Annalise Starke had known her mother was going to die eventually; she just hadn't expected it to happen so soon.
At fifteen she had moved with her mother back to her home country of Australia with half a heart (metaphorically, of course) and her mo...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
𓇼
I was lost to my thoughts as I scrubbed shampoo into my hair, kneading it between my fingers.
I was still torn about Meredith. The one time I'd met her so far, she'd seemed nice enough but there was something there, deeper, lurking beneath the surface that I hadn't quite rooted out.
Now, she almost seemed like the least of my worries since Dad was having her, Cambrie—her daughter, I'd been told—and the rest of our extended family over for a two-birds-one-stone situation. When Aunt Estella was in the room, Meredith seemed like an ant in comparison.
So, I plastered a smile on my face and tried to stay positive. For Dad. I didn't want to go into this dinner with a bad attitude, or expecting it to fail, Dad deserves to be happy again. It's what Mom would've wanted, I reminded myself.
Though, I'm sure they'll do plenty of failing on their own. If Meredith is really his first girlfriend since Mom left, then she's little more than a rebound to help him get comfortable in the dating scene again.
I just have to smile and put up with her while she's here. That's so simple. You can do this—
But could I actually? If I can't even...
"𝑰'𝒎 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒚 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒃𝒂𝒓," I forced the lyrics out, and sang along with the music coming from my phone speakers, not stopping to feel the usual hesitance. "𝑪𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒆, 𝒃𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍," my voice was shaky, but I sang. Something I hadn't done in too long.
I supposed I associated music with Mom—so when she died, I figured it went with her—and that made it nearly impossible to sing, and even more so to even pick up my instrument of choice. But if I could do this, then surely I could survive this.
But somehow, it had resurrected. I didn't know how, or when, but I could feel it in my chest, so palpable, as if it were my own heart.
"𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒂𝒓. 𝑩𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒃𝒐𝒎𝒃𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒍." For a moment, I just stood there, letting the water douse me. I watched as the soapy water swirled down the shower drain, and all I could think was I did it. I did it. Ididit Ididit Ididit!
As I got to the chorus, I heard Sylvie join in from my bedroom. "𝑶𝒉, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚'𝒓𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒅, 𝑰'𝒎 𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰'𝒎 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒐," we sang along.
We'd been listening to Gracie's new album on repeat, and Minibar was quickly becoming my new favorite. Though Sylvie was impartial to Look at my Life.
