Death's Awakening

Chapter Five: Parrish

Parrish stared at the woman by the buffet table. Her eyes were ringed with dark, bruise-like circles. Her lips were dry and cracked. The woman looked like death warmed over.

And she was coughing all over the shrimp cocktail.

Parrish dropped her shrimp onto her full plate, then dumped it into the trash can and scanned the crowd. Standing near the back door, Madelyn Sorrows looked straight at her.

Crap. Eye contact. Parrish ducked behind a man in a blue suit, but she knew it was too late.

"Where in the world have you been?" Her mother's voice had that talking-through-gritted-teeth sound to it.

Parrish shrugged. "Talking to some friends," she said. A bold lie. Parrish never had friends over, and almost everyone at this party was middle-aged.

"You know how important tonight is," her mother said, already looking away, barely paying attention to her. As usual. "Don't embarrass me, please."

Parrish held her breath. And her tongue.

Why did her mother even want her out here? She would have been much more comfortable hiding in her room, listening to music and playing video games, than out here. Her mom had insisted she put on this stupid dress and uncomfortable heels and come out here to keep up appearances of a happy family. But now that she was out here, she was an embarrassment?

She couldn't win with this woman.

Anger trickled through her, and she felt that tug. That familiar, rebellious pull that made her want to kick off her shoes and run screaming into the pool in front of everyone. What would her mother have to say then?

But her mother had already turned her attention to a man Parrish recognized from Zoe's music lessons.

Parrish stepped away before the awkward introductions began. She was going to scream if she had to hear one more person say, 'Wow, I never realized Zoe had a sister' or 'What instrument do you play, Parrish?'

Having to explain just how little musical talent she possessed was never the highlight of her day. Being the firstborn child to a famous opera singer and a professional cellist, she was supposed to have been a musical genius. It was part of her birthright. Or so everyone thought. By the time she was six, her parents had ushered her to every kind of music lesson imaginable. Piano, violin, voice, even trumpet. The result was always the same.

Parrish was no prodigy.

So they tried again.

And Zoe? Zoe was a different story.

The clink of silver against glass sounded over the crowd, and everyone gradually turned their attention toward the back deck. Parrish moved to the back of the group and leaned against the wooden fence, watching.

Her father stood on the deck with a glass of champagne in his hand and a wide, proud smile on his face.

"My wife and I would like to thank you all so much for coming tonight," he said. "As most of you know, we are here to celebrate our daughter's amazing talent." Several people cheered, and her father slipped his arm around her mom with a smile. "Tomorrow morning, Zoe and I will be flying out to New York City where she will play a series of concerts with the New York Philharmonic. Then, in two weeks, we'll be heading to Paris for the start of her first European tour!"

Parrish crossed her arms as the crowd broke out in excited applause.

Zoe stood beside their parents, a well-trained smile on her angelic face. Parrish swallowed back the bitter taste of jealousy and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. It wasn't Zoe's fault she was born to play the violin.