Sin & Savior

CHAPTER 8, PART 3

She strode through the double doors of her mother's house with a neutral guise, eager to get the longest day of the longest week of her life over with, already on the verge of tears but fighting them fully. Her countenance was that of her place on the basketball court: no feelings here, only fighting. For points, for her place, for the team's prize.

She held the bag that housed the pregnancy test she'd purchased firmly within her clutches as she walked inside and called for her mother's presence towards the living room.

"Hi, honey!" she waved, happy and excited to see her daughter. "I've settled myself down from when we were talking earlier; I think I'm finally ready to go and see him," she said, with her hands folded into her lap as she stood.

"Me too," said Seraphina, eager to see how Alexander was doing in the hospital ever since his transfer. They would take the trip together, so he'd have familiar faces to see when he awoke.

"Mom. I...I thought things over in the car before I got here, and I think..." she said, pausing carefully before saying her next words, "...I think...that Alexander and I might have been drugged a few nights ago at a party we attended," she said, finally heaving the words that had meandered in her mind for the last three hours off of her chest in full.

"The details of how I wound up with no memory of the party, Alex has no memory of the party, Broderick ATTACKED him—and I know I hadn't expressed this part to you yet, but...he claims it's because Alexander attacked him first, and I just don't see a world where that's possible unless he and I were under the influence of some kind of psychoactive drug. But...I don't do drugs, and I doubt Alexander does them either," she said, lungs swelling with conviction.

"No, of course not," her mother said, with her head down and shaking from side to side. "Why would Alexander have been at a party with you and your college friends, Seraphina?" she said, blamingly and maternally unhinged.

"He wasn't!" Seraphina cried, quickly dispelling any belief to the contrary.

"My old colleague Giovanni from the marketing firm that funded my internship freshman year threw a small get-together at his house, and we went there together. It wasn't some college party; I'm not certain I would even consider it a party at all. There were catered meals, and it was pitched to me as more of a networking get-together where I might've been able to meet future sponsors for some athletic brand deals in the future when I'm further in my basketball career. I've only been calling it a party because that's what Ricky called it. In fact, if I recall correctly, Giovanni doesn't even drink, so I doubt he'd have considered it a party either."

Her mother sat silent and judging as she stood there in front of her.

"I need to use the bathroom, Mom," she said, shuffling her feet hurriedly. Seraphina couldn't help but sense that something was off with the way her mother was interacting with her, but she couldn't pinpoint what or why. "I'll be right back."

When she arrived in the bathroom, her heart felt as though it was going to beat out of her chest. She carefully analyzed the box that housed the pregnancy tests for instructions and felt greater and greater discomfort the more she read. She carefully extracted and critiqued the construction of one of the test sticks before uncapping it nauseatingly slowly.

Her life could either forever change in this singular, pivotal moment, or the boulder of anxiety and fear that had been heaving onto her gut for the last few days would alleviate itself.

Fifteen minutes later, wielding two sticks with what the box's instructions informed her were negative results, she'd gotten her dearest wish and most desperate desire. But the lingering question remained: what was going on with her brother and with herself.