change history yesterday

chapter 6

"Have you gone mad?" Aero starts, whisper yelling inches away from my face. He grips my shoulders hard enough to surely paint my skin later in the day.

I don't respond shocked and confused.

"You are going to go back in there and apologize for your rudeness, and we will deal with your disobedience later. Don't come back in until you've made yourself presentable. I will not have you embarrass me any further, defect."

With those words drawing yet another external flinch, Aero straightens out his suit before entering the parlor once more. My mind is spinning and I can't make sense of his anger.

My cheek stings with the intensity of several scorpion attacks. Tears pool at the brim of my eyes ready to plunge into my pores. If I'm going to cry, now is the time to do so. I don't want anyone to see me disheveled in there. The familiar clicking of my mother's high shoes present her before her actual presence does.

"Oh, Charlie, what's the matter? Your cheek looks awful!" Her cold, smooth hands are soothing against my heated flesh.

Absentmindedly, I lean against her fragrant, manicured hand. There's something about being around your mother that makes you more childlike. I fall apart silently in the quiet hallway conscious enough to be aware of the officials in the room just adjacent to me.

"H-he. . . Aero," I stutter incoherently but seemingly effectively. The change in her demeanor is enough for me to know that she is aware of the situation.

This isn't the first time she's played witness to my bruises; I'd often times play it up, and make it seem as if they were by accident. But he's never, actually made direct contact with my skin before - usually only harsh handling that later bruised to a midnight purple.

I'm tired of making excuses for him.

She pauses in her actions dramatically. Her face is unreadable as she flings open her purse to retrieve two face wipes and begins to rub furiously at my tear-stained cheeks. She closes her purse, looking pleased and then dumbfounded, as she lowers her arms back down to her side

"Did you do something wrong?"

What?

"Wh-did. . . I-," I fumble over my words with mixed feelings. I've reached full-blown hysteria now, and I'm surprised that one of the officials from inside hasn't come out to see what the commotion is about. It feels almost as if I've been slapped once more.

"Here," she rushes out not giving me the chance to respond. 

"Never mind that. . . senator Holm is waiting! I figured he'd be here fashionably late. . . all government officials tend to share in the tendency of tardiness," she chuckles lightly. If not for the subtlety of her expressions and mannerisms, I'd declare insanity amongst her. She's completely ignoring the situation at hand. Her switch in personality gives me whiplash as I stare at the woman that resembles my mother. The anger I have towards Aero is now focused at the prim lady blotting at the steaks on my tear-stained face. 

Fine. 

Two can play that game. 

I wrap both my hands around her thin wrists and remove them from my vicinity rather aggressively. An audible gasp escapes from her lips as she balances herself from the force of my actions. A picture of hurt dances across her face before her expression becomes the cold, stony nature I liken to the government officials I've seen throughout my lifespan.

 "You still have time to try the serum. They're not going to wait all day," she informs me with entirely new character, picking herself up and straightening out her pencil skirt with her small hands.