If someone told me today those unicorns are cute, pretty little ponies and a myth, I would have giggled with them. I guess it is today that the best time of my life starts and ends with the worst time of my life. Best time of my life because my crush said that he liked me. And the worst time because, well let’s take the journey together, shall we?
My day starts with tapping on my phone. Dad calls out from the kitchen telling me to hurry up or else I’ll be late yet again. Hearing his fatherly voice makes me angry, very angry. All I wish is that he leaves me alone and goes away somewhere far with his far-from-perfect second wife. Mom passed away when I was ten. She was sick, pretty sick. Dad and mom had started fighting a lot. And then one day when I came back from school, I found my mother wrapped in a shroud and all my family members were there.
My granny walks up to me with tears in her eyes and says, “Maeve, sweet lovely Maeve, I am sorry about your mother. She couldn’t-I –” She never finished. I dropped my bags and ran to her. I lifted the cloth covering her. She looked pale and she wasn’t breathing. My heart stopped. My mother was everything to me, she was my best friend. I couldn’t believe that now she was gone.
She left me alone. I had gone into total shock, that’s what my relatives told me. And for better or worse, I don’t know, my father married Lola within three weeks of my mother’s passing. I couldn’t tolerate it at all. I had been living with my maternal grandparents since then. I loved both of them.
But without my mother, they were just some strangers. And then suddenly before the semester started this year, my father came and asked for forgiveness and a chance to make up for a lost time. That time I felt like telling him to hell with his promises but restrained myself. I didn’t speak a word. He brought me to his house against my wishes, saying that he had all the right to take me with him.
My grandparents didn’t argue. I hated them; I hate them so much. Everyone I love abandons me. The day I came to live with him, his wife said that she was the mistress of the house, not me, so telling me to be a good stepdaughter and a good step sister to her son. I could see what a witch she was and he couldn’t. My father had been desperately trying to make efforts with me, but I hardly spoke more than a few words. He gave me everything, which I didn’t even ask for. Looked like he was now in a much better financial condition than when he was with my mother.
But I could just not forgive him for what he did to her. Therefore, I spent a lot of time with my asshole friends or in my room reading books or working on the laptop. I had taken up an online job reviewing books. I was paid a good amount. I used that money to buy what I wanted and saved for the future. But I did not tell my father about it. I wanted to control my life.
As I get on to my bus and see something I shouldn’t have. Laura calls me to the back seat and I don’t think twice before going to our usual seats. She asks, “What happened to your mood today?” I turn towards her and say, “Guess what my day started with seeing my worst enemy and you expect me to smile for that.” She smirks and looks at Camille. I don’t know how we even became enemies. When I was new, she was very sweet to me.
And after a few months, she just started acting all bitchy and put-up useless pranks on me. I, on my part, sneaked into her birthday party and put the cake on her face and hair on her birthday, and she did not come to school for a week. I guess she was scrubbing everything off her hair. She still has her repulsive character, especially towards me.
I guess that is how she acts with newcomers in the school. I am lost in my thoughts when Laura tells me that we have reached the school. I get off the bus and see our friends standing near Asher’s car. I and Laura walk toward them. “Hey beauty, how’s your star today?” Star turns towards me and says, “Not funny, Maeve”. I giggle.
He has a weird name. But I must say that he has got a tall and lean frame. Stars are on his side. The mood around here is somewhat disturbing. I ask what it is. No one replies. I get irritated. Sensing my spoiled mood Asher says that we all need to talk. I look around at us: there’s Laura, Star, Asher, Winter, Flynn, Thomas, and me. Okay, now we decided to talk after school in the garden behind the park, which is rarely occupied. Time in school passed more slowly than I remember because I am so used to this routine that I see every second ticking. *** We are at the playground.
All of us are standing in a circle and staring at I don’t know what. I get easily irritated when I am made to stand for a long time without any reason, therefore I break the still silence that had existed for the past five minutes which felt like half an hour.
“Now, if you guys are not going to say what the problem is, I am going back ‘cause if dad finds out I am again out with you guys whom he considers assholes, he will ground me yet again.” No one says a word. I kick my feet and turn behind to walk back home since Asher won’t be giving me a ride back home. Flynn says, “Come on, Maeve. Stop being such a jerk.”
“So, no one is going to say. Fine, the last call, and I am leaving.” Thomas opens his mouth and closes it, then says, “Okay, didn’t I always tell you guys about my mysterious dad who comes occasionally on a fortnight and then disappears after that.” I widen my eyes and say, “Don’t tell me he came out to be a werewolf.” Thomas rolls his eyes, “Not funny.” “A blood-sucking vampire or a merman or a child of god or a really rich millionaire who loves you a lot or an undercover cop or maybe both of your parents are double agents or triple agents-”
“Maeve, can you stop with your mythological presumptions?” “Are you going to tell what happened or shall I think of the worst I can? Okay, how about he came from a parallel universe, where love doesn’t exist and your mother charmed him, and then had a happily ever after, which they don’t since you happen to be an epitome of assholeness and maybe-” “Ahh, what you now said is partially correct. He came from a place I didn’t know ever existed on the planet.
So, one day I followed him and walked right into a trap. This was two days ago. I was going through my dad’s stuff and I found an old titan watch. I asked my mother. She said it belonged to dad. He left very little stuff for us, so this was one of his most precious things. The time set was wrong, so I corrected it, and whoosh, I reached an unknown place.
Somehow, I escaped from there and came back two hours later. I thought that mom would be pissed at me for being away so long, but she said that just now I had been in the attic. So, this is the story.” This kept all of us pondering what to think about. I wanted to bake some cookies tonight, all of which are now foiled. I start looking at each of their faces.
Laura asks, “If you were going through your father’s things, then when exactly did you follow him?” Thomas was sweating. He looked here and there. I could say that he couldn’t of course explain what he went through. I felt a little bit for him. I looked around at everybody and noticed that Asher was staring at me or so I thought. I could say that we locked contact. He raised an eyebrow at me and smirked. I raised both my eyebrows, questioning him.
He then, literally, winked at me. If I wasn’t in a sour mood, I would have blushed but I instead acted all bossy and blew him an evil kiss with an equally sinful wink. He caught my kiss and acted like putting it in his pocket. I rolled my eyes. He is intimidating. When I looked away, I noticed that everyone was looking at our little silent exchange. Everyone burst into giggles and smiles. I scowled.
Asher was all smirk and winks. A very familiar voice said, “Wow, how cute two little lovebirds exchanging pleasantries between a big crowd of friends.” I turned to my right and saw Camille walking towards us with her phone in her hand, video graphing me and Asher specifically. Winter asked, “What the hell are you doing here, Camille” Camille smirked and looked at me and Asher who had come and stood beside me during her little chat and said, “Seriously, you guys forgot that I live here, huh?” Star asked, “When exactly did you come here?” She said, “When these two were pretty exchanging looks.”
Suddenly, Thomas started shouting and tried to hold his hand but somehow, he was out of his control. We all rushed to him and tried to hold him in place, but he just started jumping around and then everything around me blackens.
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Hello I am G Brinda. Currently pursuing History Hons from Lady Shri Ram college, I am an avid reader and writer, who writes because she has a story to tell and words carry magic. A feminist at heart, I am yet to come out of the rebellious teenage self. A cute and quirky kid with big dreams stuck in a hole called reality. I have a wish list as big as the big bang.
I am a woman, who is bold and beautiful, and there is nothing wrong with being confident and daring. The only thing that keeps me sane is by being drunk on writing. My sanity has been doubted many times because I always disappear into the world of imagination. But books and coffee are to be blamed for that.
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