Make it Through

Mother Figure

The boys saw that I was afraid and they tried to calm me saying things like “just give her a chance and don’t be afraid she’s the nicest person you’ll ever know.” I didn’t know what to think. Maybe if I just pretend until I’m rescued then everything would be fine. The doorbell rang again and Jack ran to the door. The door had at least ten locks, there were a few ones that I couldn’t reach. When he had almost all the locks undone, they had me stand in front of the door way, I was shaking terribly. A woman stuck her head through the door and whispered to Fran. Fran nodded and the woman came through the door. She wore what looked like a red silky shirt with a diamond necklace and earing and had on a nice pair of dress slacks. She looked like a business woman and she was really pretty. She looked young for a mother of four. Her face was smooth with no wrinkles. Her makeup was just right and she looked like she had a professional do it, along with her long black curly hair that looked like mine; it was styled to perfection. She was average weight and tall. I wasn’t so scared anymore. She reminded me of mommy’s pictures, an angel’s face.

This seemingly unflawed woman walked over to me. “Hello Crystal. My name is Mary, but you can call me mom.” I didn’t know what to say I stood there unsure, feeling shy. “Oh. I see she’s a little shy right now but she’ll get used to it.” I looked down at her my eyes wide still unsure.

“Mother she isn’t shy, she has a smart mouth.” Damn Jack. I wanted to look over to him but my eyes wouldn’t leave Mary’s face.

“Well I wonder why. After the way you treated her and the way all those men have, I don’t blame her.” I liked what she was saying and started liking her a little bit more.

“We didn’t do anything to her, just broke her in.” She looked at the eldest.

“You are not to do that again, this is your sister, your sweet little sister.” She took my hand in hers and said, “Come dear, let’s go to your room and I’ll do your nails. Doesn’t that sound like fun?” I still couldn’t talk so I just nodded my head. She led me up the stairs to the room that I was in when I changed my clothes. “I hope they didn’t frighten you too much, my boys are a handful. She sat me down at a desk that had a giant silver mirror. She pulled out one of the drawers and took out a silver brush, it was actual silver. I looked in the mirror looking at myself, I was a mess. My hair had knots in it and I looked tired. She brushed the tangles and knots out of my hair as carefully as she could. She started to hum something I’ve never heard before. I liked getting my hair brushed. I didn’t totally know her yet and because I’m me, I counted how many strokes she did. When she got to one hundred she stopped. “You know this is what my mother used to do with me when I was your age.” I don’t think I could relate to her because my real mother was dead and I knew nothing about her. Not her childhood or anything that had to do with a grandmother.

“Wow, that’s cool.” I was finally able to speak without a shaky voice. She gave me a small hug.

“It is, in fact I want to do everything with you that my mother used to. “Would you like me to do your nails now?” I was lost in the moment; I had always wanted to have my nails done with another girl. Cody would try his best but it’s not the same, I decided to make the best of it well it lasted. I quickly nodded my head and she left the room. Seconds later she came back with a huge box. She opened it and I saw all the different nail polishes. Some were dark and bright, some small and big and some were glow in the dark and sparkly. There were so many choices, I felt overwhelmed. I saw her stare and I picked out the first one that caught my eyes. It was a slim tube that was a light blue and had sparkles.

“I like this one!” I said with a sudden urge of excitement. She looked at me with approving eyes and began rubbing something over my nails. She took this stick thing and pushed the skin that was over my nails back, it hurt a little. She told me they were my cuticles. She did one coat; put my fingers under some sort of dryer for nails. Then did a second coat and put it under again. When they completely dried she put little flower jewels over them. My nails looked so pretty.