Ethan Chase
I drove back to my house, Mel already in the backseat.
"So what did you do today?" Asks Mel.
"I went to a friend's house to finish homework," I tell her.
"Why didn't you just do it at home?" She asks. "It's called homework, right? So you do it at home."
"Yeah, but it's because this is a project and I had to write down the times the baby cried-"
"YOU HAVE A BABY? What's it's name? Can it play soccer like you? Is it a girl? Let's make it a girl! Can I dress her up in dresses and make her attend tea parties!?" Melanie shrieks.
"Woah, calm down little one, don't want to burst a lung there. And it's a doll, Mel. Not an actual kid."
"Oh I have dolls. Is it a Barbie? I like Barbies. I didn't know you played with Barbies, Ethan." Melanie giggles into her tiny hand.
I'm about to explain to her that it's not a Barbie, when I decide that telling her it's a Barbie is much easier than getting the idea out of her head.
"I love playing with Barbies," I told her.
"Can you play with me at home? I was playing with Aunt Esmeralda but then she started talking about mommy being irre... Illis...."
"Irresponsible?" I ask.
"Yeah!" She shrieks.
Oh no.
"What else did she say?"
"She said that mommy was going to have to leave. That we would have to stay with her. Will we? I don't want mommy to leave."
I don't respond her question.
If this means what I think it does, then maybe Mel can finally be happy. And so can I.
"I think mommy will leave, but only for a little bit. Mommy will have to go to the convention of unicorns and....uh... learn about unicorns."
Melanie's eyes widened so much I thought they would pop.
"I wanna go to the unicorn con... com... tent.." Melanie struggled to say the word.
I laugh. "Convention."
"Yeah that," she nods a little too enthusiastic.
"It's only for women though," I tell her, with fake disappointment. "You can't go."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Melanie says, puffing out her chest. "I'm a full grown wow man."
"Woman," I correct her.
"Yeah that too."
"Well there are boys at this convention too," I tell her. Even though there is no convention, and no boys.
"Ewwwww," she says, wrinkling her nose. "I think I'll not go then."
I smile triumphantly and keep driving. We should be home in a few minutes.
Then Melanie breaks the silence again.
She screams.
"Ethan there's something back there!!!"
"Mel don't joke like that," I chide.
"No Ethan really, look!!!"
Melanie kept saying "look, look, look" for five minutes.
And so I pulled over, I got off the car and went to the trunk.
I opened it and there lay the devil child, crying it's lungs out.
YOU ARE READING
Reality
Teen Fiction"Ethan?" He doesn't look at me. "Hey," I say. "I'm sorry," he mumbles. Now I'm getting scared. "For?" I ask. Ethan shakes his head. "That. It wasn't supposed to happen." "The interruption or the kiss?" I ask, hoping he says the interruption. Ethan...