The Queen of The Skies

Chapter 2

When she entered the house, Cerry was greeted by the lovely smell of frying eggs and her mother's sweet voice. 

"Cerry is that you?" she called from the kitchen, which was a room over. 

"Yeah. Morning Mom," Cerry called back.

"Aren't you going to be late?"

Cerry glanced at her phone and almost cursed when she saw the time. Those extra 2 km had not been a good idea.

"I'll be ready in a few minutes," she responded, dashing to her room to get ready. She took a quick shower. When she was done she yanked on a blue t-shirt, black skinny jeans, and then went to the mirror, to brush her hair.

"Woah," she whispered, gaping at her reflection. There were dark circles under her eyes and her bright blue eyes had lost their color. She looked so dull and lifeless. She was glad her mother hadn't seen her this morning. She usually went for her run and came back before her parents were awake, then in the evening when they had dinner together, she had make up on.

She quickly snapped out of her trance and applied hint a make up, hiding the black circles and trying to look as natural, bright as possible. Then she stuffed all her school books into her bag and grabbed her phone. With one last check in the mirror she rushed out of her room and into the kitchen.

"You look great," her mom complimented, placing a plate of toast and eggs in front of her. 

"Thanks."

"So. How was the run?"

"It was good," she answered, leaving out the part that she had run 7 kilometers and the strange feeling she couldn't shake off that something or even someone had been watching her.

"You know...if something is going on you can tell me," her mom said standing in front of the table.

"What do you mea-"

Her mom held up a hand, interrupting Cerry," I know what's going on. You don't have to lie to me by saying everything is okay."

Cerry just stared at her mom, eyebrows furrowed.  Slowly shaking her head she said, "Mom there's nothing wrong."

"What about the fact that you don't get enough sleep? I hear you moving around at weird hours in the morning. Plus you have never liked putting on makeup. Now all of a sudden you apply a weird, cheap concealer. You're hiding something obviously." 

Cerry resisted the urge to bolt from the room as her mom stared her down. It was so hard to hide things from her mother's observant eyes. She didn't want to tell her Mom about her strange dreams. Her parents had enough to worry about. Their jobs didn't pay that well, and bills had not been paid for months now, due to the saving they were doing for her college tuition.

"Well..." Cerry swallowed nervously.  She glanced at her watch knowing she was going to be late and started making an excuse when someone cleared their throat.  Relieved, Cerry glanced at the door to find her father watching them. 

"Morning Dad," Cerry smiled a grateful smile. 

"Cerry," her Dad smiled back. When he looked at her mom his smile faded.

"Cerry, you should get going," her mom said, as she turned back to the second batch of eggs she was making, avoiding his gaze.

"Alright. See you later!" Cerry waved, grabbing her bag. She rushed out of the room not waiting for their reply. She sighed in relief, she had escaped her mother's interrogation.

When she reached the front door she slipped on her blue adidas falcon sneakers and opened the door, walking out. Before she closed the door behind her,  a cold breeze blew from the forest and Cerry shivered. Not wanting to freeze before getting to school she reentered the house and took her black jacket off the coat rack by the door. As she turned to go back outside, her parent's voices stopped her in her tracks.