elysian » sequel to orphic

2

The world can be a nasty place
You know it, I know it, yeah
We don't have to fall from grace
Put down the weapons you fight with

Kill 'em with kindness
Kill 'em with kindness
Kill 'em, kill 'em, kill 'em with kindness
Kill 'em with kindness
Kill 'em with kindness
Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead now

READ AUTHORS NOTE
Justice:

As I pull up to McKena's middle school, I can tell she's getting anxious. I drive my car through the drop off part of the parking lot and stop the car, waiting for my daughter to get out.

"Mom." Kena says, her voice breaking, "Please don't make me go."

"Baby, what's wrong?" I ask her, "Why don't you want to go to school?"

"You won't understand. Just please don't make me go." She begs.

Just as I'm about to reply, a teacher walks up and taps on the passenger window.

I roll down the window as Kena tries to hide how red her face is.

"Can I help you?" I ask the teacher.

"You're holding up the line. You need to drop and leave." The teacher says rudely.

"Sorry it will just be a moment, I need to talk to my daughter, she's having a rough morning."
I tell the teacher.

"Now. Before I write you up." The teacher says, as she writes my license plate number on a sheet of paper, "I don't care if she's having a bad day."

That's it.

"Well you can take that write up and shove it up your ass." I snap at her and pull out of line. Screw it, McKena and I will play hooky today.

McKena looks at me with wide eyes.

"Okay McKena Tiffany," I tell her, focusing on the road, "Here's the deal. We're going to both take the day off, we can go shopping and go out to eat but you are going to tell me what's going on. Deal?"

She nods her head vigorously.

So we head to a little, chic restaurant and order food. I quickly call in sick to work after McKena and I order.

I'm a child's rights lawyer. I love my job. It lets me get all my pent up frustrations out while defending children. I'm a bit of a shark in the courtroom but it's my job. I got my degree at Berkeley when McKena was about six. Now Jake is a stay at home dad while I make the big bucks. Thankfully, my job pays really well and enables us to move every few years when people start to get suspicious. Unfortunately, soon we'll have to say the McKena is my sister and not my daughter because she's already taller than I am. Plus, I look like a seventeen year old while Jake looks about twenty-five... It's not very believable that we have a fourteen year old daughter. We can get away with the twins because they're still babies but not McKena anymore.

I order a mushroom and pepper omelet while McKena orders pancakes and bacon. Sometimes I forget that biologically, we're not related. She looks so much like Embry but she has the attitude of Lily.