Ego's Trap | ✔

62 | Anniversary

☆☆☆ Chapter 62 ☆☆☆

Anniversary

It was the middle of the day, or the afternoon. I don't know, I didn't look at the time. I was outside, in my parents' backyard. Barefoot and still in my pajamas, pressing the soft throw pillow I snatched from the living room against my chest. Dad was a good couple of steps away from me, on the grill. Mom was there, too. She was pecking at the maybe-finished burgers and corn on the cob.

There were no signs of the thunderstorm from the night before, as if it had never existed in the first place. The sky was crystal clear, a vibrant sea of baby blue, with white clumps of fluff. The ground, the evenly cut grass, wasn't moist or damp in any way, and all of the outdoor furniture in the backyard was spotless. Or at least, the metal bench I was lying on felt as such. Dry. The sun took care of it all── the sun was brighter than ever, its rays bold and powerful── hot. Enough to make me drag the yapping fan near the back door of the house just a little closer to me. Of course, after making sure that the extension cord wouldn't give in to my pulls. A shadow came over me as soon as I did the final pull.

"Here Imani," it said, with a somewhat muffled voice. A small piece of solid heat caught me off my guard immediately after. It was jammed straight into my mouth. I jerked myself up, sat myself straight. Mom stood there, looked down at me. Her eyebrows were all the way up, on her forehead, and her full cheeks were moving. She was chewing on something. "Whaddaya think?"

I chewed the ground beef for a second or two, then swallowed it down. "Not ready yet. A little undercooked?" I still felt some weird texture in some parts.

"Thought so." She sat herself down, next to me. "Bruno! Put 'em back!" She still had another piece in her hand, one that she popped in her mouth as soon as she was done shouting at Dad, raw and all. I let myself lie back down, this time with my head on Mom's lap. I closed my eyes, breathed in the fresh air. Held the throw pillow tighter. "Been tellin' ya not to wear it outside 'less ya tryna get jumped." I jerked back up, immediately feeling the weight of the gemstone that hung on me behind the pillow. Mom sucked her teeth, licked away the loose meat on them. A small smile followed. Just one side of her glossy lips went up. Along with it followed her hand. She reached for a side of my neck, caressed it, then went for the velvety fabric that held the ruby, rubbed it between two fingers. "Dat boy spoils you," she chuckled lightly. "But from what we hear, he a good kid. When we gonna meet 'im?"

I found myself gawking. "I... "

"We gotta see it," she quickly said after I dropped my head low, after I sunk it on the pillow. "We gotta see it fo' ourselves. Bruno an' I... " She sighed. "We don't want ya sufferin' again." I brought my legs closer to each other, squeezed them tight. Mom, in response, scooched closer to me, slid her hand up to my head. I didn't realize it earlier, but the grass near me was moving back and forth, in silence. Lightly. The same way Mom did on my hair. Back and forth. Back, and forth. Back... and forth. "Sometimes, I be thinkin'... I be thinkin' it's my fault."

My stomach dropped. "Mom?"

The back door slid open. Out stepped Teresa, with her damaged hair down. I was the first person she noticed outside, so she pressed her lips together and turned the other way, towards Dad and the grill.

"Close it! Quick! Bugs'll go in," Mom shouted at her. Teresa followed through Mom's orders then sped-walk her way to Dad. They spoke for a few seconds, laughed, then spoke some more before Dad pointed to my direction. Teresa obviously didn't want to come over, but she nodded at whatever Dad had said and dragged herself over to Mom and I. She never set her eyes on me as she did so. She looked straight ahead, then at Mom when she arrived.