Dwellings On The Past ~ (Lorraine's daughter)

Counselor

"Linda!" I hear my mom call from downstairs. While sighing I get up from my desk chair and walk towards the stairs. As soon as I reach the bottom of them I see Katie standing in the door. She looks kind of freaked out.

"Oh God, you're okay." she says while walking over to hug me in quick steps. "Stop using God's name so often." I mumble in her ear as she holds her arms around me tightly. Her hugs are very comforting. No one beats my mom, though.

"I thought there was something seriously wrong with you. You weren't in science and then I met Miss Johnson. She was talking a whole lot of shit." Katie tells me while placing her backpack next to the door and getting off her shoes. She's not that concerned quickly, so my teacher must've told her a whole lot of things.

While Katie's still struggling with her shoes I glance at my mom who's still standing close to us. I know she's concerned as well, mostly about how Miss Johnson treated me and how she talks about me now. "You can stay for dinner, Katie." she says when my best friend finally gets rid of her shoes. "We're having Swedish meatball casserole." she informs her. It's Judy's favorite meal.

"Thank you, Lorraine." she says cheerly before we watch my mom walk away. Katie and me are best friends since kindergarten. Because we've known each other for so long our families are friendly as well.

While we walk upstairs Katie already begins to question me. "Okay so, first. You still have to tell me about that story of yours. Everything until the point we met. And then I really wanna know what happened with Miss Johnson. Like, why did she talk about you like she thought you're insane? She was so convincing I almost considered believing her." she tells me. And she keeps on talking until she jumps on my bed and presses my stuffed animal Larry to her chest. He's a raven and I have him since birth. Maybe I'm too old for stuffed animals, but Katie doesn't mind or things it's weird so I'm okay with it as well.

I start to tell her about last night and what I saw. She's listening carefully, taking in all the information I tell her. She takes a special interest in the part where I kind of spied on my parents. "So..." Katie mumbles. She's still laying in my bed while I'm sitting at my desk. "You have visions like your mom. That is so insanely cool. Oh, and you were late because you promised your mom you would be careful and then you went on and investigated the exact thing she was worried about?" she questions. When she says it like that it sounds like I really did a bad thing. And I didn't even tell my parents about that. At least not yet.

"You know what, that's cool." she states. "You're a badass. Now you just need to work on that style of yours." she comments. I can practically feel her judge my outfit. But I like my long skirts and my fancy tops. Besides, I feel like I have a piece of my mom always with me. Katie is the complete opposite of me. I don't think I've ever seen her wearing a skirt or dress or any color lighter than a light gray. She's like a black cat who would prefer it if it was raining. Like, raining all the time.

"Yeah, you know, never gonna happen." I say and she laughs. I'm so thankful for her. She's been with me since the beginning and she never left. When all my other friends left because they didn't wanna be friends with a lunatic or a crazy person, she was the only one who stayed. And somehow she got me through it. Well, at some point with the help of my parents. I didn't wanna tell them at first.

"I mean, your style is kinda cute. Just not badass." she says. I smile at her. "I'm taking that as a compliment." I inform her and she laughs. "You're hearing whatever you wanna hear."

I continue to tell her about what happened today at school. About the note and the other vision I had. "Was it Mavka hic habitat?" Katie asks when I finish the story. My eyebrows are furrowed when I look at her. "Yes, how do you know?"

"Are you mad if I tell you I found that note? It was your handwriting, I'd recognize that ugly- Sorry. But I found it." she tells me. "Okay, you can close your mouth now. You know, I think you're a bad spy."

"Yeah, okay, okay." I mumble. "What does it mean?"

"Mavka lives here or Mavka dwells here. Something like that." Katie informs me. Well, that doesn't clear anything up at all. It all just gets more confusing. "What?" my best friend's voice interrupts my thinking. "Come on, I can practically see that pretty brain of yours working overtime. What is it?"

I sigh while sitting down on my bed next to her. "This was supposed to clear things up. Explain why my parents are so worried. I'm afraid it did quite the opposite." I complain.

"This may sound rational coming from me... but, you could just ask them." she suggests. I quickly look to my right at her. "Oh, you must be sick. Where's that "I'll do everything on my own" attitude?" I tease her. She smiles at me, her lips are still deep red. She must've refreshed the lipstick before she came over. "Listen, that only applies to me and my parents. But Lorraine and Ed, they're like the most open and loving people I can imagine. And I can imagine a lot."

"Are you saying I should just talk to them?" I wonder, even though I'm quite sure that's exactly what she's saying. She looks at me, then at the picture I drew a few weeks ago that's decorating my wall now and then back to me. I think I've never seen her so deep in thought. Okay, maybe I have. But still, this is rare.

Finally Katie looks at me, a proud smile on her face. "Yes, I think you should. At least to your mom." she suggests. I consider her advice for a few seconds. "Alright, talking it is!"

Not long later my mom calls us downstairs to set the table. Judy already helped her make the food and dad always cleans up after. "Katie!" Judy cheers exactly when she spots my best friend and me walk into the dining room. She rushes over and hugs her and Katie shares her excitement. I quickly set the table while the two are busy greeting each other.

"You know, Judy. I'm your sister." I say, "Aren't you happy to see me too?" I wonder and she looks at me, her arms are still wrapped around Katie though. "I am. I just saw you already today.
Katie's not here always." she explains. I chuckle while walking to a chair to sit down. My foot still hurts.

"I'll try to not be too offended." I tell her and she laughs before sitting down herself. My parents walk in with the food and soon after we're eating with light conversation filling the room. Judy's telling us about her day while I keep quiet. Most people at the table already know about my day anyway.