FAMILIAR | Spot Conlon

Chp. 38: Home Sweet Home

We pull up to the manor and I step out into the cold fresh air.

"Home sweet home" We step through the front doors of the manor and I immediately smell the fumes from the kitchen. It smells like fish.

I hate fish.

"Yous can untie me now" I say. Sometime over when I was pretending to have an accent it actually happened. Now it's just how I talk.

"Oh yes" One of the butlers comes and cuts the ropes free. I rub my wrists that have been chafed and bloodied from the ropes.

"Go unpack" I look around me at all the stuff I don't have.

"Oh I see. Well then go change and bring your clothes down when you're done"

I go upstairs and walk into my bedroom. It looks the exact same. I thought she would've done something to it since I've been gone so long. I find some shorts and a shirt in my dresser and change into it. I gather all my clothes but leave my hat up in my room. It doesn't need to be washed anyway. I walk downstairs with all my newsie clothes in my arms. I see my mom and bring them to her.

"Ya wanted ta wash these?" I hand the clothes out to her.

"Wash? My goodness no!" She takes them and walks over to the fireplace. Before I can respond to what she's doing she drops all my clothes into the fireplace.

"NO!" I try to get to her but I am held back by one of the butlers.

"Let me go!" I scream at the butler.

He doesn't let go and I eventually stop fighting him. Hurting my mom won't change a thing. She still burned my clothes.

"We're hosting a party for you tonight darling" I raise my eyebrows at my mom.

"Why"

"To reintroduce you into society" I laugh and she looks at me like nothing is funny.

"Yous gotta be kiddin me. Next your gonna tell me I gotta wear a fancy dress and shit"

"Yes you have to wear a dress and do your hair nice"

"What if I's just do ma hair?" I loosely pull my hair into a messy bun and point at it.

"Like this" She stays silent so I take it out.

"No. The least you can do is wear a dress"

"Fine"

"Please don't tear it up and make another "project" out of it"

She puts up air quotes on the word project. She must be talking about my last masterpiece before I left.

"Why don't you get ready. It starts in a few hours"
~~~~
I go into my room and quietly shut the door. She was stupid to trust me to not escape again. I go over to the window and see why she was so confident. She put locks on the windows that can only be opened from outside. Shit what am I gonna do now. She won't trust me to go outside. I guess I don't have a choice, I have to go to this stupid party.

I see the dress she has put on my bed. It is actually really beautiful. The top half is a gold floral pattern with a deep vneck. The bottom is a chiffon white long skirt that is open in the front. I see a pair of sparkly gold heels next to it on the bed.

I put it on and adjust it a bit. I thought about wearing my newsie hat with it but then I realized my mom would've just burned it too. I decide to paint my nails the same gold as the dress.

"Someone's here for you!" My mom yells from downstairs.

"Who is it?" I yell back.

"Someone named Spot" Spot? What the hell is he doing here.