"Come in! Come in, please."My mom laughs when she sees the small group of them standing in the middle of the front porch, not making any efforts to come inside once the door is open. She follows them with her eyes, a giant smile plastered on her face as she prepares to be a great host tonight.
I can already tell that this is going to be a long night...
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They move like a pack of wolves as they enter my house. It feels as if I am watching a school of fish swim from one destination to another. The whole family moves as one unit. They are completely in sync with each other just like birds flying in a pattern in the sky. It is like they all know the other's next move before they even know it themselves.
Everyone picks a seat at the table and waits awkwardly until we are allowed to eat. The new family chose a very strange seating pattern. It is not one you would expect. The mother, sat next to my mother. The father, you guessed it, next to my dad. With me being the only child, two of the children from next door sat on either side of me. The third sits at the head of the table next to my father
Not one of them chose to sit next to each other. Why?
My mother invites them to begin eating. Almost as if in sync, they all lift their forks and immediately stick a fork down into the chicken breasts on their plates.
"So, I'm Stephanie and this is my husband Todd. And that is our only daughter, Roslyn." My mom beams as she introduces us to the new family .
"I'm John."
"Jane."
"Jackie."
"James."
"Julie."
The four of them speak one after another, perfectly, as if they have reversed this a thousand times. First the father, followed by the mother, and then each of their three kids.
I nod and stare at my plate to avoid looking at any of them. Weirdos. Why do all of their names start with a J? I hate when families match names like that. It just creeps me out. I like a bit of variety. Is that too much to ask for?
Now I am going to have to think to remember their names. If they all had different letters, it wouldn't be so difficult to tell them apart.
My mother and father break off into conversation with their parents, leaving me feeling awkward with the three children staring at me like I am an interesting and new animal at the zoo they are visiting. I can't help but feel like an outsider in my own home.
"Can I help you?" I ask, still unable to lift my gaze from my plate. I don't like being stared at. Most people don't. Do these people not know their manners? Did their mother never teach them how to behave at a dinner when they are someone's guests?
"Why does it look like you've been mauled like a bear?" The son asks me, point blank. Damn, he is very to the point isn't he? I think his name was Jake or something?
"James!" His sister says angrily. James, that's his name. Got it. "You can't ask someone that!" She finishes scolding him, smacking him on the arm lightly.
I ignore her protest and answer his question honestly. "Because I was." I say with a touch of attitude in my voice. What makes him think he has the right to ask me a question like that? He doesn't even know me. That was very bold of him.
"Can I touch it?" He asks, his hand hovering over a section of my arm where it's paw slashed me.
I raise an eyebrow. If I didn't think this family was weird already, this would definitely make me think they are not normal at all. Who is this guy? Why are they all so weird? Did this family come straight from the circus or something?
"Sure?" I reply, almost curious as to why he wants to touch my arm. I am totally weirded out right now. This is making my skin crawl.
James slowly lowers his hand onto my arm, lightly grazing my wound with his fingertips. I can feel his skin on my stitches, pulling at them slightly, dislodging the scabs underneath them. His eyes widen and he yanks his hand away, clutching it to his chest. "Oh no." He closes his eyes.
His mother and father whip their heads around as he stands quickly out of his seat.
"Oh no what?" I stand up too. "What is going on?" I ask, wondering what caused that reaction from him. Before long, everyone is standing, confused as to why.
"I need to leave. I'm sorry. I just remembered something I had to do ." He walks straight for the door, not looking up at anyone. He covers his mouth and nose with his hand as he rushes out. The door slams behind him and he runs.
"We should go check up on him." His parents say in unison. I swear this family is a bunch of robots or something like that. They do everything at exactly the same time. "Come on girls. We need to see if your brother is okay." The mom says. "Dinner was lovely. Thank you. Maybe we can do this again sometime?" She asks as she ushers the rest of her family out my front door.
I sit back down, so confused as to what just happened.
My mom gasps as she turns back to me. I know she is wondering what I did to scare him away. She is probably going to yell at me for ruining dinner. But I didn't do anything! I was nice and polite! I even let him touch my arm despite it being totally creepy!
My mom covers her mouth and stares at me.
"What? You too?" I ask. Do I just freak everyone out? Why is she covering her face too?
"Honey, your arm." She says, lifting it up to see it closer. "It's bleeding."
I nod. James must have dislodge the scabs enough to make it bleed. Small trickles of blood form, falling down my arm and gravity pulls them that way. I walk over to the sink and begin cleaning off my arm and the wound.
Thinking about it, I guess the whole thing king of makes sense now. James must be queasy. Seeing me bleed would definitely make a queasy person vomit. I totally get it.
AN: how did I do with the descriptions in this chapter? I tried to be better and more detailed!
