Hela On Earth

8-Mochi Cupcakes

Chapter 8: Mochi Cupcakes

Cold hands around a hot mug of tea. Heather's smile. Swinging on the swings. Running home from school. Waking up to the smell of pancakes on a Saturday. Thunderstorms while wrapped in a fuzzy. My favorite tangible feelings, but out of all of these, my very favorite was Heather's beautiful, heart-warming positive smile. It was kind, and made you think everything was perfect, even if it wasn't. Her soft hand ran over my head, smoothing my short hair. My vision was blurry from just waking up, but there she was, smiling at me.

"Hey there, Sim. Feeling better?"

My voice was dry and groggy from sleeping. I was lying on the couch, a red blanket with black tassles wrapped around me. It was made of flannel, and very warm.

"How'd I get in here?" I had never been in Heather's new apartment. It was small, but cozy. There were no doors to the bedroom, only a burnt orange cloth. They were on the ground floor, one window looking out into the street, with an ugly green curtain over it. Bright sunshine illuminated a Turkish-style rug, and paper lanterns were hung in a corner, obviously Heather's lousy attempt to decorate. The whole house was a culture clash, and was very Heather.

"You fell asleep as soon as we reached you. Takashi carried you in." She explained, helping me up. I rubbed my eyes and held the blanket closer as I walked to the tiny kitchen. The floor was a lapis-lazuli colored ceramic tile, and made my toes cold.

She pulled some bread out of a cabinet. Only Heather would put bread in a cabinet. She threw it at me and I barely caught it. Multi-grain-gluten free. I sighed in sadness and ate a piece of the sawdust bread.

"Do you make Takashi eat this crap too?"

"No. Mom wants you to eat this kind." I almost spat it out.

"You told her I was here?" I shrieked, following her though a door that led to Takashi's Asian market. A few customers were inside, but it was a weekday, so the traffic would be slow until about five o'clock. We found him getting crabs out of a tank for someone.

He gave us a wave before handing the bag of wiggly crustaceans to the man. "Hey there, Sima."

"Hi," I said, picking up on of their seven cats. This one was mostly brown with dark brown tiger stripes. I was never good at naming cat breeds. His name was Katoptris, I think. The door opened and the bell above jingled in alarm. "Need any help?"

He shook his head. "Actually, I think Heather's going to take you for an errand." I nodded, and looked for heather. The back door slammed shut and she walked in, drapping her purse over her shoulder.

"Ready to go, Sim? Bye, 'kashi." I cringed as they gave each other a quick kiss. Heather stuck her tongue at me and ruffled my hair. "Come on, you dope." We stepped outside, and I was expecting on of Fury's agents, like Luciya or Gray from last night, to jump on my back and pound me, but the street was quiet. Heather's car was in the back alley way, battered and rusty as usual. The inside had nice seats though, squishy and soft. The sky was mostly clear, a few clouds here and there. On the thermometer , it said the temperature was seventy-eight.

"Where are we going?" I asked, once we were on our way downtown, or really, uptown.

"Considering that you're turning eleven on Friday, I thought we'd go out for cupcakes?" I fist pumped in excitement. Short story short, cupcakes were one of my favorite things in the whole wide world. Seriously, I have a grudge against Misty for not liking cupcakes.

The traffic got slower and louder the closer we got to central Manhattan, or more specifically, Theater District. On red lights, we counted how many ads we spotted on taxi's for One Direction's latest tour. By the tenth light, we counted twenty-six. Finally, we reached 57th Street, and walked into City Fresh Cupcakes. I laughed evilly and rubbed my hands together as we stepped inside. The floor of the bakery was cobblestone brick, and the walls were an industrious gray. To my delight, nothing was pink, or overly girly. Not to mention, they had the best cupcakes. Ever. City Fresh was really more of a café, they served hot drinks, and gave free wi-fi, but we never ate inside.

"What are you getting?" I asked Heather. She ran her hand under her chin thoughtfully, staring at the glass partition between her face and the cupcakes.

"There are so many flavors. What the heck is a Mochi cupcake?"

I shrugged. "Mochi's Japanese I think. Ask your boyfriend." After gazing at the deserts for a while, I finally made a decision. "I think I'll get the Caramel Cream cupcake." The Caramel Cream cupcake tasted exactly like Caramel Caribou ice cream, it was ridiculous.

"One Caramel Cream, one Chocolate, one Red Velvet." Heather told the cashier. She nodded and her assistance pulled out the cupcakes. My feet did a little jig when she handed them to me.

We headed up three blocks to Central park. Usually we went for a long walk before digging into the heavenly goodness. I was given the responsibility of cake bearer.

"So what's the deal with showing up at two in the morning at my apartment beaten up, tired, and sweaty?"

"Did you know Mom works for SHIELD?" I blurted out suddenly, then quickly covering my mouth. That was a terrible thing to say. I don't deserve my cupcake.

Yes, I do. It's my birthday on Friday.

And then Heather nodded. She nodded yes. She knew. "W-wait! You knew? And you didn't tell me?"

"They made me sign a contract that I wouldn't tell anyone."

I skipped to keep up with her long strides up the east sidewalk. "Did you know about me?" Heather picked a shady tree suddenly, and we stopped to eat. The shelter of the tree felt good under the constant beating of the sun.

"I knew you were adopted, and then SHIELD came and said you had to be protected and watched for sign's of supernatural behavior. I thought they were joking, but then you started to literally flicker, and sometimes disappear, and I knew they weren't lying." A group of cyclists rode past, almost running over an old lady taking a morning stroll.

I found myself spilling everything that had happen to Heather. She didn't say a word until I was finished, and I knew she would let me talk and talk and talk.

"But after all the kidnapping and stuff, I found this prisoner guy, who was apparently Thor's brother, Loki. He was calling me a monster, but then later Fury told me I was his freaking daughter! I thought my dad would be something better, not a maniacal, power-hungry Asgardian. He made my skin turn blue, Heather, like a..." I wasn't sure what to call myself anymore. Not human, not anymore at least.

"Monster?" Heather suggested. I nodded, not wanting to say that to myself. I believed in self-confidence, but I wasn't prepared for any of this. "Simmy, you've never been a monster. I don't care if your own dad says so. You aren't what your birth says you are! You're sweet, thoughtful, intelligent, creative, graceful, courageous...Sim, you can't let other people define who you are!" I found myself on the verge of tears at Heather's kind words. She wrapped her arms around my neck and rocked me back and forth. This was my family. My adoptive mother betrayed me, my real father was evil, and I was a complete mess. I wasn't related to Heather biologically, but I can tell you she was as sister as sister gets. We were a team, and I'd do anything for her, because she'd do anything for me.

"Thanks, Heather," I choked out, "just for being here for me."

"You don't get emotional enough, Simmy. I'll have to make you watch Pride and Predjudice." She said sarcastically. I moaned in terror.

"Oh my god, I hate that movie!"

"Actually, it's 'oh my gods." She corrected jokingly.

"Ugh," I groaned, picking off the last crumbs of my cupcake before disposing the wrapper in a nearby garbage can. "Don't remind me." Heather raced me to the rocks near the front of the park. She had longer legs, but I had better endurance, so I ended up beating her. She was panting like a dog while I stood triumphant on the summit of the rocks. It was about one o'clock when we decided to head back home.