Under Her Skin

Chapter 4

Police Officer: How did Sunny and Selena meet?

Me: It started when she followed her home.

***

The door opened to the smell of ramen. Yummy. Dinner. The Wong family was sat around the table, rotating their dishes in the time of day called night. Sunny ate a lot today because her parents told her fat kids were harder to kidnap.

"I saw somebody," Sunny said slurping her noodles. As much as she tried, Sunny just couldn't hold any secrets in.

"At the park? A new friend?" Hiram asked from across the table.

"No. I would never. She was smoking, and that's bad."

"She was smoking?!" Lyssa put down her chopsticks, and her eyebrows furrowed. Everybody stopped chewing.

"Yeah. That's what I thought too."

"How old is she? Is she okay? What school does she go to?" Lyssa said, like a detective on a new case.

"I think she's fine. She looks older. I don't know."

"Did she hurt you?"

"No. She was just smoking."

"Oh my. She better not go to Wrestler," said Lyssa. "She's a horrible influence on you."

"I know, that's why I didn't talk to her."

"You never know what's in those cigarettes. I know so many innocent young girls who..." Hiram paused, searching for the right words. "Drugged and kill and die," he finally added. Sunny looked frightened by such big bad thoughts. She kept picking her nails under the table; only then was she able to open up and breathe.

"Mom, Dad, I know that smoking is bad. You don't have to worry, I would never," she said, like a sweet lollipop.

"My smart girl," said Hiram with a spreading grin.

"No Hiram, my smart girl," said the Mom. He laughed knowing that Lyssa always liked to win.

* * *

40 empty boxes. 40 empty boxes and Sunny had finally finished. She rushed to her Mom. Puppy eyes and a cute smile sent her out the door and to the woods again. We sat down on her rock and listened to the silence as if we were sisters.

The wind blew past, the pigments unfolded above, and for a moment everything was captured in all its beauty— an unforgettable sunset. It was a magnificent view and not even a photograph could display the beauty she saw with her own eyes.

Sunny seemed curious; I imagine she was still thinking about the girl, wondering if she'd ever see her again. She never did.

Until today. In her timidity, she was just about to turn away, but when she looked over, the girl was crying. Sunny walked over and took the seat next to her anxiously and forcefully. She was just going to swing for a bit, and then fake a phone call and leave like nothing ever happened.

The girl was so caught up in crying that she didn't notice that the swing beside her was occupied. At some point, she sniffled her nose, turned around, and said, "What the fuck are you looking at?" It pulled Sunny out of her funk immediately. The snob was rude.

"Uh... I just saw that you were crying, so I thought that..." The girl squinted her eyes and shook her head.

"Phhh. Like you give a shit." Sunny noted that she had a really bad attitude and the worst vocabulary.

"You look like you need a little stress relief if you don't mind me saying."

"Ok, you want to know what's going on? I was drunk, and I accidentally called my new boyfriend by my old boyfriend's name. And now he's mad at me. There, now can you get the fuck out of here and mind your own damn business?"