Tiger

Chapter 1 - piano

My hands burned from being slapped against my mother's smoothly calloused palms. My fingers quickly, and gracefully glided over the smooth off-white piano keys, as I hoped I wouldn't hit another wrong note.
I hummed the fast paced melody quietly under the loud echo of Bach suite suite no. 1, so mother wouldn't notice, and slap the nape of my neck for not focusing on the melody.
I looked up at the yellow music sheets, wrinkled and faded from years in the attic, looking for the next ten notes to end the song.
Mother noticed my wandering eyes, and pulled the music sheets off from their stand, and stared at me with her dark, disapproving eyes, and her scowling expression. "Focus!" She said loudly in Korean, as she slapped the nape of my neck, right where my skull ended, and the soft flesh of the back of my neck met. Mother stood over me, watching my fingers; waiting for another mistake.
I pulled the melody to a close, and looked up at mother, waiting for a sly comment.
"I pray you know what you did was unacceptable, so i won't even waste my time of day on you." Mother said with a sneer in her voice. She put the music sheets back on top on the music stand, and looked up at the small ivory colored clock, hanging above the door frame of the music room.
"It's 5:13, you should be getting ready for school, now." She pointed towards the portion of the house where my room was with her thin diamond ring covered finger.
"Now." Her voice boomed through the empty house, and it made me shake to the core.
"Yes mother." I said quietly.
I walked back to my room, passed the living room,passed the family room, and up the curving staircase to my room. I quietly opened the door with out a creak, and silently closed the pale white door.
I leaned against it, with my hands still clinging to the brass handle.
I could feel the drowsiness rise through my body, as I pushed my self away from the door, to my bed frame.
My school uniform rested on my white bed sheets, along with a white gold dove necklace that was my mother's, laid out by Hin-su every morning, everyday, since forever.
I sat in the edge of my bed, looking across the mundane setup that mother had requested be done for my room, by a Korean home designer who flew out to North America at my grandfather's expense.
Practically everything was white in my room, except for the light periwinkle walls that could easily be mistaken as white in bright lighting, and the small walk in closet with mirrors as the sliding doors.
I closed my translucent white curtains, and took off my pale blue pajamas.
I took out my appalling beige bra from my closet, and clipped it on. I put on my sheer black leggings that mother almost didn't let me get, after calling it 'whorish', over my plain black underwear with lace edges. I slid on my navy, and dark green plaid skirt, and pulled it up to my belly button to get rid of an extra two inches off my thighs.
I put on my black tank top, and  my navy blue button up sweater, with the dark green 'Hallview Highschool' patch sewn on to the front.
I took two pieces of my thick black hair from the front and sides of my face, and tied them in the back with a small navy blue bow.
I sat down at my wide vanity, and began my lengthy makeup routine of a full face, and eye makeup to go along with it.
I put in some small diamond earrings, and my platinum dove necklace.
I heard a delicate knock on my door, and the fear rushed through me, knowing who it was.
"are you dressed, Lauren?" Mother called.
"Yes, mother." I hurried to clean up my messy vanity, and stood up from my lavender plush seat.
She opened the door, and looked at my outfit coldly.
"Pull down your skirt; it is indecent." I mumbled "whatever" under my breath in english as I pulled my skirt down to my lower thigh. "What was that, Lauren? Do you need to say something?" She said with her skinny hands on her boney hips.
I looked down at my white carpet, and held my hands together. "No, mother." She hurried over to me in her red silk robe, and her red satin slippers with a gold Chinese dragon sewn on.
"Do not disrespect me. I will back hand you in an instant. Don't forget that, you ungrateful brat." She wrapped her boney fingers around my chin tightly, and pushed my chin up to look at her. She stared me in the eyes for a few second to establish dominance, as if I were a dog.
"Yes mother." I silently yelped. Her long fake nails dug into the soft skin of my cheeks, and I bit my lip to try and distract from the pain mother was inducing.
She let go of my face, and i lightly rubbed the indentations mother's nails left on my cheeks, trying to soothe the burning sensation.
"Your make up is even." She said, still looking almost angry.
"Thank you mother." I said quietly.
She swerved around me, and stared in disgust at my hair. "Your hair needs to be cut." She tugged on my long hair, making me jolt backwards."You are far too old to have hair this long".
I regained my balance, and stared angrily at my carpet. I was far too old for everything to my mother.
She checked her diamond encrusted watch, "it's 5:45. Get your shoes, and your bag. You need to leave."
"I need to leave? I thought you were taking me to school today." I asked following Mother out of my room.
"No. You can walk. You're not my problem."
I took my light grey back pack, and my black flats out of the closet.
Mother went over to the balcony of the staircase, and dropped her car keys to the floor right next to where Hin-su was sweeping. "Hin-su, you are to drive Lauren to school, and come back immediately, and begin cleaning. A that understood?"
Hin-su nodded, and bent down to grasp the small keys to Mother's Mercedes.
I quickly went down the flight of stairs to where Hin-su was, and helped her get up from her squatting position.
Hin-su was an immigrant from China, who was the only girl out out of 4 daughters to survive being drowned by her mother, and now she's 79 years old, cleaning for a rich dragon lady and an anti social daughter who does nothing but clean a dustless house, and play piano.
My mother's silver Mercedes waited in the drive way like the lawn ornament it is, and I gave it a dirty scowl from all the fights me and mother had within those two doors.
I looked at Hin-su as she was struggling to decipher what key went to the car. Hin-su barley knew how to drive, even then, she hasn't driven for around 4 years since she takes the bus everywhere.
I took the keys from her hands, "you should waste your time on better things Hin-su, I'll walk."
She laughed and said something in Mandarin, took the keys my hand, and hobbled back inside.
I slumped down behind mother's car to put in my headphones, and crawled behind the neighbor's tall orchids so mother wouldn't see me walking to school in my high-end sheep skin leather shoes. She always had an eye on the security cameras, but didn't really care what they showed unless I was in the recording, probably doing something horrendous.
There were permanent indentation markings from the short heels on my school shoes stamped into the mud In front of the orchids, from when they dried out during the summer. All those stamped marks were from all the times I snuck past the front of the hose so mother wouldn't see me.
I pushed my way through the dense flower bush to my next door neighbors yard, and dusted myself from the debris clinging on to my skirt.