Silver Eyes

Ouija

My mom texted me towards the end of the day, telling me that she wanted to pick me up from school. When I hopped into her little teal car, my mom looked like she was a little stressed but in an overall good mood.

"I want to go over some rules before I leave tonight," she announced after she sped out of the school parking lot. She was referring to her trip to Greece. It was Friday and I knew her plane was set to leave later in the night.

"Okay." I shrugged, watching the buildings pass as she zipped down the two lane street past the slower traffic in the right lane.

We pulled into our parking spot to the side of the apartment building in relative silence with the radio playing a club music remix that I felt like they played every Friday. I felt like she was going to have a million rules and could see her thinking as I followed her up to the apartment.

"Number one," she started, putting her turquoise luggage down in the middle of the kitchen, "no wild parties!" I rolled my eyes and huffed out of habit. Who did she even think I was? "Number two; no friends over, without calling me to ask if it's alright. And number three; no boyfriend. I bought you a ton of food so you won't starve and you can rent movies from the movie place down the street. I left you some money on the table and Gina offered to drive you anywhere if you need it." She referred to our neighbor across the hall. "Are you going to be okay?" My mom asked me after I nodded to her rules.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." I answered the fake question and added, "I won't have any wild parties, or skip school, or anything like that."

"I'm trusting you to not set the place on fire or anything. I'll be back Sunday night as you know." She explained with a serious albeit still worried expression.

"Can I order pizza?" I asked, thinking about later.

"Yes, but don't let the delivery guy in. Just tell Gina and let Joe get it downstairs for you." She said referring to Gina's husband.

"Ok." I agreed, ruling that out because I knew I wouldn't want to have to talk to Gina and Joe just to get a pizza.

I was sitting at the table with my phone hovering over my half-empty dinner plate when my mom opened the door for Johnny and he joined me with an excited smile lighting up his face.

"Hey, Kid, you gonna be okay on your own for a little while?" It didn't sound much like a question and the unimpressed look I pointed at him made him laugh.

"I'll be fine." I answered wryly. "I'm sixteen. Honestly, it's just a week!" I insisted.

"Nine days." My mom corrected me, with worry still in her blue eyes as she looked down at me from where she stood writing a superfluous list of emergency numbers to put on the fridge. This was the first big trip she took without me and I could tell she was more worried than I thought she should be. Maybe she thought I'd break all the rules? I was considering letting Jack over, but I felt like her rules about that were a little unfair.

"Whelp, it's just about time to leave." Johnny said looking at his watch and getting up from the table. My mom put her coat on and gave me a long hug.

"Be safe, Honey." She said before opening the door. Johnny picked up her two large matching turquoise bags and she took her duffel and her purse with a look back at me. I waved and sent her a reassuring smile.

"Bye, Silver!" Johnny called before they stepped out into the hallway.

"Bye. Have fun." I told them before I shut the door and was alone.