated for a moment before sitting down across from her.

“Sorry, it’s just that usually people avoid me at all costs. Especially the pretty girls like you.” I said with a nervous tone.

“It’s ok. My name is Sienna.”

“My-my name is Daphne.” I responded with a smile.

“Great! Now we are acquainted and you can stop staring at me like I’m an alien. People are starting to notice.” Then she chuckled and so did I at the sight of her perfect smile. She was gorgeous. Long brunette hair with striking blue eyes, full lips and a perfectly proportioned body. I bet everything fit her just right when she tried on clothes at the store and I’m sure every boy in school would die to be with her.

I do get lonely a lot, but it is better than the people I am surrounded by. My dad is constantly nagging me about going to med school. I don’t want to be a doctor or a nurse. I don’t know what I want to do. My pretentious step mother didn’t care what I do. Just that I did it far away from her. Evelyn never liked me, even as a child. My mother, Freya, died during child birth. There were ‘complications’ is all anyone ever told me about her death. My dad stopped going to her grave 10 years ago. He also kinda stopped being my dad. I thought to myself, He never seemed that distraught about her death to begin with. However, by the time I was creating memories, Freya had been long gone. I still go to her grave every once in a while. When I need space to think out loud. No one hangs out in cemeteries and the dead don’t talk back.

I hopped into my old beater in the parking lot and plugged my phone in so i could listen to some music. My weight caused the car to bounce and shake the beads hanging from my dream catcher on the mirror. I am a thick girl. It’s a slim thick though. I have larger than average breasts and wide hips but my waist is small. My face though was plain. I have green eyes but everything else screams the girl next door. Plain face, plain brown hair, and plain clothes. Music is one of the few things I cherish most in the world. It speaks to me like an old friend. Saying just the right thing at just the right time. I turned on some Stevie Nicks and pulled out. Driving to my step mothers family home.

Gator Road was shut down due to flooding from heavy rains last week. I had to take a detour around to get back. When I arrived I quickly went inside. It was a three story brick house with a wrap around porch and a U shaped driveway. Hedges lined the front of the house and street surrounded by dark forest. The closest neighbor was half a mile away. Evelyn’s family was well off. They were old money.

That’s all I really knew. Everything else about them was a mystery. They all seemed nice enough. However, it was the kind of nice that just never seems quite real. Most of Evelyn’s family treated me better than she did though. At least they pretended to like me.

I pulled in and parked out back like Evelyn told me to do when I bought this car with the money I had earned waiting tables at Kevin’s Bar and Grill. I saved for 3 months to buy this car. Evelyn was ashamed of it though. It was old and scratched up and one side of the front bumper was a bit smashed. She didn’t want it sitting out front. It was an eye sore she said. It definitely looks out of place next to the huge fancy house, the Aston Martin, and the Rezvani. I was proud of myself, but seeing how ashamed of it she was really killed my buzz about it. It made it kinda feel like it didn’t matter.

I entered the house and looked at the calendar. Dad and Evelyn were at a charity ball tonight. I headed to the fridge to see what I could put together for dinner. I found some leftover lasagna and tossed it in the microwave. It was good enough. I headed to my room to grab some PJ’s and chose a pair that made me feel good. A black cotton set with shorts and a spaghetti strap top.

I took the Tupperware and went into the living room. I dug for the remote to power on the 70’ TV and found it buried in the couch cushion. I then proceeded to doom scroll while I was eating my supper and finally settled on NCIS. It was perfect, I had already seen all the episodes so if I fell asleep I wouldn’t miss anything. I set the Tupperware on the coffee table and snuggled deep into the plush sherpa blanket who’s home was the back of the couch. I laid there watching, floating in and out of REM. Basking in the feeling of being alone.