"Sweetie?" my mom's silky voice reaching me through my door. "Dinner's ready. Can you come down?" She opens my door hesitantly.
"Yeah, mom." My voice sound groggy to my own ears. She laughs as I close my mouth which doesn't want to close. My face is half pressed to the bed, I know my face must look messed up but I can't bring myself to care. My eyes close again of their own accord.
"No, no, no." she hums out, pulling my blanket from under me, making me fall on the floor, I moan. Point Velvet! I still do not want to move.
"Well, what did you want me to do? You were on top of the covers, not under them. I wanted to wake you up like the moms in movies." I feel her smile radiating off her person from my spot on the floor. I also know she is biting her lip right now, without even having to look. She can act more like my much older sister sometimes.
"I'll be down in a minute."
"Alright," She bends down to pat my head and dances out of the room.
The smell of homemade tacos reaches my nose. Mmm, my favorite. Special occasion, I think so. The testing! That's what.
I rush to the mirror in the corner of my room. I see a prominent blanket mark on my cheek. Perfect, just perfect. Wiping the sleep out of my eyes, I walk slowly down the stairs and turn to the kitchen.
I inhale deeply, "Smells heavenly." I compliment. It's really great she can cook, I couldn't for the life of me. I'm hoping to marry someone who can cook so we are not lost in this world.
I sit down at our table, three place settings, two people. Mom finishes up, I get up and grab my plastic purple plate. I grab two of the meaty half moons. She put lettuce, tomato, and cheese on them. I know she doesn't like tomato so she must have done that for me. I see her with a disgusted look on her face as she picks the tomato from her taco with two fingers.
I chow down while she stares at the empty place setting. "It's okay, Mom." I say through a mouth of food. I swallow fast and start again, "You know he couldn't control it." I place my hand on her bony shoulder, trying to transfer happiness and light into her soul.
I move her plate away from her. She lays her crossed arms out in front of her, and setting her head gently on top of it. She's a suffer in silence type sometimes, not a sympathy crier. I move my chair beside hers and take her into my arms. I feel tears wet my shirt but I don't care. "Shh, shh, it's going to be okay."
Dad and Mom got married really young, they were so much in love. But then he had to go to the Testing, he tested positive. He never wanted to leave, she never wanted him to leave, but he had to. She thought they were soulmates and that there was no way he could have someone else as a soulmate. The day before he left, they made love, mom got pregnant with me. He left her like that to go pick out someone who he would be with for the rest of his life.
When my dad came back, he didn't he blink an eye at my mom. He was always too busy staring in awe at his new wife and mate for eternity. He brought home a pixie, figures. Pixies are one of the more attractive species, they used to be dangerous but they had sharp teeth filed down to human stubs. They still have cat eyes that can lure and kill you, but they don't use that on their mate. My mom described the fairy as hour glass figure, long orange hair, blue sparkling eyes, and killer in heels.
My mom tried one day to rush up to him, she tried to lay his hand on her pregnant stomach as if to say "This is your child, this is what we made together, not you and her." but he still refused to see her presence. She was heartbroken. His pixie wife threw my mom to the ground for touching her property, I almost died. My dad didn't even care, his face was a blank mask my mom always told me. I will always hate him for that.
She still isn't able to get over losing her other half. I'm hoping I won't test positive so I won't have to leave her. She might be suicidal under the happy mask she tries to hold up to her face.
She sniffles up her tears like a brave woman and starts eating her food, but I know she's not tasting it.
I scoot back to my original place setting and finish up. No need for a morbid atmosphere, this happened many, many years ago.
I stand up to take our plates to the sink, but mom beats me to grabbing hers so I can only carry mine. "I'll do the dishes, why don't you get some sleep, you have a big day tomorrow." She tells me, but I can also hear the silent message, Go, you still have so much to live for.
I run up the stairs, shaking my head. My mom needs to know she still has a lot of her life left. Soulmates know each other and refuse to let go. My dad wouldn't let go if they were true soulmates, he would've refused to take that orange-haired dancing pixie as his wife. My mom and dad never even signed a divorce form, so technically dad's committing polygamy.
I open my squeaking door again to see the moonlight barely giving shine to my room making it look...majestic. Like a waterfall at night.
I close my door and let the tears come and come they do. Yes, a waterfall at night.
What will happen tomorrow? What if I test positive? What will happen to my mom and Alison? Will they miss me? Will mom's already broken spirit shatter some more?
They say when you find your soulmate, you may forget some important parts of your life. I can't bring myself to think about anything or anyone else than Alison and my mom. Will I come back a stranger? Too lost in love to remember the important aspects of life. I sure hope not.
I do my nightly routine of changing into pajamas and brushing my teeth. I'm not someone who brushes their hair before bed, I don't really care about that.
I look to the moon one more time with tired eyes before everything goes black...very slowly.
