Ophelia Drowned

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"What were you doing at the Oasis?" asked Veronica. I had asked her to pick me up a block down so she wouldn't ask that, but I guess she was a little smarter than I gave her credit for.

"I have to get some stuff from home." Subject changed, I kept my tone stiff. If I didn't she would just assume we could talk and bond or something. She wasn't forgiven for ruining my life yet. Admittedly, I never planned on forgiving her at all.

"No problem," she said with a huge smile. Why was she still so peppy? Weren't pregnant ladies supposed to feel sick all the time and complain about their raging hormones? Why did fate hate me enough to curse me with a step mom who's worst traits were being happy and nice? A girl with an evil stepmother could get a little sympathy once in a while, but not me. I was stuck with miss 'sparkles and puppy dogs and save-the-rainforest-'. "This is going to be fun, Maggie. I really hope we get a chance to talk."

She was going in for the kill. The squished, woolen hat on her head made her look like a mushroom- a really frumpy one in layers of thrift store finds that she was trying to pass as a winter coat. In her lap, Bastion was shaking in a tiny red dog sweater that had the words 'Mama's Boy' in puffy white letters. Much like an especially gross horror movie, I didn't want to see it but I couldn't quite look away.

It wasn't the first time that I had to wonder why Dad had settled for this. Was his self-esteem really so low?

"Whatever," I sighed. My heart was still racing a little from that close encounter on the Oasis's roof but I could feel that rush dissolving. I wished Hex hadn't insisted on riding his bike home. Maybe Veronica would have been tolerable if he had been here. Then again, she would probably have asked a million annoying questions and I'd have never seen him again. Maybe. Though I had thought that before.

Bastion hurtled from Veronica's lap into mine and pressed his cold nose against my own, sniffing me up and down. His black devil eyes looked like they might literally pop out of his sockets as his tongue unfurled from his mouth like a wet, pink flag to declare his discovery of the territory of Maggie. A brief image of a tiny red sweatered dog being tossed out the car window crossed my mind but chances were good that Veronica wasn't going to let that one slide- and she would probably still be nice about it.

"So." Veronica was smirking now. Smirks were just annoying in general, but a smirk from Veronica was positively noxious. To make it worse, she didn't really follow that 'so' with anything- unless a weirdly persistent smile counted. She was waiting for me to do something stupid like ask, 'so what?'.

I slouched and said, "So how long do I have to stay with you?"

"Oh Maggie, don't change the subject!"

"There is no subject!" I reminded her, releasing my finest grin of sarcasm.

"Oh yes there is," she snorted. "Here's a clue, it rhymes with 'Sex'."

"Oh God," I groaned, this suddenly felt more like a cage than a vehicle. Forget Bastion! Now I wanted to throw myself out of the car.

"Or 'Flex', or 'Rex'" she continued. "But it starts with an 'H' not an 'R'-"

"I got it," I cut her off. On second thought I could see exactly why Dad was with this woman- they both had the uncanny ability to make anything they said as socially repulsiveas possible.

"C'mon, Maggie!" she pressed. "How was your date?"

"It wasn't a date," I grumbled. At least she had stopped trying to rhyme words with 'Hex'.

I almost told her about the funeral just to wipe that grin off her face, but it would just lead to more questions, which would just lead to more of Veronica who had somehow gotten it into her head that we were suddenly the best of friends.

I dodged the rest of her questions with short, to the point answers and eventually she gave up and turned on the radio.

"You don't have to come in," I said, flatly, when we pulled up to my house. The car door was slammed before she could get out a decent response. But it wasn't really an issue. Veronica never came into this house. It was my family's house, the house I grew up in, the house where my parents had been happy, until they weren't. Now it was just a place for tinsel trees and cold white furniture. But it didn't matter if home was a little out of order these days. It was still home, which meant that it was Veronica-free.

I felt it before I heard it. Ellie's terrible music was filling the house so thoroughly that the door knob felt like it had a pulse.

I closed the door behind me and tracked in snow, leaving watery shoe prints in the carpet. By the time I had climbed the stairs and wandered into my own room, my eardrums were throbbing.

At least Dad's place would be quiet.

I didn't hurry to choose my clothes. I picked through my closet and dresser carefully, matching socks to sweaters to underwear. Not that I really cared about that stuff, but the time put into it would give Veronica one more reason not to be excited the next time I had to stay over. If there was a next time- which I was hoping there wouldn't be.

After exhausting ten minutes, I had run out of ideas and my bag was getting a little heavier than it needed to be. I pulled the strap over my shoulder and was about to leave the room, when I noticed the small wooden jewelry box on my dresser was sitting slightly open. I wasn't really surprised when I approached it and saw a pair of pearl earrings missing. This wouldn't be the first time Ellie had taken them- she thought they were wasted on me anyways.

Which was sort of true. When acquired properly, jewelry was shiny, sparkling and expensive- but where many girls liked to accessorize like princesses, I identified more with pack rats. I didn't really wear any of this stuff, I just liked to count it and guess its value every now and then.

Even so, those earrings were mine.

So I did what any self respecting older sister would do. I dropped my bag, stomped down the hall to her room, and barged through her door- prepared to raise hell.

The music was deafening, her room reeked like she had doused it in perfume. My senses were so overloaded that it took me a solid ten seconds to realize that she wasn't there.

I marched to the speakers and unplugged the every cord I saw until the air stopped screaming and the floor stopped shaking. Once the music was gone, I surveyed her room- it was plastered in posters of rock bands that I'd never heard of, and on her bed was a scattered assortment of lip glosses and nail polish. As the ringing in my ears faded, I realized that the house was silent. Somehow it already seemed obvious that Ellie wasn't just not in her room, she wasn't at home at all.

I heard Veronica lay on the horn outside, I had clearly taken too much time already. With a sigh I returned to the hall, lugged my bag of stuff back onto my shoulders and dragged my feet downstairs. I would have to confront Ellie about the jewelry when I came back.

Bastion was in my seat. He got all wriggly and excited again, like he hadn't seen me in days. That didn't really surprise me. He had a peanut for a brain, after all. If I picked him up and shook him, I probably would have heard it rattling in his skull.

"Got everything?" asked Veronica, as she put him in the backseat.

"I guess." I shrugged.

"Will Ellie be okay here, alone?" she persisted. "She can come too- it's no problem. Did she seem okay?"

"She's fine," I said, irritably. "Let's go."

Maybe I should have mentioned that Ellie wasn't even there, or wondered where she was, or thought it was strange that she had somehow forgotten to turn off her music when it was practically taking down the house. But I had two days of Veronica to look forward to, not to mention another car ride- which was almost certain to be just as unbearable as the one preceding it. As far as I was concerned, I had my own problems.

Thanks to all the readers, commenters, voters, add-to-librariers and fans for being patient, generous and wonderful! I love to see what you think about the story and all criticism is welcome!